"{You have discussed the situation with Ambassador Kelanin?}"
"{I have. The talks were a somewhat... unexpected success.}"
"{Much as I appreciate them, I am afraid I do not have time for your personal comments and opinions.}"
"{I apologize, Patriarch. Ambassador Kelanin offered his personal assistance with the operation.}"
On the screen, Patriarch Myr's eyes seemed to widen.
"{Kelanin wishes to participate?}"
"{I was as surprised as you are, Patriarch. However, that seems to be the case. He volunteered to help. I cannot imagine the Exiled Council will be pleased with his decision but they will have to accept it if they want our forces to remain in Idum.}"
There was a long, thoughtful silence. Not a useless one. U'lun knew that both he and the Patriarch were analyzing the situation from every possible angle, trying to find motives, reasons, possibilities.
"{Very well. I will inform Praetor Armul of this and instruct him to offer a portion of his forces as aid to Ambassador Kelanin. Inform the Ambassador of this. En Taro Tassadar.}"
"{En Taro Tassadar, Patriarch,}" U'lun said an terminated the connection.
SoA:
Ambassador U'lun informs Patriarch Myr of Kelanin's decision. Patriarch Myr orders the Tama fleet to stay in Idum and send 10 dark templar to help Kelanin with the mission (they will take up 20 of your cargo which is how much you have left if I am correct). Both U'lun and Patriarch Myr are surprised by Kelanin's decision.
Location: Gnarled Wolf, Dverger system, approaching the planet Dalar.
“Statues report?” Grell said as he looked over the console infront of him. They had finally exited hyperspace, straight into an asteroid field at the edge of the system.
“Sir, we have minimal damage to decks four, sixteen, and twenty-one. All engines, weapons systems, and bay doors are functioning.” responded a blond haired girl manning a computer to the left of him.
“Good, now lets get the best coordinates out of this shit, I just painted her when we left.” he said in a calm voice. He knew this could have been avoided by checking the flight path over again, hell even putting someone more reliable in charge of flying the damn thing. The redhead sitting at the console would understand this soon enough. The ship turned sideways, a straight path out of the way of larger rocks became visible. He let out a sigh, and leaned back into his chair as they began to exit into the depths of space again. The front screens showed the planet he was looking for, Dalar.
“Alright people, not the best job we could have done, but we're close to getting there. Pilot, get us into a stable orbit around the planet, am I understood?”
“Yesir!” he said, obvious to the mistake he had made when entering the system.
“Alright, I'm going to get the preparations ready for a scouting team and larger force ready, Samantha,”He said, his pause apparent. “You have the bridge and ship till I get back.”
“Ay ay captain.”
With that he stood up and exited the bridge, his friend meeting him at the door. “What the hell are you thinking running us into an asteroid belt?” he started. “Wait, don't answer that, Ill get the wrong answer Im-” He was stopped short by Grell pulling him forward with a firm hand to his shoulder.
“Check and double check the medivacs, especially the one taking me and the crew to the ground. I want reports on weapons, armor, and anything that's wrong with the ship. Do you understand me?” He said almost yelling at his friend.
“Sir, yesir!”
“Then get to it.” he said walking past him. He would deal with the shit later, he grabbed his datapad and linked up with 10 of his best viking pilots. “I need you ready to launch, we need 5 to scout the surrounding area of the planet, and 5 more to scan the planet for relevant areas. Big buildings, cities, small outposts, anything near these coordinates.” He tapped in the area and sent it out.
“Well be out in 10 sir.” said Jacky, one of the older men and the best pilot of them all. The pilots had taken a liking to him, and Grell decided he was the squad leader.
He quickly switched to the marines receivers. “Alright, everyone get ready, we are nearing the planet. We are going off the data our client has given me, but we cant be to sure or safe on this mission. I want everyone to get ready in full gear. We might find this an easy snatch an grab, but if its not I Will Not be caught with my ass hanging out for anyone willing to take a free shot. Am I understood.?” He got green lights on all but about 2 peoples names, that made him smile. He put away his pad just as he got to the elevator, perfect. Clicking the call button he began running things over in his head. He would make sure to apologize to Mike and organize everything with his crew. The most he had done was some sparring in the lifting room, and even that was not as often as it should have been. Letting out a sigh he stepped into the now open elevator doors and clicked the button down, letting the silence of the ride be unbroken. When the doors did open he stepped out had a glance at his black medivac.It was customize to take more hits than normal and had a small layer of special clear paint placed on it to keep it out of enemy radar, he was glad he had it for this mission. Walking towards the armory, the only place one could suit up in marine battle armor. He walked in moving over to a circular room which was were marines suited up. He slid his card across a receiver and punched his 8 digits into the doors digital lock, it soon opening. The sound of machinery warming up and getting hot could be heard. He let out a smile and stepped forward turning around as the doors closed.
“It's about damn time.” he said as the process of suiting up started.
SoA: Grell, and his ship have made it to the Dvergar System, and are just outside the bounds of Dalar. Minor damage was dealt by pebbles in an asteroid field they met when entering the system. 10 Vikings have been sent out, 5 to scout the area around the planet and 5 to scout out the area were the research is supposed to be. All units are getting ready for deployment.
An asteroid field 30 minutes outside of Domus, the Asteroid City
{Terran brothers. I have a mission for you. Thirty minutes away lies Domus, the asteroid city. I have not seen it personally, but it seems to be a rough place where people can sell and buy as they desire. If you are still with me, I wish for you to take your scouting ship and go there in my name. See if you can sell the Protoss equipment we have gathered. Listen for the latest news and rumors, and see if there are jobs that need doing for us to grow our forces. Also keep an eye out for anyone with a specific interest in my kind, be it to destroy us or to study us. I want to be prepared. Lastly, I want you to procure some more sophisticated DNA for me so I can respawn some of my lost forces.}
Adam stood up from the long table inside the common room where he and his colleagues had just finished their lunch.
"Alright; we won't all be needed for this, plus the ship can't hold twenty-four of us plus the Protoss equipment... any volunteers?".
Since the events at Barkanos Adam had kind of stepped up to take the leaders' role. He hadn't exactly imagined himself in this position, but his fellow humans seemed to look at him for guidance in a bit of a natural manner.
"A think a'll be sittin' this one out, Adam", said Bob Gentry. Bob was an older man who had been a scientist all his life and was currently taking the lead in the laboratorial studies, where he had started experiments with evolving Zerg DNA.
-"I'll go", said Sarah, who had become a bit of a personal friend to Adam since boarding Murkag.
-"Me too!"
A large man with short blonde hair stood up that Adam knew by the nickname of 'Hammer', but hadn't really talked to him yet.
-"Count me in!"
Two chairs to his right, a small, brown-haired man with thick eyebrows nodded at Adam.
"Good, that should do. Meet me in 10 in the launch bay, then".
{I have a final request. If you won't mind, I would like to inject one of you with a parasite that would allow me to see through its eyes. I will be able to track your movements this way. I can understand if you would be reluctant to this procedure, but-}
"I'll do it", the large blonde man said. He got a couple of strange looks.
{So be it, then. Just head on over to your launch bay}
Roughly fourty minutes later a transport ship filled with Protoss equipment and four Terrans arrived at Domus and began to dock. The flight had been a silent one. As the airlocks were connecting, the blonde man looked around and said "I'm Jack, by the way... Jack "Hammer" Spazinsky".
-"Jeremy", the man with the thick eyebrows said. "Pleased to meet you."
The four looked at the door in front of them as it began to open up, readying themselves for their visit to Domus.
SoA
-Murkag is hiding in an asteroid field roughly 30 minutes away from Domus.
-Establishing Bob Gentry as my lead scientist; he'll be doing research and prototype development lateron.
-Adam, Sarah, Jack and Jeremy have arrived at Domus. Jack is affected with a Zerg parasite, allowing Dagganoth to see through his eyes. They will attempt to sell the recovered Protoss equipment and ask around for possible jobs that need doing.
-They are also on the lookout for anybody who seems to have an interest in Zerg, whether negatively or positively.
-They are also looking to buy some simple DNA codes that will allow Dagganoth to restock on simpler Zerg units.
Amadeus' meeting room, hiding at the dark side of Khasan
Opheilm shifted and paced around in what little space he have. He was vexed and frustrated. There were already many troubles on his mind, and the last thing he needs is more of them. The room was small, dusty and uncomfortable, then again, its better then the others who are cramped outside. At least he has a room to himself. "I should be glad about this... somewhat". At his desk stood the battle reports of the week. Opheilm took a glance and sighed. "Have my methods been right?" he found himself pondering. Opheilm stood still and paused. His mind backtracking to the events that happened two and a half years ago, shortly after he had joined the Order and earned the trust of a few important members.
"Who authorized this attack!?" Arronax bellowed. His shout rippling across the meeting room. None dare to oppose this veteran Zealot, for he was one of the founding members of the Order and an expert fighter. "The way of the Protoss is the way of a warrior." He smashed his fist onto the table.
"That was the past, Arronax. When the Order once had enough support to fight head on against the Imperium." Opheilm replied, knowing that it wouldn't make any difference in convincing the stubborn Zealot.
"Hmph, I should've known. Its the Praetor traitor." Arronax replied curtly. "Your surgical strikes are not doing any real damage to the Imperium. On the contrary, there are some that question your methods." "What you have done is to tell the Imperium council that the Order lacks the resources to combat them face to face." Arronax continued.
"That may be true, Arronax, but if we were to fight them head on, we will suffer even greater losses. Eventually, the Imperium council will know about it as well and we will be extinguished." Opheilm retorted.
"I would rather die a warrior then a coward!" Arronax shouted, ensuring that his sentence hit home to each of the members at the meeting. Opheilm could see that the members were shifting uncomfortably at their seats and he knew that he needed to do something before the situation gets worse.
Opheilm pointed a finger at Arronax, "Your blatant tactics have cost us many great warriors, much more then its needed. If you would want to die as a hero, you can take whatever remnants of supporters you have and do it yourself." Opheilm paused, and continued softly but seriously, "The way of the Khalai, is only for those that are in power. There is no code of honor for the oppressed..." "Its a shame that you didn't die with your ideals."Opheilm added sarcastically
Arronax seethed. He looked around for support but could find none of it. Deep down, he knew that Opheilm was right, but yet, his pride is greater then his mind. "You arrogant Templar!" he flared before powering up his Psi Blades and taking a right swing at Opheilm. Opheilm ducked and used his Olden Warp Blades to parry away Arronax's left thrust. He continued by using his shoulder to slam into Arronax's body, knocking the Zealot backwards.
"You Dare!!" was all Arronax bursted before attempting a second charge towards Opheilm.
In a split second, Arronax's Psi Blades were at Opheilm's face, however, before the blades could hit, Arronax felt a pressure coming out from Opheilm's that spiraled him to the end of the room, denting the wall.
"Expel" said Opheilm sharply, as Arronax picked himself up from the ground. Knowing that he has lost, Arronax picked up whatever pride he had left and left them a warning. "Mark my words, Opheilm, the Imperium will soon hunt down the Order, one by one. Until we are all dead." Upon finishing his sentence, he looked at everyone in the room with accusing eyes and then left.
**********************************
The past few days had been nothing but unnecessary trouble. The Order have been conducting Guerrilla warfare for around 2 1/2 years to Imperium troops with little or no avail. While it may seem to be effective on the surface, Opheilm highly doubted that it even pricked the Imperium council. After all, those that died were either guards or Order members, none of them having any slightest relation to anyone at the Council. Furthermore, the Order cannot afford to incur the wrath of the common populace. Guerrilla warfare is just too.. unorthodox a strategy for a Protoss warrior and there are many who would frown on such things. The last thing Opheilm needs now is more trouble... and he's going to get it.
"Come in" Opheilm replied to the knock on his door. "What is it?"
"Rassyr has a message for you." The Zealot scout reported. He looked weary and it seemed that he rushed all the way without stopping just to pass Opheilm this message. Opheilm could feel the urgency in his voice, and shuddered at the thought of more bad news.
"Sit down and speak. There is no need for formalities here. Those only belong to aristocrats."
"Thank you Praetor Opheilm." The word Praetor stung deeply. It wasn't a word that he liked, it brought up his past 3 years back and it still did. Nevertheless, this also served as a motivation and reminder for him that the wounds of betrayal are deep, and he would never want it to happen again.
"As you are aware, the recent attacks have proven to be more then a thorn at the Imperium Council's side..." The Zealot started, but Opheilm cut in before he could finish his sentence
"Really?" Opheilm replied in genuine surprise, somewhat little pleased that he was wrong. "Though comforting, I am sure you didn't come all the way here to bring this news... continue"
"Yes, Praetor. Because of these attacks, the Council had a meeting a few days ago and the conclusion of the meeting is that, the Order's motivation for the attacks are because Erana is here..." The Zealot paused, and with a solemn voice. " They plan to move Erana to Vetras."
"Vetras?!" Opheilm exclaimed "This is insane." Opheilm felt his body weakening and fell down onto his seat. "This is insane..." he muttered again. Taking a moment to compose himself. "Please, continue." he said weakly.
"A few days ago, the exiled tribes had a meeting regarding this situation. The Tama fleet are to stay in Idum while Ambassador Kelanin will be taking part in the operation to rescue Erana."
"The Tama fleet are under no obligation to aid us, that is to be expected... but Ambassador Kelanin... I have heard of him before..."
"Wait, Ambassador Kelanin? as in the scientist? What can one scientist do that half a warrior cannot?" Opheilm spat.
"Praetor, you shouldn't underestimate those that belong in diplomacy. Sometimes, the pen is mightier then the sword. Sweet words can bring even more allies then a sharp blade."
Opheilm pondered a moment at the Zealot's words. "My apologies, that is true. Do you have anything else to report?"
"No, Praetor. I shall take my leave." The Zealot bowed and walked out of the room. Before the Zealot Scout exited the room, Opheilm halted him
"Wait, how about Rassyr and the other Order leaders?". The Zealot turned around and replied him.
"Rassyr is busy with meetings with the Exiled Tribes and the coalition. As for the other leaders, I do not know. All I can tell you is that Rassyr has sent messengers to each leader."
"Thank you, you may leave now." Opheilm dismissed the Zealot and went into deep thought.
"Assuming that the others have received this message, most of them would immediately muster whatever army they have left and wait for Rassyr's command."
"That's just foolish. The Imperium's army outnumber us like sands in the desert. A frontal assault would be worse then suicide."
"The best way to save Erana is by infiltration and distraction.'
"The only way this can be done is.. to assemble an elite strike force"
'But who can I even convince? All I have is my blade." Opheilm paced around his room, focused on his thoughts.
Wait..." Opheilm looked up and felt excitement, the first time in many weeks.
'Perhaps there is still hope after all. With the pen and the sword as one, nothing is impossible." Opheilm contemplated...
"Connect me through to Ambassador Kelanin, tell him that Praetor Opheilm, the master of shadows would like an audience with him regarding Erana's rescue."
SoA
Erana's Order has been dwindled ever since 3 years ago at its founding and has morale and supply issues plaguing them
One its founding members left due to disputes between how the Order should be
Opheilm receives news that Erana, who has been taken prisoner after the war against zerg, is being transferred to Vetras
Opheilm attempts to contact Ambassador Kelanin, knowing that he is part of the team that is going to intercept Erana's transfer
~~ Sar Shar, Sharon System - Heart of the Themos Brood ~~
Aria strode through the warm, red tunnels of the Great Hive, trying not to let the dread and anticipation show in her pace and pose. Showing fear could be seen as a weakness here, it could mean an instant and irreversible death as the swarm instinctively eliminates the weakness in it's own being. No. She had to be cold, calm and in control; or at the very least in control. Some of the other brood leaders were never particularly cold or calm, but they made do by giving the air of total dominance, at least for a time.
The person Aria was going to visit held complete and total Dominion over the Themos Brood, a dominion which she had usurped by following Orloth's advice rather then her own orders. Honestly, why Orloth insisted on this charade of an argument, no one in Themos understood. Evolution supported the winners, not those who played fairly. Lilith had succeeded Baal as Master of the Themos Brood. If Orloth would just give in and accept it Themos would easily be the strongest of all the other Broods, but with his faction sealed away and neutral they were now reduced to paying tribute to another brood just to keep them from attacking. Tribute! That was not going to sit well with the Mistress Lilith. She may get points for talking her way out of a fight, that was what the Themos were known for after all, but tribute? Aria was as good as dead.
She tried not to let that thought overwhelm her as she stepped into the Central Chamber, where Lilith held... court. It reminded Aria of the stories of Hell that her grandmother had threatened her with. The chamber wasn't large, about the size of a holo vid theater, but that made what it contained that much harder to avoid. It was part torture chamber, part breeding pool, part brothel; the sights and sounds of which did there best to disrupt Aria's calm; all lit by the ambient, red light that filtered down from the mouth of the Great Hive and surrounded by its fleshy walls. And there, at the far side, atop of a throne that seemed to be crafted from the body parts of numerous species, sprawled the Mistress Lilith herself personally adored by three Infested.
Aria approached the throne and lowered herself into a submissive bow, almost curling herself up on the floor, face to the ground. After what seemed like hours the purring voice of her Mistress commanded, "Stand, Aria." She did so, and met the gaze of the Nightmare Queen, and time seemed to take a backseat as she felt the contents of her mind being sifted through as if it were a newspaper. In a few moments she had relived everything she remembered since she had last been in her Mistress's presence, the conversation with Orloth and her actions at Pern were gone over again in vivid detail. When at last she was released from Lilith's gaze, she dropped to the floor as if her strings had been cut and lay there panting, trying desperately to regain a shred of poise, and ounce of decency, while Lilith stood up and began to circle her shuddering form.
"It is good," the Nightmare Queen purred softly, "that you held the Brood's best interests at heart, or you would no longer be alive. However, considering your actions, I had hoped that such a loyal servant as yourself would have been Dominated and swayed by my enemy, rather then a willing accomplice in his scheming. That being said, you have revealed to me some of my dear brother's plans, and that is valuable to me." Aria felt a hand on her chin and her head was lifted up to once more look her Mistress in the eye, "I may have some use for you after all."
~~ Dalar, Dvergar System ~~
Orloth studies the pitiful collection of clues he had gathered. Cloning tanks, samples of protoss and zerg DNA, and a clipboard with vague references to test progress in an undecipherable medical chickenscratch. For the most part, the base had been picked clean before he had even arrived. Whoever had been at work here had been quite thorough in wiping every trace of their project before the zerg had even gotten close. The only thing they had left behind was their computer records, highly encoded and booby trapped as they were. The infested imagined that he had probably tripped an alarm with his meddling; it was only a matter of time before the system's previous occupants took notice. It would be prudent to leave well enough alone and continue to lie low; keeping his brood safely hidden until they were strong enough for what was to come, but his curiousity had grown into an obsession, and it would not be denied. Besides, it helped distract him from that other thing.
Just as his thoughts wandered dangerously close to that trap, another thought tapped lightly on his consciousness. His minions had spotted a ship. A terran ship. A Frankenstein's monster of a vessel that had nearly gotten smashed to pieces by asteroids upon its arrival. Nearly, but not quite. It skillfully maneuvered its way out of the field and began making its way for Dalar.
How convenient. Maybe he had triggered some alarm, or perhaps they were merely pirates here for the salvage. It mattered not, they would provide him with a convenient distraction from his thoughts for a time. "Who knows, perhaps they might actually be useful." The infested said to himself quietly as he instructed his brood to allow the ship to pass and keep out of sight.
~~ Karinth System ~~
The only reason Razarac realized his behemoth had exited warp space was the sudden, rapid influx of information into his mind. For a moment he was overwhelmed and paralyzed by the sheer volume of external images, scents, sounds and thoughts that were suddenly entering his brain. He saw through the eyes of hundreds, heard through the ears of thousands and thought through the minds of millions. He relaxed and allowed the flood of information to diffuse into him, content to witness the workings of the entire Fenrir Brood.
But gradually, the flow of information ceased, or rather, was relegated to the unconscious part of his mind. In its place stood a single separate entity, one which was made up of thousands of millions of smaller minds and was more fearsome and imposing than all of them combined.
{Brood Mother.} Razarac said, doing the mental equivalent of bowing his head. He briefly sensed satisfaction coming from Shaharaz but this was soon replaced by cold neutrality.
{I have granted you control of Karinth's broods, Razarac. Your goal is simple: destroy the Nirogg's presence in the system and claim it for the Fenrir. Do not hesitate, do not make mistakes. Do not even entertain the idea of failure for if it becomes a reality, you shall feel my wrath... if the Nirogg don't destroy you first.}
And then it was gone. The Queen of the Fenrir Brood disappeared from his mind, leaving behind only a fraction of itself.
Razarac did not waste his time. He immediately tapped into the mind's of the system's zerg and began to assimilate all their knowledge, both of themselves and the Nirogg. What he learned was not too promising. The Nirogg held the majority of the system and not only had enough forces to hold their ground in head-on battles but also had a separate force capable of striking the Fenrir where and when it was most vulnerable. The Fenrir were pinned down and outnumbered. But that was about to change.
Razarac ordered Pangar to make way for the only Fenrir controlled planet in the system while releasing five overseers into the cold of space with the aim of locating hidden Nirogg forces.
SOA: (Repost) Aria arrives in the Sharon system for her meeting with the Nightmare Queen. It goes better then expected.
Orloth directs his Brood to stay out of sight and out of the way of the Gnashed Wolf. He will personally be approaching the landing site (once it has landed) as stealthily as possible with a small force.
(Repost) Razarac arrived in Karinth. He was given control of the Fenrir Brood there. Karinth is looking to be a Meat Grinder soon, as the Fenrir and Nirogg position themselves for a battle to claim the system. Initial pokes have begun.
Aranov looked at the holographic faces, analysing their reactions to his suggestion. He couldn’t read Doom and Waiter, one of them didn’t have a face, and the other’s was covered in hair and an eyepatch. From what he could see, the filthy pirate didn’t seem surprised or against it.
Keeva Lane looked as if she were thinking. Neal Smith wasn’t present this time. Orion tried to put on an “I couldn’t care less” look, but failed and simply looked uneasy. Aranov knew that the Technocracy wasn’t able to lend any financial support due to their... Project.
Doug looked mildly interested: They would need his factories afterall, so it was good for business. Dent was the first to answer though.
“Seriously? Aren’t they good enough as it is?” He asked with a laugh. “Why throw money out the window?”
“They’re nothing exceptional.” Aranov explained. “While our patrols aren’t bad, they aren’t very good either. The reason they have been able to fight off other flagships before was not because of their weapons systems or armor, but because of the troops they had. Those are fine. Actually, those are very good. But the flagships themselves aren’t good enough.”
“He’s got a point.” Doom said. “Our patrols can handle situations pretty well themselves, but their battles can last for a while. If we upgraded the flagships, they could end battles sooner, therefore we would have less losses.”
“To add to what the pirate said,” Aranov continued. “The situation on Dunar would’ve been resolved much faster had our patrol taken care of the Outsider flagship before it was able to deploy its troops. Unfortunately, our weapons aren’t good enough for that. And if we were to go to a war, our patrols are meant to serve as air dominance, which in their current state would take them too long to achieve.”
“How much would it cost?” Keeva asked.
“I am able to pay for about one third of it.” Aranov said as he uploaded the costs of various set-ups he thought about. “I am sure that between us, we should have the rest.”
“Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but we are already paying quite a lot to keep those patrols maintained.” Arthur Dent said. “I don’t mind that cost, seeing as they have proven their worth many times already, but I honestly don’t believe we need to put even more money into them.”
President Lass remained quiet. Aranov guessed it was because the Tirion Republic would be hired to do all the work anyway, so his economy would only get better through this.
“I am sorry, but I can’t afford to pay more money for this.” Orion said. “We still haven’t recovered from the war with the bloody zerg, and now you aren’t only taxing us, you are also refusing to reclaim planets that belonged to us from the zerg, and you want more money for patrols?”
“Thank you for your input.” Keeva said politely and didn’t even look at the technocrat. “The Legion is able to pay a good chunk of this as well. If Cap’n Bonecrusher is able to and agrees to, we shouldn’t need much more.”
“We haven’t had a bad time lately.” Doom said. “We can pay a chunk as well.”
“We’ll chip in.” Doug Lass finally said. “We will probably end up making a profit with this anyway, so it’s only fair.”
“Eh, I won’t be a partypooper. I’ll pay for a bit as well.” Arthur gave in.
“I believe we are done then?” Orion said, looked at the faces for a moment, then ended his feed and the screen disappeared.
“I guess we are done.” Keeva said. “Lord Aranov, once you have the schematics, send them to President Doug. President, I take it you will handle everything?”
“Of course. Good bye.” Doug said, and cut his feed as well.
“Well, send me the bill when you’re ready. See you all soon.” Dent said and his screen disappeared as well.
“You two, stay.” Keeva said. “We have to talk.”
Aranov wasn’t surprised at Keeva’s bluntness, she was always less formal when only the three of them were present.
“What is it?” Aranov asked.
“I’ve been contacted by Erana’s Order. Apparently Erana is being moved from her prison on the capital to another one on a fringe world or so. The Order wants to intercept and free her.”
“What do we do?” Aranov asked.
“The Coalition can not get involve as that would give the Imperium a very big reason to start a war with us, which isn’t a good idea. So just to be very clear: Aranov, if you see the Order’s ships moving out of Dras Lana, bring your own forces in to protect our system in case the Imperium decides to counterattack. Doom, you do not under any circumstance go to the planet Dras Lana, do not offer your help and do not find some way to help them that doesn’t make it look as if the Coalition was involved. Understood?”
“Of course.” Aranov replied.
“Same.” Doom replied as well, and the conversation ended.
The Flying Drunkman Davy Jone's Locker
"So, Kenny, Waiter, how do we not help the Order?" The eight foot pirate asked.
{Showin' our ships to tha Imperium doesn' seem like an option} The Pirate Templar said.
"Kenny, bring up the others." Doom said.
"Aye aye."
Three holographic screens appeared. The first two showed men that were almost identical, wearing old sea-pirate costumes and, for some strange reason, eyeliner. The third screen showed the face of a man that was, presumably, naked, and the face was half covered in shaving cream.
"Kenny, move the damn the holo screen, it's blocking the mirror." Kosh said and continued shaving.
"Jacks, Kosh." Doom said and nodded. "It seems Erana is being transferred, and Keeva has made it very clear we are not not to help. Ideas?" The pirate grabbed a bottle of rum from a crate beside the captains chair and started emptying it.
"We could hire some freelancer," Kosh said, still shaving. "Build a new ship that looks protoss, then transfer the freelancer's and part of our own crew to that ship, plus maybe some of Erana's people. Make it look as if they hired them. Dammit, cut myself."
"And our fleet could be waiting a bit further away." Sparrow said.
"Just in case things get bad and they really need backup."
"And in that case the Coalition can just claim they knew nothing about it, maybe fine us or do some other bureaucratic thing." Kosh added.
"Sounds like a good idea." Doom said, throwing away the rum bottle he emptied in one go, followed a second later by the sound of glass shattering.
Kenny's eyes crossed the entire spectrum of visible colors over half a second. "Cap'n, someone is trying to sell some protoss salvage on Domus. It would help us build a protoss ship - The Flying Drunkman isn't really a traditional protoss vessel so its designs aren't an ideal basis."
{I could go ta Dras Lana in tha meantime, mon. Tell em da plan, see if thay need somethin'} Darth Waiter suggested.
"Alright. Warp over to the Andrumeda. Swallow, once he's over go meet the Order. Kenny, Sparrow, set course for Domus, and Kosh, make sure our accounts aren't frozen again, and if they are, unfreeze them and bring the sons of bitches that froze them to me."
The others nodded, the screens disappeared, Waiter walked off the bridge, Kenny did nothing in particular, Swallow went to the bridge of the Andrumeda, only to realize he had been there all along, Kosh managed cut himself again, and Doom grabbed another bottle of rum.
SoA:
(Repost) Aranov and Pirate Patrols are getting their weapon and armor stats raised from 4/4 to 6/6
(Repost) Keeva discusses the Erana's Order situation with Doom and Aranov
The Andrumeda is heading for the planet Dras Lana with Darth Waiter present. 1 IC travel time
The Flying Drunkman and The Black Pearl are heading for Domus 2 ICs travel time
"{You may enter.}" The two guards stepped aside and the door they were guarding irised open. Khalos stepped through it, leaving the brightly lit hallway and entering a cool, dimly-lit room. The door closed behind him silently and the light from the hallway was replaced by what little light came in through the large window opposite him.
Khalos walked towards the window, ignoring the rest of the room. Through it he saw Aurun, the planet's capital, spread out far, far beneath him, like a sea of darkness filled with millions of lights. From such a great height, and with such dim lighting, he could only make out the city's most prominent features: the Council Chambers, the Citadel and the Founders' Monument, which was badly damaged as a result of the recent attack.
"{Appreciating your home, Praetor?}" The thought came from somewhere behind him, as cool and dry as a Nerazim's. Khalos did not turn around or flinch as Councillor Odranos joined him. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the city below him.
"{Aurun is not my home, Councillor,}" he answered, his mental voice matching the Councillor's neutrality to keep the feeling of surprise out of it.
"{It is not? I am under the impression that you haven't moved from the planet in the past three years. Am I mistaken?}" This statement surprised Khalos as much as Councillor's first question.
"{No, of course not. But merely staying in one place for a prolonged period of time does not make it one's home.}"
"{But you are used to Aurun?}"
"{Yes, Councillor.}"
"{Tired of it?}"
Khalos hesitated before replying. "{Councillor?}"
"{You have not moved from New Aiur in the past three years. It is only natural that someone of your talents and experience would find the... immobility sickening, especially when others of the same rank and profession are as mobile as ever. For instance, did you know Executor Sevethrun returned to New Aiur only yesterday?}" The Councillor's sentence ended in a way which invited inquiry, despite its lack of emotion. Khalos turned to face the protoss.
"{The Executor is here?}"
"{So it would seem. He has been recalled in order to coordinate what the Council deems a top priority mission.}"
"{What mission?}"
"{Did you know that, had it not been for your relationship with a certain treacherous Praetor, it would be you and not Sevethrun who would be the current Executor of the Imperium's forces?}"
Once again, Khalos was taken aback by the Councillor's questions.
"{What? My relationship with... Erana?}"
"{Yes. The Council deemed it too dangerous to let you assume control over the Imperium's military. A tragic flaw.}"
Khalos suppressed a surge of anger.
"{While I do not agree with all of praetor Erana's actions, to say that she was a bad commander would be a lie. And to deem a superficial military relationship a genuine threat to the Imperium is, in my honest opinion, paranoid folly,}" he said it before he could stop himself and immediately wished for more self control. The Councillor's blue eyes flared.
"{Praetor Erana committed a crime against her people when she handed over the Arken and the technology used to create it to the terran Coalition. In doing so, she put us at the mercy of the terrans and destroyed any chances we had of driving the zerg out of Eurim. However, when I said 'a tragic flaw', I was referring to the Council.}"
Khalos' anger disappeared as quickly as it had come and was replaced by surprise.
"{You think the Council incompetent?}" he asked. Odranos seemed to think for a minute. Then:
"{Do you?}"
Before Khalos could reply, the Councillor continued.
"{While Executor Sevethren is heading Erana's transfer from New Aiur to Vetras, it does not mean he will go unaccompanied. After all, this is a top priority mission. Expect to leave the confines of our capital soon, Praetor.}" As soon as he had finished talking, the doors to the Councillor's room opened again, filling it with the hallway's orange light. Seeing that the Councillor had said what he had wanted to say, Khalos thanked him and left.
SoA:
(Repost): Introducing Praetor Khalos. Talk about Erana's transfer.
To say the place was dark would be technically wrong. It looked dark, yes, but it being dark? That wouldn't be true. Most of lights inside this particular asteroid were shades of yellow, orange and, most of all, red that it gave the misconception of the place being dark. It was in fact rather bright, but in colors that made it look dark instead. Kenny was rather amused by the fact and edited the online site of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to Eurim to include his "thoughts".
The pirates walked up to docking port ER-442G where a group of strange people were unloading some protoss "junk" to display. The reason the people looked strange was because they looked fairly harmless, unlike just about everything else in this place. Kenny added "If visiting, do not look harmless" to the HHG2E's article on Domus.
Adam cringed as he saw the eight foot pirate's massive hands grab a piece and fully expected it to be crushed, which was a safe assumption considering the mans muscular arms had a higher volume than Adam himself, and probably weighed more as well. A lot more.
So it was rather surprising for him to see the piece of hardware move swiftly and efficiently between the giants hands, and it became obvious that this massive man was an expert on machinery looking at how he handled the piece of "junk".
"Two hundred credits." Adam said, trying to sound confident. And failing. Miserably. One does not simply sound confident when talking to a man big and strong enough to punch a hole into your ship, especially when the man looked the way that implied he would actually do it.
The head, one and a half feet above Adam's own and covered in messy black hair that probably hadn't even heard the word comb, let alone know it's definition, turned to look at him with one eye. The other was covered by an eyepatch. The pirates face was relatively impossible to read due to the large amount of beard covering it.
"200? You crazy or stupid?" The pirate asked.
"Well, we could lower it to 100..." Adam mumbled.
"Ok, seems stupid was the right answer." The pirate said. "This thing's worth at least 500. And I'm probably the only person here nice enough to tell you this." The pirate turned to his crew. "Someone teach this kid how to do business here while I and Kenny look at the rest."
A man in a brown suit and two shaving cuts walked up to Adam.
"Ok, here's how it works. You sell it for 2,000. Now, no one will buy it for that price obviously. So you start to haggle. Don't go under 1,500. The man will leave. When he walked precisely three meters, you tell him "Ok, 1,000". The man will say 500. You say 750. He says deal, and you ripped him off for 250 credits."
"Uh... Right..." Adam said.
"What, don't believe me?"
"Well, that sounds like a good way to get knifed here." Adam pointed out.
"True. But just being here is a good way to get knifed. Or your kidney's stolen. I recommend wearing some sort of bracelet that marks you for a disease. AIDS would be a good choice, I belive. Reduces your chance of having your kidney stolen."
"Yea... Thanks for the advice. Also, if you don't mind me asking, isn't distracting the salesman by giving business advice a good way to steal from him?"
"Indeed it is. But that's illegal here."
"Uh... This is a pirate station. Who here cares about legal?"
"Not illegal in that way. These people don't obey laws, that's correct. But without certain rules, this place would have never worked. So I set up rules, and I enforced them. Well, Sparrow over there and his brother enforced them." Kosh pointed at the pirate in the archaic costume, but in Domus it was almost impossible to look weird or out of place.
"Wait, you're that Kosh guy?" Adam asked. It was hard to not know that name if you set foot on Domus. They run a constantly repeating three minute video on Domus' history in the Registrations Office's waiting room - The purpose of the office is to collect DNA and fingerprints, mostly so that the people who break the few existing rules - or murder victims - can be identified. What the rules were was never clarified.
"The one and only." Kosh said and grinned in a self-satisfied way. "Cap'n, Kenny, this stuff any good?" He asked the pirates.
"Buying it." Kenny said. "I believe you people are looking for some rather... Unusual materials."
"Well, yeah..." Adam said, getting uncomfortable again.
"I can arrange those materials. No questions. And we won't ask where you got piece from a protoss flagship. Deal?"
"I belive I'm supposed to rip you off for 250 credits before I accept a deal." Adam pointed out.
Kenny smiled and tipped his hat. "Quick learner. We'll toss in some "change" as well."
Before Adam could say anything, three templar just appeared behind the little man, walked into the cargo ship and started unloading the salvage as Captain Sparrow Jack went to get hover-cart.
SoA:
The Bonecrusher Pirates buy Dagganoth's protoss "junk" for 1.5 points and 40 supply of mutalisks.
Location: Outside of planet Dalar in Dvergar System, Gnarled Wolf, Cargo bay.
Grell stepped out the armory, slapping a fresh clip into his rifle. He was in the special suit of combat armor that he had found on the ship. It was tinted with such a dark red that only in the light could you tell the difference from black. He stepped towards the black dropship, marines passing him to get to the armory. He saw Mike running diagnostics on his bird, and with a thumbs up he knew it was all good. “Mike, Im sorry bout earlier, I just have to think things through man.” he said his visor coming up just as he ended his words.
“Its nothing man, running into the rock field wasn't your fault. So, sir. Do you need me for combat after I finish up on the ship?” he asked with abit of anticipation edging his voice.
“Negative, I need you to get 12 people that are on nonessential areas to get the Orbital ready for launching to the planet. I want the ship to keep orbit, use aslittle fuel as possible and monitor the situation from up here. He paused and looked at his friend whom had lost the spark from when he had began talking. “Mike, Im trusting you with this million dollar ship, with our lives. I know you can do it.”
“Yea, Ill keep the pile of shit in orbit, don’t worry about the rest of the forces that are coming behind you, Ill have them come down in the best area near were your going.” he patted the piece of armor, then took off towards the pilots of the other medivacs. Grell smiled knowing he could trust him and turned as 7 marines stepped over to him.
“Sir, heard you could use an escort.” The man infront said, an unlit cigar hanging from his mouth.
“Yes, you all will do just fine.” he clicked the button for the ships back doors to drop down and stepped into it, feeling abit claustrophobic as the rest of them piled into it. Taking a seat at the back he turned away towards a special console for linking to datapads, the ships systems, and radio chatter. He clicked it on linking the sound to his suit, and linked to the viking pilots he had sent out to scout. “Whats the reports on your findings planetside?”
“We have light scatterings of Terran buildings, the location the data sent us to had the largest of the structures. Believe it may be the area the research is located at, but sir. . . we have a major problem.”
He could hear the tension in the pilots voice, and let out a small sigh before asking what the problem was.
“We have signs of Zerg activity near the building. It does not seem recent though, more like they had been here before, maybe why the planet is almost devoid of life.” he started, taking a pause to let out his breath, he must have been holding. “Also . . . we have had sightings of Zerg just off the area, not massive amounts, but ruminants.” Fuck, Zerg might still be there. He let the details go through his head. A small strike force to get the data with the army setting up outside there range might work. He could stay near the structures, dig in, and get anything relevant from the planet, then take off with what he gathered . . . he would get the data, some resources, and even some Zerg burgers if he was lucky. . . or death if he underestimated the Zerg.
“Get me imaging.” he said and a few seconds passed before the aerial view of the research facility cam to view. It was large, two story building with a small telescope stationed ontop of it. Afew satellites were positioned on the side, probably to receive and relay information to a ship in orbit. Perfect. He slid the image to the side and brought up the city that lay about a mile away from the research station. That was were his forces and base would be located at. He linked up with everyone being sent out and sent the pictures and info from the viking pilots out before he spoke.
“Listen up people, we may have a Zerg force on this planet, but all evidence shows that they are small residents probably left over when the Zerg attacked here before. My forces will be spread across the city and fortify around it. The command center will be located just outside it near a small mineral patch gathering resources with mules. It will be protected by 10 men and in the case of an attack, will fall back to the center of the city. Marines, fortify yourselves just outside the city, use the sandbags from the ship and any other scraps you find to fortify the area. I will go with this dropship and seven marines to make a snatch at the data and a thorough search of the building. 8 marines will need to be stationed outside of the area to alert of any oncoming enemy forces. Mike will be in charge of operations as I enter the building, incase I encounter hostile activity he is second in command. People, today we will earn I way into the world, this is a step towards making more than just ragtag living off the scraps of old ships we could steel, or delivery jobs. This might be a fight, this might be an easy snatch and grab, but one things for certain. We will do our job.”
he cut of the communication and heard the marines in his ship scream Hoora! He smiled an banged on the metal twice, the signal for takeoff. The ship moved, it took off, the loss of gravity would be soon and he soon felt the zero-Gs pull at him. He grabbed a handhold from above turned around and looked as his men, there red armor looking battleworn in the red light that illuminated them overhead. He smiled and then heard the pilot speaker snap on with a staticky sound.
“Alright boys, enter the atmosphere in five, four, three, two, one, zero.” as she finished the countdown gravity hit them all and metal clanking into the seats was registered. The ship was buffeted with the sudden re-entry to an atmosphere. He still held onto the handhold with his left hand, his other grabbing the rifle at his side.
“Woohoo one hell of a ride!” said one of the marines.
“Ofcourse, just wait till the pilot of the wolf tries a stunt like this with the big ship.” they all started laughing, all but Grell who felt as if something was wrong. He squelched the thought as they continued on there ride.
Inside Gnarled Wolf
Mike walked over to the people in engineering and pulled twelve of them off duty. He explained how lucky they were to be on the orbital and watching as all but two of them walked away complaining about the sudden transfer. He stepped out of engineering and checked his pad over again. All was going well and the troops were being loaded and sent out to the most defensible positions. Things were going well. He tapped a connection to the bridge and got Samantha on the screen.
“Mike, how can we help you?” she asked a smile spreading across her face. Mike admired her for a moment, looking into her deep blue eyes, but shook the thought setting his mind to duty.
“We need an orbit around the planet at these coordinates,” he tapped in the data and sent it to her screen. “It gives the best radio contract and allows quicker way to deploy, and load on troops.”
“Well get right to it, anything else?”
“No, that will be all for now.” he clicked the screen off and sent a notification for the other twenty viking pilots to get onto the planet, giving cover for the medivacs and commanders ship if needed. Satisfied with his work, he began his way over to the Command room were he would have tactical data on what was happening on the ground streaming in. He let out a sigh as he got closer to the room. He was one of the most important pieces of this strategy, yet . . . he felt like he could do nothing, but watch over what happened.
Grell's Special dropship at Research Facility
He jumped out, his men already checking the area out, there guns raised as they searched around. Grell thought about a link to the pilot of his ship and it happened, his suiting linking him up. “Alright, bug out and come back in an hour, or if I call emergency Alpha Red. We'll be here awhile.”
“Alright sir, see ya soon.” she said as the dropship lifted up and took off towards the sky. The link was cut and he turned towards the door a marine was examining. “Its jammed, gonna need explosives.” a marine said, but had spoke to soon. Grell lifted his foot and slammed it into the door denting it, the frame and door bending back from the stress. He bent down and charged it breaking the door down with his shoulder rush. He lifted his weapon ignoring the comments from the marines behind him as he moved in. The place was a mess, with papers and equipment scattering the floor. He picked up some of the papers, reading abit into how they were studying the psionics of the Zerg. He dropped it and continued forward, one of his men already ahead of him. “This place was ransacked, you think the Zerg did this?” The lead marine asked.
No, not enough scratch marks, there are a few blood splatters, but the way there on the ground and wall recommend bullets, not claws. . .” The silence stayed for a few moments and he heard another marine talking about the lack of bodies. “Cut it out, if there is Zerg here they, will hear you.” he said more to scare them then of seriousness. He saw a flight of stairs up and then some down. Alright four of you up three with me. He stepped down into the darkness, he closed his visor and the faint red glow made everything much easier to see. He stepped off the staircase to what seemed like a huge computer room.
They were to the left and right, a main one at the end of the room near a glass window. As he stepped into the room it lit up a light blue color and he switched the night vision off. Of all the computers in the room only two or three came on, luckily the one near the window worked. Grell stepped forward towards it and switched his rifle to his other hand so he could type in commands more effectively. He turned and looked at the marines.
“Look around the room for anything relevant, if you find something tell me.” with that he went back to the computer. It was full of Zerg, and Terran research. He skimmed through the files. All were lightly encrypted, until he came to a folder called X-Brood, Data-X. It caught his attention and he tried to access it with no success, it was not only encrypted and blocked, but also in something other than this computer. He clicked the eject button, with little success he then looked at the port being used.
“Fuck, I can't waste this info though. . .” He grabbed his datapad jacked it into the system and dragged afew of the more relevant files to it. When they finished downloading he took his knife and worked his way into the machine skillfully cutting out the device he needed. He took it out, it was oddly small only about the size of a USB drive. A piece of the computer it was locked to was still hanging from it, but he could fix this problem later when he got to Mike. He placed the datapad at his side, the research data in a small storage slot next to it. Turning around he went over to the marines as the went through the computers. He would make a thorough check of the place then head back to the town were his men were.
Outside Terran City Perimeter
Jim, placed another of the sandbags from the ship onto the other few that were piled onto the ground. He and the others had been working nonstop to make the area as defensible as possible, and as he looked around at the others who had erected similar defenses it pleased him. His name was Lentan, an odd name, yet his orange hair was even odder. Having being born into a military family he thought his life was set. Join the career later, do some fighting, and get to come home to an easy life. It had not happened, his family had been killed by the Zerg invasion of his homeworld, but atleast he was making a living here. He forced himself to focus on his duties, going back as 2 more sandbags were dropped. He grabbed both and carried them over to the others just as he saw something that made him drop the bags.
Zerg were coming, and in mass. The zerglings were in the head of the pack, yet hydras were coming out right behind them. “Fuck everyone get ready the Zerg is coming!" He looked right and saw a bunker that had been put up with some mined minerals would now probably save there lives, he bent down, placing his rifle on the sandbags to steady it. Marines joined next to him, there were thirty of them altogether, that and 3 landed vikings covering them. The other 4 were in the air covering them.
The zerglings finally got within range and he pulled the trigger, rounds arcing out and cutting into the line of enemy units. Four, five, eight fell, but they kept coming. The hydras would soon advance on the line, but they could hold. The vikings lanced out with shells shredding the zerglings that got closer to the marines. He heard 3 screams of pain as his buddies fell. The hydras edged closer, the lings were near bout on them. Suddenly the vikings in the sky could be heard firing at something in the air. He took the chance to glance at a flying dragonfly like thing. Suddenly he saw a cloud spew out, he couldn’t see shit.
“Fallback, Fallback!” he heard on his radio as screams, gunshots, and the sound of Zerg tearing armor and flesh was heard. He fell back running at full speed out of the hell. He saw a man get out just to be mawed by the zerglings. He ran, the only thing protecting him was 2 vikings that had landed and afew marines that were faster than him. He ran to the main road, the area almost wide Open, except for the fact they had placed a bus near the entrance sideways to make it 3/4ths of the original size.
He got to the line that was holding the Zerg of and fired. Hydras came out of the smoke and the needles hit next to his head, almost killing him. He shot at it, the viking shells tearing its side apart, his shells hitting near the head of it. He saw four more men join the group, they must have been from the bunker. Ones left arm was scorched from an explosion.
“Get into the line and hold it!” he screamed, it came out by instinct, yet he could see another of the dragonflys coming forward and the vikings were gone the sound of Vikings zooming by overhead and the mutas soon after made him realize why. He fired a crack shot at the already bleeding muta and to his amazement it fell, he did not get to see the result as the ominous smoke came again clouding hi vision and forcing him back from the bus area and into a building were others were shooting out of, covering him. The Zerg kept at it, but only rarely attacking them directly, more like they were.
“Get me a line to Mike ASAP!” He shouted, the connection being linked the man now being heard.
“Whats the situation down there soldier?” he said, an edge in his voice.
“Sir, I have something more important to say, the commanders in trouble, get him the hell out o-.” The connection was lost as a hydralisk burst through the back room a spike of its shattering through his helmet, slicing the side of his face, the force sending him to hit the ground. He got up in pain, some men still shooting at the corpse before three more went back to guard the other entrance. He grabbed the spine ripped it out the back of his now breached helmet and grabbed his gun. His visor went up, blood leaking from the gash across his face, yet he still stepped forward, his hand swapping out a fresh clip as he walked over to the window and took aim.
Medivac Pilot over city
“Damn it, so much chaos!” she said, now forcing herself to focus on the job at hand, healing a man who had a gash in his armor from a zergling.. The healer tabs at the end of her medivac were working nonstop, to the wounded that fell back from the battle. The viking in the air were holding so far, but if any more anti air came other than hydras, they would have to retreat. That thought became reality, as she saw a swarm of 12 mutas closing in fast. They tried to turn in time but the mutas slammed fast on them, the few missles they took doing nothing to them. The vikings bugged engines smoking, when suddenly a medivac pilot blocked the way causing one of the mutas to slam into it an fly lower than usual. The medivac died quickly, but the vikings were able to retreat away.
The mutas continued there pursuit, yet 4 of them stayed to hit the medivacs. She let out a scream as one of them came towards her. She throttled up and began to fly away, but was to late. It had her tail and soon the engines began to fail from repeated shots to them. One broke, she lost control, saw flames burst out from the sides, and slammed into a building.
Research Station
The last zergling fell dead. About thirty of them had rushed the house, and five had gotten inside. eight men stationed outside were being to lazy and the attack had caught them offguard. It was only him and the seven he had when he came here now and they had to get outside onto the ship now, his men were at war with the Zerg and he needed to get there to help them. He exited the building his gun coming up as he looked around, nothing. He put a broadcast to dropship frequencys and spoke. “Alpha Red.”
He heard the speaker come on in his helmet, the familiar voice of his dropship pilot beginning to talk. “Commander, coming in after you called, eta is 3 minutes.”
Damn it that was to long, they might be dead by the time he got there. He stepped out looking in the sky for the pilot, it was a mistake. The ground burst, he instinctively kicked whatever it was and saw a ling go flying. He aimed low firing near his feet, catching another two of them in the head. The marines began firing, one falling down, his leg torn off his body. Grell moved sideways as two hydra spikes went towards him, he fired at it taking its head off with two bursts of his gun. He began focusing on the oncoming zerglings taking three more down, but the rest got to him, one jumped for his face, he lurched forward, the bayonet piercing through its body, yet as he shook it off he felt another bite at his side. He shook rolling sideways, and bringing his rifle up in a prone position fired, nonstop killing another two lings. He got up a spike hitting his left shoulder. He moved time seeming to slow down. He aimed holding the trigger at the new hydralisk threat that stood infront of him. He shot down one, then two, then three hydras, another needle lodged into his side. He turned, to see another was there.
A marine began falling back a zergling ripped into his chest. He grabbed the him by the shoulder ripping the injured man infront of the hydralisk spikes speeding towards him. They pierced, the zergling died along with the man whom let out one last scream then died. He held him up with his left arm, the rifle slapping against is now dead allies shoulder and he shot letting the bullets go from the hydras chest to its head. He felt a burst in him, a loss of energy.
He coughed up abit of blood dropped the man and turned to meet what had done this to him. He saw the blur, aimed and opened fire, hitting the invisible creature in the side. He would have went to the head, yet a zergling rammed into his side, throwing him offbalance and causing him to instinctively rip it off him with his left arm and stab it in the face with his bayonet. He tried to readjust towards the new enemy, but the world shuddered, blurred. His rifle was right at it, the trigger was to heavy to press. He forced it in though and heard the sound of a bullet flying out of the barrel, heard everything so clear for a split second like time had stopped. Another man had screamed, now dead. He knew he had got them killed, he would probably be dead and that he was going to see if hell or heaven really existed. Then a weight forced him to clench in pain, and everything went black.
SoA: Grell and his forces go to the surface of Dalar, Grell himself going to a research facility, while his forces cover the perimeter of the city and a orbital mines minerals for as long as its safe. The marines erect 2 bunkers from the resources gathered. Grell found special data while inside the research facility. During grells scavenging, the city went under attack and loses of 38 marine, the 2 bunkers, a viking, and 6 medivacs from mutalisk harass. Grell was captured when leaving the research facility losing another 7 marines totaling 45 marine deaths.
A man in a white lab-coat entered the room. It was clean. The surfaces were white or silver and not a single speck of dust could be found. Along the wall were five capsules filled with water, and a naked human inside each of them with breathing devices covering their mouths and noses. On the right hand side of the room stood desks with blue keyboards and matching holographic screens above, and four scientists were tending to them.
The man cleared his throat. The scientists stopped working and looked at him, then one jumped up and ran over to him.
“Good afternoon, dr. James.” The scientist said uneasily.
“Is it?” James asked.
“Yes, it’s four P--”
“I meant the good part.”
“Well, that depends on how you see it.” The scientist walked over to the capsules. “Four of our subjects aren’t responding well to the treatment, whereas one is. Rather well actually.”
Dr. James looked at the humans inside the capsules. The first one was a woman. A lot of long black hair had fallen off her head and was collecting at the bottom of the capsule. The next was a man with blond hair, the roots of which were now becoming white. The third was another man, with short black hair, but he looked... starved. The fourth was a woman with long brown hair which actually looked very healthy. James smiled, then quickly glanced at the fifth subject, which looked rather sickly, and looked back at number four.
“It’s her, right?” He smirked, knowing he picked the right one and further impressed the men that called themselves “scientists” that worked for a genius like him. All other’s were defect in one way or another, a sign of the treatment not working the way it should.
“Actually, doctor...” The scientist was getting even more nervous. “Her body rejected the treatment completely. It’s him.” The scientist pointed towards the white haired man. “It didn’t work entirely; it turned him into an albino. His eyes are becoming red as well, and the hair is quickly changing color to white, which also happens to prove his regenerative abilities. He has advanced a lot more than we expected on such a dosage.”
James observed the man carefully. The albino part was a slight complication, but nothing serious. It only affected his looks. He looked very muscular, and he was tall. He was already a great candidate to begin with. But if he really responded to the treatment better than expected...
“Good job.” Dr. James said and smiled. “Mark him. X-04. I believe this one will be successful. Continue with the treatment. Get rid of the failures.”
Novigrad, Zagrov Dinari System
“You asked for me?” A man said and entered the room, surprising Aranov.
The man was almost two meters tall, wore a black ghost outfit, had short black hair and black eyes.
“Xavier, yes. Have a seat.” Aranov said, and the ghost sat down. Aranov heard the expensive armchair creak under the man’s weight, which Aranov knew was far beyond natural. “Wine?” he asked.
“I believe I should say that I am on duty.” The ghost answered. “But even if I weren’t, I’d prefer something non-alcoholic.”
Aranov poured water into a glass and handed it to the ghost, then poured himself some red wine and took a sip before sitting down in the armchair opposite the ghost.
“Why did you ask me to come?” Xavier asked. His face showed absolutely no emotion, as always.
“I’d like you to resolve the situation on Dunar. You are rather good in dealing with such situations.”
Aranov looked at the ghost for any sign of surprise, doubt or offense at being sent on such a petty task. As always, he found none. The ghost didn’t even hesitate before replying.
“I will head there immediately. Anything else I should know or take into consideration?”
“I’m always on the search for good commanders for our army, someone that shows initiative or creativity, someone who doesn’t need orders in the length of essays to get the job done efficiently. If anyone else volunteers to deal with the situation, let them handle it and tell me how they do. You may help if asked to.”
The ghost finished his glass of water in silence, and Aranov watched, still searching for any sign of a humanity in the ghost. This man was probably the most peculiar human he had ever met. He was used to resocs acting in a similar way, but this ghost hadn’t undergone resocialization. He simply was this way.
“Is that all?” Xavier asked.
“Yes. You may leave. Take any of the fleets in orbit, with exception of my own.”
“Very well. Goodbye.” The ghost stood up and left.
Aranov watched him leave. Once again he had not shown a single sign of emotion, had not questioned him, and had not used a single title of respect. He liked the ghost.
SoA:
Weird stuff is going on on Deiliri
Xavier Origin is being sent to Dunar, Magrathea System, to take care of the Outsiders. He is taking an Aranov Light fleet with him. 4 posts until arrival.
As the pirates took off, Sarah chuckled. "Nice job there, Adam!"
-"Oh shove it, you!"
"That could've gone a lot worse, to be fair", said Jeremey.
-"Yeah, if- "
"Excuse me, gentlemen."
A scrawny man wearing a raincoat had somehow snuck up on them. He looked as if he had some kind of bump on his back.
"What do you want?", Adam said in a hostile manner, having caught on to Kosh's words.
"What do I want? That's a strange question coming from someone serving the Zerg on Domus", replied the stranger.
Adam looked shocked for probably just a second too long before he managed to pull off a semi-convincing chuckle. "Seriously... what?"
"Your man over there is infested", the stranger said nodding at Jack.
Jack seemed better than Adam at playing his role, and replied with an aggressive "Infested? Do I need to infest you, little man?"
Sighing, the stranger replied with an irritated voice. "Oh, cut to the chase. I know you've got a parasite in you and I know you are working for Dagganoth. I need to get a message through to him. Follow me".
With that, the stranger strotted off into a subroute.
"I don't trust that man...", Adam replied.
Jack shrugged. "Let's follow him. There's four of us. We can take him if trouble arises.
With that, the four followed the strange man. Until they were standing in a quiet corner. The man looked at Jack and seemed to direct his full attention to him.
"Dagganoth. I know you can hear this. Listen up. My name is Adrian. I was a member of the Themos Brood."
-"Was?", Jack asked.
"Was. Or actually, still am, to Lilith"
-"Who's Lilith?", asked Adam.
"I'm offering you my services, Dagganoth.", Adrian went on, completely ignoring Adam's question. "I'm willing to give you all information I possibly can on the Themos Brood"
Jack was seemingly the only one who understood the situation, the parasite in his body feeding him information form Dagganoth.
-"Dagganoth wants to know how he can know whether you aren't actually a Themos spy."
"Check my synapses. Do you see any external factors controlling them? For all the scheming she does, she does a remarkably poor job actually controlling her Brood. Specifically the infested Terrans that Baal left her - most of the companions I travel with have their free will to at least a degree. Yet we are still connected to the hive mind and get an easy glimpse into every plan she shares with her troops."
-"Why would you help us, though?"
"My reasons are simple. The bitch infested me. I want my life back. Protoss and Terran will never accept me this way, and any other Zerg Brood would just assume control and use me for their army. I have heard about your techniques, Dagganoth, and they seem my only option. When I saw you were somehow working together with Terrans I knew I had to contact you - their research could be the key to me getting my body back".
-"Very well. Dagganoth assume you'll be able to come and go if you're flying so low under the radar. Any information is good information. We will be counting on your reports."
"And I will be counting on your assistance, Dagganoth. Keep in mind that I am not doing this out of charity."
-"Dagganoth says he knows."
"He'd better..."
And with that, the strange man walked off. Though Jack had completely understood what had just gone on, Jeremy, Sarah and Adam were left looking rather bewildered. "First pirates, now this... Some place this is. I wonder what's next!", Jeremy said.
SoA
-Jack's crew meets 'Adrian', a free-willed Infested Terran who wants to spy on the Themos Brood for Dagganoth.
"{Is that really necessary?}" Rassyr asked as he and the templar-turned-pirate paced the corridors of the Order's headquarters.
"{In the eyes of the Council, it would certainly eliminate the possibility of terran involvement. Terrans in a protoss ship look a lot more like hired mercenaries than terrans in a terran ship. The Council's bias towards your Order would only further this belief,}" Waiter responded in his emotionless, Nerazim voice.
"{I don't understand,} Rassyr said, shaking his head.
"{Reliance upon terrans would fit into the Imperium's perception of your Order. They do not think highly of you. The only thing that would truly surprise them would be cooperation with the zerg. And even there they would find logic and a weapon to use against you.}" There was a brief silence. Then:
"{I can't say I take pride in having to hire mercenaries to do our job for us. However, it is the Imperium that has forced us to take these measures and we have few other options, none of which are wise. Have you actually found these mercenaries or are you still searching for them?}"
"{We are still searching. Had we found them, we would not be having this conversation. There are not many terrans willing to venture into protoss space, at least not with the aim of attacking protoss.}"
"{I am not surprised. Our might is not something a measly terran fleet can handle head-on. Do you require aid in the construction of this ship?}"
"{Only in the form of instruction and schematics. We have already procured the materials necessary for the vessel.}"
"{Is that so?}" there was a badly concealed hint of surprise in Rassyr's mental voice and Waiter picked up on it all too easily.
"{Seeing as I just said so, probably,}" the Nerazim answered. Rassyr's eyes narrowed at this and he stopped walking.
"{I shall inform the others of this and instruct a group of engineers to accompany you back to Domus. As you may already know, the Exiled tribes have agreed to assist with the operation meaning we will definitely have the firepower needed to destroy the Imperium's fleet. En Taro Tassadar,}" he said, indicating that the meeting was over.
"{En Taro Tassadar, Rassyr,}" Waiter answered. As the two went off in opposite directions, he thought to himself: Firepower. As if that's what it's about.
Khasan System
The lone observer drifted through the dark rim of the Khasan system as dim and inactive as it had been for the past few decades. And then something caught its single robotic eye.
Suddenly, the robot sparked to life, unfolding its gravitic boosters and adjusting its course. OX-73, eye of the Imperium, had spotted something unusual.
SoA:
Rassyr and Darth Waiter discuss the Erana mission. A group of Erana's Order engineers is instructed to accompany Waiter.
An Imperium observer is activated after thirty years of aimlessly orbiting the Khasan system.
The To-Do List was a relatively small asteroid near the heart of Domus. It was bathed in the strange dark light as the Market Rock as well, just that here it was shades of blue and green. The reason the place was called the To-Do List was the massive holographic screen in the center of the asteroid - It was quite literally a To-Do List. Anytime anyone had an important job that needed to be done, they'd throw it on the list so that everyone in this asteroid could see it. While the list itself occupied the center of the asteroid, there were multiple levels of platforms running around it, filled with people. There were offices, stands and the occasional DIY table. The latter two were mostly there for signing up for crews or missions, while most of the offices were occupied by information brokers and other companies one could higher. Generally, if you needed a job, information on a job or people to do a job, the To-Do List was the place to go.
For the second time that day, Adam almost flinched as a Templar stepped out of the shadows. While he did expect someone to step out of the shadows and steal his kidneys since he got here, he didn't expect a protoss. And he also didn't expect someone to step out of shadows that weren't there either - the Templar and the shadows he stepped from just materialised in front of Adam.
"What do you want?" Adam did his best to hide his surprise, then wondered how effective it would be against one of the telepathic race.
{I believe ya met ma colleagues earlier, Sticks an' Stones.} The templar said, his mental voice devoid of all emotion. Adam was fairly certain that protoss generally had some hair like tentacles sticking out of the back of their head, and this one didn't. Probably a dark templar. {Ma name is Words. We're... Lookin' fa people that aren't afraid ta blow up some protoss.}
"You... Want to hire us?" Adam asked.
{Ya sold us parts of a protoss wreck. We assumed ya knew how ta handle such situations.}
The Templar's head turned to look at the rest of Adam's people. His gaze fell upon Jack.
{He is... Unusual.} Words nodded at Jack. {What's up with him?}
"What do you mean?" Adam asked, then thought of a better line. "Is that an insult?"
{Do not pretend ya can fool me.} The protoss turned his head back to Adam and spoke again, but this time his words sounded sharp, as if they were hisses or the crack of a whip. {I know ya wondered why I and my colleagues have such "weird" names. Do ya want ta know? When we first worked with terrans, we heard a sayin' and thought it fit us. Sticks and Stones will break ya bones, and Words will rip ya fuckin' throat out.}
Words remained silent for a moment to allow his namesake to sink in.
{Now that that is clear, you talk ta me. If ya wanna keep summin' a secret, that's fine. But don't pull off some kinda act. I don't like it. And people don't like me when I don't like something.}
"Yea, something is off about Jack. Can we keep it at that?" Adam said, feeling strangely confident.
{We can. For now. If ya are up for ta job, ya'll have to talk to ma boss. We don't like strange people, they can be hard ta trust.}
"We'll take the job." Jack said.
{Good. You will hear from us soon.} And with that, the templar stepped back into the non-existant shadows and was gone again.
A Storage Room The Andrumeda, Dras Lana orbit
The room was mostly empty and completely dark. The only thing seperating it from the state of emptiness was a protoss sitting in the center, meditating. He looked like a Nerazim, yet still had his nerve cords and for some reason dressed like a terran.
A hologram of Kenny appeared and said. "Words said that he needs you to check out possible candidates for the job, one of them is "odd". He says there are some similarities to infesteds, but the man himself isn't actually infested."
{Odd indeed, mon.} Waiter said, his mind focused on the endless Void that was everywhere. It was... Calming. But it wasn't as if he needed calming. His calmness and patience earned him half of his alias, his origin the other. {Set course ta Domus, inform tha Order that we are needed elsewhere an' that they can contact us anytime, then tell Words I will have a chat with that odd man once I arrive.}
As the hologram disappeared, the Templar meditated on other calming thoughts which were more related to what he needed to do, and he also enjoyed doing. He remembered all those times prisoners screamed at the mere sight of him, remembering what he could do to their minds, cracking them like a four hundred thousand ton asteroid cracks a squirrel's skull and its supply of nuts. Good times...
SoA:
The Pirates offer Adam a job involving "blowing up protoss", details will be given after the "job interview"
Darth Waiter is heading for Domus to conduct the "job interview". 2 posts until arrival.
Grell started awake still in his suit and standing. He quickly took stock of his surroundings: what looked to be an old civilian bomb shelter, covered with zerg creep which also held some of his marines, still unconscious, plastered to the walls. The pirate attempted to move step forward to check on his men, but found that he too was restrained by the creep and could not break free. A quick diagnostic of his suit revealed to Grell that his communications were non-functional. He was on his own.
Grell's eyes instinctively darted to the door in time to see a form run past. The pirate recognized the low-slung form of a zergling and immediately started looking for his gun. He spotted it, to his right, along with a neat pile of Gauss Rifles. When his eyes returned to the door a figure stood in it. "Finally. You wake up. It was getting difficult to keep the zerglings back. How are you fealing?"
The pirate studied the newcomer carefully before answering. It was infested, that much was obvious by the discoloration of its skin and the psionic tendrals in place of hair, pulled back from his face into a rough bundle at the back. The rest of his form was covered in stained and battered longcoat. Seeing that he was not in any immediate danger, Grell responded, attempting to keep his voice authoritative, "Pretty good, I see that im not mutilated or infested yet, so why dont you break the big news of why Im here then."
The infested frowned in disappointment and shrugged, before raising his hand to reveals the Data Pad and the external drive that Grell had salvaged. "Do you realize how long I have been after this?" He starts fiddling with the pad, clearly sifting through the files, "It was very kind of you to supply me with them. I thought I'd return the favor."
"Why that's mighty fine of you to do, kill my men, steal my stuff, and then you let me live. I have to say that's quite a way to repay me. Now why dont you just tell me the whole reason I am alive and well." he responded, as he tried to struggle his way free of the creep.
"I saved some of your men," the infested stated dejectedly, waving his hand about the small room. "Honestly, things got rather out of hand. I really have work to do to teach the zerg how to be subtle. I appologize for my failing."
Grell looked at the zerg in surprise. "So all zerg dont just murder everything in there path?" he let out a sigh, abit relieved that he and some others were still alive. "Now, what is it. . . you're after?"
"Have you read these files? This 'X-1' project is quite amazing. I do hope they are exaggerating about its abilities, though. Otherwise it could be quite dangerous."
The pirate set his mind through what he had read and went through, remembering nothing of the sort. "Well Im guessing you have, so refresh me if you would."
"These Auruleans are attempting to enhance their own soldiers using zerg and protoss DNA. They may even have been successful at least once. You know, I hate it when people ignore their history."
"So your saying this may actually work, and that it is a danger to you and all your zerg buddies. This merging of DNA though, would it not cause the man to be un like a human in any way or look, people dont just look at a half zerg leader and follow them to war or such. . ."
"Maybe, maybe not. It depends on which genes you spliced, and when in the developmental process you implemented the transfer. Certainly a new born hybrid would be quite a sight, but someone given gene therapy to say, increase their psionic abilities, enhance their skelital and musculatur and regenerative abilites, such a subject could look quite normal, for a time."
"Alright, so whats this have to do with me?" he said running over the possibilities through his head.
"You tell me. You came here for the data, after all. I assumed that you would have something to do with it."
"I took a job on it, snatch the data, bring it back, no questioning the reason, and no looking at the data. Seems like I was setup, sent right into your claws. I never got the full chance to read it, the data was encrypted. I would ask how you were able to do it, but that's a waste."
"Oh, the decription codes were on your data pad. You could have gotten the data from any terminal with this pad. Quite clever of you to take the drive, though. Gives you plausible deniability to your employers. I am called Orloth." The infested reaches out and lightly draws a line down the creep, which promptly splits open dumping Grell unceremoniously to the floor.
The pirate picked himself up, rubbing the goo off his chest and then stood there testing each of his limbs for weakness. He stretched his arms out, let out a yawn, and then finally faced the infested. "My names Grell, but seeing as my dogtags are gone you probably already knew that. Now, what is it you needed me for?"
"Information." Orloth paused thoughtfully, "I don't think your employers diliberately set you up. If I have been successful, The Coalition should have no idea that I am here, and any reports of zerg in the system would show minimal presence. If I have been unsuccessful, they probably wouldn't have sent you."
"A ghost, using wits to hide from his enemies, and be a valuable asset inside a system that no one knows about. If I had not returned, they could say the threat might still be there, yet still again if I go back, you might be in danger of me talking." He paused thinking of the zerg plan, and then of his employer. the bastard hadn't told him the system had been attacked by zerg, or of what magnitude. He scrubbed the thought. "So, what is the information you seek?" he said, abit of curiosity leading his voice.
"Oh, I don't think I'll be in too much danger of you talking. Either you will be leaving here without the inclanation or without the ability. Which it will be is your choice."
"You know, a simple pinky promise could have been enough."
"A pinky promise? We are down to simple logic, my friend. Why would you tell your employers about me, when they care so little about your life? It is in your best interests to keep me friendly."
"You knew I was not going to talk is that it, or is there some ransom you are going to use against me, though we both know you won't choose the first. Everyone knows I could make money off just the information you are here, so would I trade it? No, not without reason, but in the interest of your 'logic' let me here what you do plan to do."
"If I am not satisfied with your intentions by the time you leave here, I will erase our little chat from your mind. I would prefer not to do that, as you have been quite friendly, considering, but I cannot take chances at this stage. Besides, you are far more useful to me alive then dead."
"Then we can both agree on something. Now how about I make it easier on you to not take my life, somthing that could benifit us both. Im sure you can get were this is going."
"Yes, but I prefer that you are polite enough to state it."
"Ha, if you would like it then, I presume that we form an alliance. I can understand that you would like an outside connection, that and me having a zerg ally could benefit me in ways as well."
"'Form an Alliance.' Such a formal way of putting it. But if you insist, it will do. Your men will wake up shortly. Go well, Mr. Sharton." With a slight bow, the infested abruptly left the shelter.
~~
Mike was sitting in the command station of the Gnarled Wolf, attempting to coordinate search and rescue teams when the call came in. The Captain had been found. He along with eighteen other men had gotten nabbed by those damned dragonflies, and now were apparently just strolling back into base, with a couple of pilots from the downed medivacs as well.
"Somebody get the Captain on the speakers."
There was some shuffling as they swiftly go Captain Sharton to the Command Center.
"Mike! Damned its good to be back. No questions now, just give the order to pack up and go. I want to be on the first shuttle up."
"Yes sir, captain. Will you be taking command back when you get up here."
"I will not. I want you to get us back to Domus while I get myself good and drunk. Tell the barkeep to have my bottle of Tauren Whiskey ready."
"Yes sir."
SOA: Orloth has a little chat with Captain Grell, and then lets him and 18 of his (believed dead) marines and 2 medivac pilots to go free. The Gnarled Wolf will be immediately packing up to return to Domus.
"{Everything is prepared for the take-off, Master.}", said Dealash while escorting Kelanin to his ship. "{Your escort troops are already prepared and are waiting for you commands.}"
"{Well done. Take care of Grogir while I'm absent.}"
"{Rather he'll take care of me, I guess. Have a good flight.}" With a raised hand Kelanin appreciate his wish while he enters his ship.
In the moment he take seat as the commander of his ship the conversion signal lightens up. "Who is it?", asked he gently while pressing the button which flashed.
A holographic screen appears in front of him with another protoss. "En Taro Tassadar, Ambassador Kelanin no'Karanur. I am Opheilm from the Order."
"En Taro Tassadar, Opheilm of the Order."
"Ambassador, I've heard you will participate in this mission as a representative for your tribe."
"That is true.", he replied, wondering about what could comes next.
"We both know that a direct attack on the transferring fleet is impossible."
"Sure."
"This fact causes me to build an infiltration squadron and here I'm asking you to take a leading role aside me."
"What are you planning me to do?"
"I will infiltrate the ship while our main forces will distract the convoy and I would like to see you accompany me."
"Sounds easy enough to me."
"We could also need some additional troops."
"The Tama are willing to support me with a couple of dark templar."
"I'm afraid to tell you that this won't be enough. I'm thinking about some terran mercenaries."
"Sadly, I didn't got any ressources from my council."
"Well, I'll talking to my leader if he's willing to support us with ressources."
"I am about to head to Dras Lana in the very moment."
"Then I won't try to hinder you anymore."
"Thank you, consider my presence next to you when we are aboard. En Taro Tassadar."
"En Taro Tassadar, Ambassador." The screen disappears and Kelanin is thinking about a possible strategy comparing to the one of Orpheilm.
"Commander?", asked one of his helmsman.
"Huh? Ah, yeah. Take-off heading Dras Lana."
"Yes, Sir."
SOA: Opheilm asked Kelanin to join his task force, which should infiltrate Erana's transport ship.
Additionally Kelanin is heading to Dras Lana (10 hex with speed 4)
Waiter was still in his storage room as they neared Domus, focusing on the nothing that was everywhere, and occasionally thinking about the good old days when he was an "interrogation specialist". While it was technically seen a desk job, his psionic skills, including both those that use the Khala and those that use the Void, were not wasted either. It was rare that he was asked to do some "physical" work, seeing as he bureaucratically seen didn't exist back then, but when he did it was either solo missions or he was accompanied by a squad of very special Dark Templar. He could feel the minds of the seven of them as they came close to the cluster of asteroids.
But he also felt something else. Something big, something powerful... Something that shouldn't be in such an asteroid cluster. It wasn't a Ghost or Templar - Not even he himself had such a powerful psionic signature, and he was rather convinced that he was one of the best. The first two things that came to mind were an archon made of a dangerously high amount of Templar, or a zerg cerebrate. Both seemed liked dumb ideas.
{Swallow.} He reached towards the Captains mind. {Have Kenny scan tha surroundings. There's somethin' big here, psionic. I'd like ta... Have a chat with it.}
Will do, Waiter. The pirate thought to himself, knowing the protoss was listening, and did as he was told.
It took them only a few minutes of flying around a pocket of asteroids a good way away from Domus for Waiter to finally get a grasp on whatever was there. For something of it's size and power, it had done a good job of eluding his mind. As soon as he found it, he was able to recognize what it was.
{Sup, brah?} He told the Zerg cerebrate and felt it flinch. {Lissn', ya are sorta in ma back yard, and I'm fairly certain ya know Zerg aren't too welcome around here.}
{I know. My name is Dagganoth.}
{And I am Darth Waiter, officially I hold no rank, but I practically run tha Pirate empire with ma friend Doom. If ya want ta call me by rank, ex-ecutor will do fine.}
{Greetings then, Executor Waiter--}
{Ex-ecutor.} Waiter emphasised the past tense.
{We mean no harm. We are not like our brethren.} Dagganoth said.
{While I find that fact hard ta believe, I know when people are lyin', and ya don't seem ta be.} Waiter said, intrigued. Dagganoth still seemed somewhat surprised, which Waiter thought was entirely reasonable.
The two sort of... Looked at each other for half a minute in silence. It was that sort of silence that is there when you are sitting in the dentist's waiting room, have a chat with some other random person, and both of you quickly run out of things to say and just look at each other awkwardly, waiting for the other to say something. Except this wasn't a waiting room, they only interacted mentally. The Andrumeda's scanners haven't picked up Murkag yet, and the zerg vice versa equivalent hasn't happened either. So they were just there, idly examining the very little of each other's minds that they could see.
Waiter saw the usual - a mind that had experience with telepathy and shielded itself appropriately, and it of course felt rather different due to it being a cerebrate, but he expected that. He found it somewhat similar to Kenny's "mind" and chuckled at the irony.
Dagganoth on the other hand saw something rather unsual for a telepath. Nothing. He definitely knew Waiter was there, he talked to him afterall. While he had no first hand experience - Jack talking to Words was more like second-hand experience - he knew that Dark Templar talked without emotion... But this wasn't it. He wondered whether a Dark Templar could even be such a powerful telepath. But Waiter's mind looked as if it didn't exist. Usually it is fairly obvious that there is a mind, you could practically see and feel a shell around it if protected itself, and the more clever and experienced were able to hide the parts they wanted to protect, make those parts elude the grasp of other minds. But a mind would still be felt. The only reason Dagganoth was certain that Darth Waiter was there because he felt him doing something similar to the telepathic equivalent of humming. And now that he thought of it, Waiter had only started humming after Dagganoth had begun questioning his presence.
{Ya are a quick one, mon.} Waiter said. {Most take a lot longer ta come ta that conclusion. But then, ya are a cerebrate. Now, let's just get to tha point. What do ya want?}
Dagganoth shared memories of the events on Barkanos, of selling the protoss salvage and of the conversation with Words.
{Ah, so ya man is tha one Words called me here for.} Waiter chuckled. {What a coincidence. Now, I'm afraid I can't hire zerg. Not that I don't think ya aren't up to tha job - There are a lot of politics involved, and we just can't have zerg present.}
{Yet you do need someone to get the job done.}
{True. But I can't have the zerg directly involved. The only reason I actually have ta hire a third party is to avoid a political shitstorm, so hiring tha zerg would kinda miss tha point.}
{I understand. That would however, give me a chance at something far more valuable than money. Allies. Since you cannot implicate Zerg directly, I am willing to do you a favor. How does a diversion not involving me sound?}
Waiter thought for a second.
{A diversion might be useful. Now, I would ratha not reveal tha entire plan just yet. Trust is somethin' that is earned, afterall. But I can tell ya this: We are going ta intercept a very valuable Imperium delivery heading ta Vetras. Anything that would lower the size of tha escort that delivery would have without actually cancelling it would be in my favor. No one must evah know that ya were evah involved, or that tha diversion is more than a lucky coincidence. When tha time is right, I can help ya forge alliances, but until then our... "Arrangement" must remain secret. I can arrange more of those... Resources ya traded tha protoss wreck in for in return. And actual money can be arranged as well if necessary.} Waiter said, and then he lost his accent and his voice went dead serious. {But know this: If you double cross me or screw me over in any way, there will be nowhere, nowhere in the entire universe where you will be safe from me.}
{I have not been safe in a long time. Regardlesss, let us settle it this way: I will provide a diversion. You'll know what it is as soon as you see it. Afterwards, you pay me what you are willing to give. I will give you this warning; once you have your delivery, get out of the system.}
{Good. One of my people will deliver a communications device to ya humans. Notify me before ya initiate and finalize tha diversion, and I will notify ya once it is required.}
SoA:
Darth Waiter and Dagganoth come to an arrangement.
Adam is given an FTL communicator able to directly contact Kenny, and through him the pirates.
Darth Waiter arrives at Domus.
Adam was sitting on his bunk. His trip to Domus had certainly been interesting. For all the adventure he went after, he felt like he nearly got killed three times. Then again, it didn't turn out so bad; the first of those times was just a bunch of five foot pirates illegally buying his wares, the second time it had been an infested Zerg and the third time it had been a Dark Templar that threatened to... what was it again? Break his bones and rip his throat out. No, he'd had enough adventure for now and felt like 'taking a day off' and relaxing. First, he was going to get some sleep, and later he would maybe try out that Jacuzzi. He couldn't shake a bit of a dreadful feeling, though, as if he had taken too big a bite of this adventure game - at least life on Barkanos was less complicated.
{I can sense that you are not at ease, Adam}
Adam jumped before he figured it was Dagganoth.
{I did not mean to startle you. It was my intention to put you at ease}
"How'd'you want to do that?", Adam replied to the air.
{I have something I wish to tell you. A story. Do you wish to hear it?}
"I'm not sure what 'story' a Zerg could come up with that would put me at ease, but sure, I guess...", Adam said as he laid down calmly on his bed.
{A long time ago, the Zerg started out small. Most younger Cerebrates like me do not remember the very beginning, but I know our history back fairly far. I am talking about the point where the Zerg were already Zerg, but not yet capable of planetary travel. At this point we had our distinct state of being that your species has dubbed the 'Hive Mind mentality', yet our race was stuck on the planet Zerus where the Xel'Naga were experimenting on us. The Overmind had bundled our gear towards evolution and focused it towards greater purposes.)
(Similar to your own history, even the Zerg had its disagreements. When the Overmind attempted to lure in the Behemoths to prepare us for space travel, several Cerebrates had expressed serious discontent towards the idea. We knew not for certain what space held, and some Cerebrates even doubted the possibility of real flight. Others did not see the use in it, and proved content with the various species our planet still had to offer. They did not want to see the fact that Zerus would eventually run out of resources and other species. However, the Overminds will was strong enough to maintain complete leadership, and the Zerg race did eventually end up in space. Evidently.}
"You're saying that strong cohesion and leadership through a single being prevents strife? Then why do you not, like your brethren, seek to dominate all life to prevent this strife from taking place in the universe?".
{Because what you have dubbed 'free will', and what is for me still nameless, cannot be denied. Even on Zerus, like I told you, the Cerebrates themselves already argued about different opinions. Have you really prevented strife and succeeded in creating unity if you force arguments out of your race? I do not think so. Therefore, I think that perfect unity is impossible. Which has lead me to my beliefs: the closest we can get to perfection is through consensus. Combining our opinions, and letting them flow together in the fact that they all matter. This is why I avoid fights. I do not think force will help us get much closer to our goal than it already has.}
"Well... if you look at it that way. I guess you were right, you did ease my mind". Ever since coming aboard, Adam had not fully trusted Dagganoth. He had trusted him enough to leave Barkanos with him, but some part of him still thought Dagganoth was part of the Zerg killing machine who'se image he had burned into his brain. That part was now gone, and Adam was finally ready to trust the Cerebrate as if he were a Terran.
{'Good night', Adam... is that how you say it?}
Adam grinned. "Good night, Dagganoth". With that, he drifted up to sleep as Murkag began to accelerate - with the Terran crew back on board, he was headed towards the Celest system.
SoA
-Flavour story, Dagganoth earns Adam's full trust.
-Murkag leaves for the Celest system from Domus. He will avoid the Borus system in regards to his last contact with the Gracken Brood, leaving his travel time at 14 hexagons. With a 6 speed ship this means it'll be 10 posts from this one until he'll arrive.
"What do you want, Orion?" Aranov asked the face on the holo-screen.
"Mind your tone." Orion answered.
Aranov showed no visible reaction to the comment. He was beginning to wonder whether Orion actually understood that he had absolutely no reason to tolerate him, the Auruleans were weak, protected by him, one of the major military powers in the sector. He didn't like their pride, but he put up with them - They were good scientists.
"I am sorry." Aranov said calmly. "Had a bad hour. The Outsiders are getting on my nerves."
"I didn't hear about any Outsider attacks." Orion said, sensing the lie.
"That could be because you aren't the one who's supposed to deal with them." Aranov said in such a polite manner that Orion didn't get the insult. "It doesn't matter, just a minor nuisance. What did you call me about?"
"Our... Project... We have another subject." Orion said.
"It better be good. I don't want another runaway like last time." Aranov said. "I am sorry, but I am losing my patience in this matter."
"Science takes time, Aranov--"
"I know that, and please don't raise your voice. One would think we aren't getting along. What I'm saying is that the last two projects that worked are gone. I paid a lot for your research, and the results just run away. If you can't supply me with any results after this project, I will have to reduce my funding. This is starting to become unprofitable."
"Don't talk to me like that."
"You have to understand, I need new ships and soldiers, I need to empower my army. The army you want me to use to destroy the zerg. I'm sure you can imagine what I could've done with all the resources I put into your research."
Orion remained quiet for a few seconds.
"This will be worth it." He answered. "The new subject... He should be ready soon. The treatment is working extraordinarily fast on him, and works a lot better than expected."
"I hope so. And I also hope there won't be any problems anymore."
"Don't worry, it's all sorted out. We've devised the genes and treatment for the perfect mind, one capable of controlling its powers and following orders."
"Good, good. I eagerly await to hear further results."
"I will keep you up to date. About the zerg..."
"Nothing I can do, Orion. Unless there is a change of leadership in the Coalition, I have to listen to the Quantum Legion. I can't start any wars."
"If we wait for the zerg to make the first move, it will be too late. We could have destroyed them after Apoca."
"I know, we could have. But I understand the idea of peace as well, Orion."
"Are you saying you agree with this passivity?"
"No, I don't. But I understand the reasons for it and the advantages. Whether they outweigh the disadvantages is questionable."
Orion didn't look happy.
"Don't worry, Orion. Sooner or later, we will face the zerg and you will get your planets back."
"Good bye, Lord Aranov."
Aranov bowed slightly before the holoscreen closed itself. Part of him secretly hoped the experiment would fail, so that he could finally cut his ties to the arrogant scientist, but the more rational part of him knew that the Auruleans were too useful for him.
SoA:
"Filler" post shedding some light onto the relationship between the Aurulean Technocracy and Aranov Consectorate
Amadeus' meeting room, hiding at the dark side of Khasan
"I am about to head to Dras Lana in the very moment." Ambassador Kelanin said
"Then I won't try to hinder you anymore." Opheilm replied
"Thank you, consider my presence next to you when we are aboard. En Taro Tassadar."
"En Taro Tassadar, Ambassador." The screen disappeared.
Both the words Praetor and Tassadar stung deeply, with the latter much more then the former. Opheilm was glad that the conversation was over quick. Had it continued, he may had showed weakness in front of Kelanin, and that is the last thing he wanted to portray to a diplomat. At least that went better then what Opheilm had expected. He knew that Kelanin was a shrewd diplomat and diplomats usually tend to choose decisions that favor themselves more then the other party. However, this time, it seemed that Kelanin's decision favored the Order then the Exiled Tribes, which led Opheilm wondering.. "Why?". Opheilm fell into deep thought and pondered about events that happened.
{"The alliance between the Coalition and the Protoss only happened because it was necessary for survival. Likewise, Erana wasn't detained by the Imperium immediately after she gave the technology to the Terrans because they needed her to maintain this alliance."}
{"Once the war was over and the alliance wasn't needed anymore, she became useless to the Imperium and was imprisoned."}
{"Currently, with Erana captured, both the Tribes and Coalition have nothing to gain from rescuing her. Her status as a symbol of the alliance has already dwindled." Furthermore, if they were serious about rescuing her in the first place, they would have aided us against the Imperium at the dawn of our resistance, when we were much stronger."}
{"So the question is... why now?"}
{"The only clue that I have is her transfer to the planet Vertax."}
{"No, that is too narrow minded. Think, Opheilm, think. Why? What could benefit them if Erana was being transferred?"}
Before Opheilm could continue, his first mate called him over. {"Praetor! our sensors have picked up a small object that suddenly appeared at the middle of our radar at true bearing 330 and is closing in on us"} he said urgently.
{"Suddenly appeared? What's the size of the object, Reois?"} Opheilm asked, not feeling any sense of danger. After all, objects like these float around everywhere in space, and this is not the first time it has happened. Reois is a dependable first mate, but has a habit of reporting any small abnormality as a big bang, which sometimes gave false calls to the entire ship. He also likes to poke around and invite himself into private conversations. Needless to say, he isn't really well liked, but Opheilm preferred a first mate like this, so that he is updated on the happenings of the ship despite not being very social as a leader.
{'Based on my experience Praetor, this could either be a small asteroid, or..}" he paused, his tone changing. Opheilm could feel something in his gut, {"An Imperium Observer."}
{"Get me a visual on that blimp. Send out observers of our own in all directions and order the engineers to start the engine. What's the speed on that object?"} Opheilm said tensely. He had a gut feeling about this "object"."}
{"Its moving at around 1.81 speed Praetor, constant. Asteroids.. do not move at that speed, Praetor."} Reois replied, his voice shaking a little.
{"Prepare the Psionic Transmitter, I'll inform the whole ship myself. I am heading to the bridge now."} Opheilm ordered. Reois acknowledged the command and prepared the Psionic Transmitter for usage. The Psionic Transmitter does what it says, it acts as a catalyst to transmit information throughout the entire ship via transmitters that are located at each different department of the ship. These transmitters act as mini amplifiers that sends Psionic waves into every living being onboard the ship. This allows for efficient spread of information if there are no intruders.
One minute later, Opheilm was at the bridge. He could feel the stiffing tension in the air and he knew what everyone was thinking. The last time they had a confrontation with Imperium troops, they were almost wiped out. If reinforcements didn't arrive from the Order, Opheilm was sure that they would have met their end. Reluctantly, he put on the Psionic Transmitter and began to speak.
{"Attention, this is your Praetor speaking, 3 minutes ago, a blimp was spotted in the middle of our radar at true bearing 330, both the watch and I have accessed that the chance of it being an Imperium observer is high. All hands are to man your stations. I repeat, all hands are to man your stations. That is all"}. Opheilm took off the Psionic transmitter and looked at the radar. {"What about our observers? How long more for them to pick up that object?"}
{"About 5 minutes more, Praetor."} Reois replied, his voice lacking the usual spark it had.
The wait for the next five minutes was one of the longest that Opheilm had experienced. {"Our observers are having a visual on the blimp, I am bringing it up now."} Reois said, with a tension that felt like a slight excitement. A screen popped up from the navigation console, Reois magnified it and saw what everyone had hoped to see - An asteroid. The pressure on the bridge immediately subsided and Opheilm could feel the relaxation coming back to the crew. Opheilm put on the Psionic Transmitter and just when he began to speak, the radar showed another blimp, this time at true bearing 045, their starboard quarters. When the image was pulled up, he saw something which he didn't want to see - An Imperium observer.
{"Hands to battle stations, I repeat, hands to battle stations. Scouts are to sortie immediately, but stay in close proximity of the ship."} Opheilm said through the transmitter, calmly but with a sense of urgency.
{"Where to, Praetor?"} the helmsman asked.
{"Full ahead bearing 235, Helmsman. Our eventual destination is Dras Lana, where we will rendezvous with Rassyr and the others. However, based on our current situation, we will head for Evora if possible, or if not, Sindiris and hope that the exiled tribes will find us before the Imperium do."}.
The engines of Amadeus roared and the entire ship began accelerating, but not before Opheilm and Reois saw many more blimps at the very end of the radar. He looked around and felt adrenaline creeping slowly. He was sure his crew felt the same way, each of them had fallen comrades that they wanted to avenge. As Amadeus moved, the blimps edged slightly closer towards the center of the radar.
Ophelim thought to himself. {"A tempest is coming".} One so big that would not stop until they are wiped away to oblivion...
SoA
Opheilm ponders on why the Tribes and Coalition agreed to aid Rassyr in rescuing Erana, when they didn't help the Order before
An Imperium observer spotted them
Opheilm orders his ship(Amadeus) to move towards true bearing 235 to Sindiris, chased by the Imperium fleet that moves slightly faster then Amadeus
She didn’t hear them – they were in her. Everything was blurry and bright. She could hear the people in the room talk among each other, but what they said wasn’t what she heard in her mind.
“Someone check her eyes.” I hope they’re alright, he’ll kill me if anything went wrong.
“John, test the reflexes.” I hope she doesn’t kill him… I remember the first time…
“Why me? Can’t you get one of the marines to do it?” They would at least survive if they get hit.
Someone was close to her and pointed a small light into one eye, than the other.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” Please answer, please answer, please answer…
She nodded.
“Good. Do you know what your name is?” The man asked.
She shook her head.
“Do you know where you are?”
She shook her head again.
“Do you know what you are?” Please nod, please nod, please nod.
She shook her head.
***
She woke up sweating and almost screamed. She hated that nightmare. The worst part was what always happened when she woke up.
3 AM? These sleeping pills aren’t working…
Have to get this report done, Keeva will murder me if she doesn’t have it by noon… Well, not murder, but give me that disappointing look and then…
I’m never getting’ dis drunk agin…
It’s our anniversary and I still don’t have a present for her…
Thirty seven sheep, thirty eight sheep, thirty… Dammit. One sheep, two sheep…
She did her best to ignore the voices. She held her arms over her head and ears, even though she knew that did absolutely nothing. She focused on one memory, one very deep, dark, sinister voice in her head.
tick, tock, tick, tock... Listen to my voice. None of them are you, they don’t belong in your head, you don’t belong in theirs. Just listen to my voice and focus. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick…
She repeated the ticking and tocking for what could have been anything between thirty seconds and as many minutes, practically in a self-induced trance. After she snapped out of it, everything was quiet. She was in her own room, in her own bed. She could hear her own breathing. No voices.
I should congratulate Mark and Daisy on their anniversary tomorrow she thought as she lay back down to sleep.
Dunar Surface
Xavier, dressed in his light Ghost uniform, walked up to the table in the command tent. It wasn’t much of a tent, it only served to shield the light and was open on all sides, giving a perfect view of the desert-like surroundings. This part of the world, close to the equator, had little plant or animal life, and the mines in the hills Xavier was looking over right now made this specific area a desert.
“And you are?” A man in a CMC suit said.
Xavier casually turned his head and examined the man with quick glances. Dented and scratched CMC suit – Prideful, and has fought before, both zerg and terran. No protoss. The colors weren’t the standard blue, these were a bit lighter, much like the color of Aranov’s cloak, and the paintjob was far more detailed with stars and other symbols. He was most definitely the man in charge, rank no higher than Major. He looked at the man’s face, not a very pleasant look – A very territorial officer, very likely to throw a scene about jurisdiction or rank.
“Major Carls, I believe it is?” Xavier held out a hand. The Major seemed slightly confused and shook the hand. One could hear the sound of metal bending slightly. “Xavier Origin. I am here to take care of this situation.”
“And by what authority?” Carls raised an eyebrow, doing his best not to look at what had happened to the hand of his CMC suit.
“Domovoi Aranov’s personal request. All your troops are to obey my orders—“
“I’m sorry, but I haven’t been informed, and even if, we don’t need your help, we can handle this.”
“And how are you going to take care of the situation?”
“There’s a lot more of us than there is of them. Send in squads of marines and marauders and flush them out, there’s no way they can beat us.”
“As I thought.” Xavier said. “Now, as I said. I am in charge, if you want to go and cry about losing your current position, than please do so somewhere else so that I may focus. Oh, and go repair that CMC suit. I will not tolerate damaged goods.”
Carls was furious and about to shout at Xavier with such force that the tent would’ve flown off. But Xavier turned away before Carls got the chance.
After a few seconds the marine left the tent and Xavier examined the plans. Going in there with squads of infantry was dumb. Yes, they would win. But the Outsiders still used firebats. While no match against Marauders in open battles, in enclosed spaces even two of them can take out an entire squad of marines and leave the marauders in a bad state.
Xavier considered doing the job alone, but still gave the order to have his troops deployed.
SoA:
Someone has an relatively irrelevant nightmare.
Xavier starts deploying forces on Dunar to take out the Outsiders hidden in a tunnel complex under some hills.
Brand new pirate ship leaves Tortuga, Karibia for Domus. 7 post travel time.
Planet Zamar, Zaratun System
"{You have discussed the situation with Ambassador Kelanin?}"
"{I have. The talks were a somewhat... unexpected success.}"
"{Much as I appreciate them, I am afraid I do not have time for your personal comments and opinions.}"
"{I apologize, Patriarch. Ambassador Kelanin offered his personal assistance with the operation.}"
On the screen, Patriarch Myr's eyes seemed to widen.
"{Kelanin wishes to participate?}"
"{I was as surprised as you are, Patriarch. However, that seems to be the case. He volunteered to help. I cannot imagine the Exiled Council will be pleased with his decision but they will have to accept it if they want our forces to remain in Idum.}"
There was a long, thoughtful silence. Not a useless one. U'lun knew that both he and the Patriarch were analyzing the situation from every possible angle, trying to find motives, reasons, possibilities.
"{Very well. I will inform Praetor Armul of this and instruct him to offer a portion of his forces as aid to Ambassador Kelanin. Inform the Ambassador of this. En Taro Tassadar.}"
"{En Taro Tassadar, Patriarch,}" U'lun said an terminated the connection.
SoA:
Ambassador U'lun informs Patriarch Myr of Kelanin's decision. Patriarch Myr orders the Tama fleet to stay in Idum and send 10 dark templar to help Kelanin with the mission (they will take up 20 of your cargo which is how much you have left if I am correct). Both U'lun and Patriarch Myr are surprised by Kelanin's decision.
Location: Gnarled Wolf, Dverger system, approaching the planet Dalar.
“Statues report?” Grell said as he looked over the console infront of him. They had finally exited hyperspace, straight into an asteroid field at the edge of the system.
“Sir, we have minimal damage to decks four, sixteen, and twenty-one. All engines, weapons systems, and bay doors are functioning.” responded a blond haired girl manning a computer to the left of him.
“Good, now lets get the best coordinates out of this shit, I just painted her when we left.” he said in a calm voice. He knew this could have been avoided by checking the flight path over again, hell even putting someone more reliable in charge of flying the damn thing. The redhead sitting at the console would understand this soon enough. The ship turned sideways, a straight path out of the way of larger rocks became visible. He let out a sigh, and leaned back into his chair as they began to exit into the depths of space again. The front screens showed the planet he was looking for, Dalar.
“Alright people, not the best job we could have done, but we're close to getting there. Pilot, get us into a stable orbit around the planet, am I understood?”
“Yesir!” he said, obvious to the mistake he had made when entering the system.
“Alright, I'm going to get the preparations ready for a scouting team and larger force ready, Samantha,”He said, his pause apparent. “You have the bridge and ship till I get back.”
“Ay ay captain.”
With that he stood up and exited the bridge, his friend meeting him at the door. “What the hell are you thinking running us into an asteroid belt?” he started. “Wait, don't answer that, Ill get the wrong answer Im-” He was stopped short by Grell pulling him forward with a firm hand to his shoulder.
“Check and double check the medivacs, especially the one taking me and the crew to the ground. I want reports on weapons, armor, and anything that's wrong with the ship. Do you understand me?” He said almost yelling at his friend.
“Sir, yesir!”
“Then get to it.” he said walking past him. He would deal with the shit later, he grabbed his datapad and linked up with 10 of his best viking pilots. “I need you ready to launch, we need 5 to scout the surrounding area of the planet, and 5 more to scan the planet for relevant areas. Big buildings, cities, small outposts, anything near these coordinates.” He tapped in the area and sent it out.
“Well be out in 10 sir.” said Jacky, one of the older men and the best pilot of them all. The pilots had taken a liking to him, and Grell decided he was the squad leader.
He quickly switched to the marines receivers. “Alright, everyone get ready, we are nearing the planet. We are going off the data our client has given me, but we cant be to sure or safe on this mission. I want everyone to get ready in full gear. We might find this an easy snatch an grab, but if its not I Will Not be caught with my ass hanging out for anyone willing to take a free shot. Am I understood.?” He got green lights on all but about 2 peoples names, that made him smile. He put away his pad just as he got to the elevator, perfect. Clicking the call button he began running things over in his head. He would make sure to apologize to Mike and organize everything with his crew. The most he had done was some sparring in the lifting room, and even that was not as often as it should have been. Letting out a sigh he stepped into the now open elevator doors and clicked the button down, letting the silence of the ride be unbroken. When the doors did open he stepped out had a glance at his black medivac.It was customize to take more hits than normal and had a small layer of special clear paint placed on it to keep it out of enemy radar, he was glad he had it for this mission. Walking towards the armory, the only place one could suit up in marine battle armor. He walked in moving over to a circular room which was were marines suited up. He slid his card across a receiver and punched his 8 digits into the doors digital lock, it soon opening. The sound of machinery warming up and getting hot could be heard. He let out a smile and stepped forward turning around as the doors closed.
“It's about damn time.” he said as the process of suiting up started.
SoA: Grell, and his ship have made it to the Dvergar System, and are just outside the bounds of Dalar. Minor damage was dealt by pebbles in an asteroid field they met when entering the system. 10 Vikings have been sent out, 5 to scout the area around the planet and 5 to scout out the area were the research is supposed to be. All units are getting ready for deployment.
An asteroid field 30 minutes outside of Domus, the Asteroid City
{Terran brothers. I have a mission for you. Thirty minutes away lies Domus, the asteroid city. I have not seen it personally, but it seems to be a rough place where people can sell and buy as they desire. If you are still with me, I wish for you to take your scouting ship and go there in my name. See if you can sell the Protoss equipment we have gathered. Listen for the latest news and rumors, and see if there are jobs that need doing for us to grow our forces. Also keep an eye out for anyone with a specific interest in my kind, be it to destroy us or to study us. I want to be prepared. Lastly, I want you to procure some more sophisticated DNA for me so I can respawn some of my lost forces.}
Adam stood up from the long table inside the common room where he and his colleagues had just finished their lunch.
"Alright; we won't all be needed for this, plus the ship can't hold twenty-four of us plus the Protoss equipment... any volunteers?".
Since the events at Barkanos Adam had kind of stepped up to take the leaders' role. He hadn't exactly imagined himself in this position, but his fellow humans seemed to look at him for guidance in a bit of a natural manner.
"A think a'll be sittin' this one out, Adam", said Bob Gentry. Bob was an older man who had been a scientist all his life and was currently taking the lead in the laboratorial studies, where he had started experiments with evolving Zerg DNA.
-"I'll go", said Sarah, who had become a bit of a personal friend to Adam since boarding Murkag.
-"Me too!"
A large man with short blonde hair stood up that Adam knew by the nickname of 'Hammer', but hadn't really talked to him yet.
-"Count me in!"
Two chairs to his right, a small, brown-haired man with thick eyebrows nodded at Adam.
"Good, that should do. Meet me in 10 in the launch bay, then".
{I have a final request. If you won't mind, I would like to inject one of you with a parasite that would allow me to see through its eyes. I will be able to track your movements this way. I can understand if you would be reluctant to this procedure, but-}
"I'll do it", the large blonde man said. He got a couple of strange looks.
{So be it, then. Just head on over to your launch bay}
Roughly fourty minutes later a transport ship filled with Protoss equipment and four Terrans arrived at Domus and began to dock. The flight had been a silent one. As the airlocks were connecting, the blonde man looked around and said "I'm Jack, by the way... Jack "Hammer" Spazinsky".
-"Jeremy", the man with the thick eyebrows said. "Pleased to meet you."
The four looked at the door in front of them as it began to open up, readying themselves for their visit to Domus.
SoA
-Murkag is hiding in an asteroid field roughly 30 minutes away from Domus.
-Establishing Bob Gentry as my lead scientist; he'll be doing research and prototype development lateron.
-Adam, Sarah, Jack and Jeremy have arrived at Domus. Jack is affected with a Zerg parasite, allowing Dagganoth to see through his eyes. They will attempt to sell the recovered Protoss equipment and ask around for possible jobs that need doing.
-They are also on the lookout for anybody who seems to have an interest in Zerg, whether negatively or positively.
-They are also looking to buy some simple DNA codes that will allow Dagganoth to restock on simpler Zerg units.
Amadeus' meeting room, hiding at the dark side of Khasan
Opheilm shifted and paced around in what little space he have. He was vexed and frustrated. There were already many troubles on his mind, and the last thing he needs is more of them. The room was small, dusty and uncomfortable, then again, its better then the others who are cramped outside. At least he has a room to himself. "I should be glad about this... somewhat". At his desk stood the battle reports of the week. Opheilm took a glance and sighed. "Have my methods been right?" he found himself pondering. Opheilm stood still and paused. His mind backtracking to the events that happened two and a half years ago, shortly after he had joined the Order and earned the trust of a few important members.
"Who authorized this attack!?" Arronax bellowed. His shout rippling across the meeting room. None dare to oppose this veteran Zealot, for he was one of the founding members of the Order and an expert fighter. "The way of the Protoss is the way of a warrior." He smashed his fist onto the table.
"That was the past, Arronax. When the Order once had enough support to fight head on against the Imperium." Opheilm replied, knowing that it wouldn't make any difference in convincing the stubborn Zealot.
"Hmph, I should've known. Its the Praetor traitor." Arronax replied curtly. "Your surgical strikes are not doing any real damage to the Imperium. On the contrary, there are some that question your methods."
"What you have done is to tell the Imperium council that the Order lacks the resources to combat them face to face." Arronax continued.
"That may be true, Arronax, but if we were to fight them head on, we will suffer even greater losses. Eventually, the Imperium council will know about it as well and we will be extinguished." Opheilm retorted.
"I would rather die a warrior then a coward!" Arronax shouted, ensuring that his sentence hit home to each of the members at the meeting. Opheilm could see that the members were shifting uncomfortably at their seats and he knew that he needed to do something before the situation gets worse.
Opheilm pointed a finger at Arronax, "Your blatant tactics have cost us many great warriors, much more then its needed. If you would want to die as a hero, you can take whatever remnants of supporters you have and do it yourself." Opheilm paused, and continued softly but seriously, "The way of the Khalai, is only for those that are in power. There is no code of honor for the oppressed..." "Its a shame that you didn't die with your ideals."Opheilm added sarcastically
Arronax seethed. He looked around for support but could find none of it. Deep down, he knew that Opheilm was right, but yet, his pride is greater then his mind. "You arrogant Templar!" he flared before powering up his Psi Blades and taking a right swing at Opheilm. Opheilm ducked and used his Olden Warp Blades to parry away Arronax's left thrust. He continued by using his shoulder to slam into Arronax's body, knocking the Zealot backwards.
"You Dare!!" was all Arronax bursted before attempting a second charge towards Opheilm.
In a split second, Arronax's Psi Blades were at Opheilm's face, however, before the blades could hit, Arronax felt a pressure coming out from Opheilm's that spiraled him to the end of the room, denting the wall.
"Expel" said Opheilm sharply, as Arronax picked himself up from the ground. Knowing that he has lost, Arronax picked up whatever pride he had left and left them a warning. "Mark my words, Opheilm, the Imperium will soon hunt down the Order, one by one. Until we are all dead."
Upon finishing his sentence, he looked at everyone in the room with accusing eyes and then left.
**********************************
The past few days had been nothing but unnecessary trouble. The Order have been conducting Guerrilla warfare for around 2 1/2 years to Imperium troops with little or no avail. While it may seem to be effective on the surface, Opheilm highly doubted that it even pricked the Imperium council. After all, those that died were either guards or Order members, none of them having any slightest relation to anyone at the Council. Furthermore, the Order cannot afford to incur the wrath of the common populace. Guerrilla warfare is just too.. unorthodox a strategy for a Protoss warrior and there are many who would frown on such things. The last thing Opheilm needs now is more trouble... and he's going to get it.
"Come in" Opheilm replied to the knock on his door. "What is it?"
"Rassyr has a message for you." The Zealot scout reported. He looked weary and it seemed that he rushed all the way without stopping just to pass Opheilm this message. Opheilm could feel the urgency in his voice, and shuddered at the thought of more bad news.
"Sit down and speak. There is no need for formalities here. Those only belong to aristocrats."
"Thank you Praetor Opheilm." The word Praetor stung deeply. It wasn't a word that he liked, it brought up his past 3 years back and it still did. Nevertheless, this also served as a motivation and reminder for him that the wounds of betrayal are deep, and he would never want it to happen again.
"As you are aware, the recent attacks have proven to be more then a thorn at the Imperium Council's side..." The Zealot started, but Opheilm cut in before he could finish his sentence
"Really?" Opheilm replied in genuine surprise, somewhat little pleased that he was wrong. "Though comforting, I am sure you didn't come all the way here to bring this news... continue"
"Yes, Praetor. Because of these attacks, the Council had a meeting a few days ago and the conclusion of the meeting is that, the Order's motivation for the attacks are because Erana is here..." The Zealot paused, and with a solemn voice. " They plan to move Erana to Vetras."
"Vetras?!" Opheilm exclaimed "This is insane." Opheilm felt his body weakening and fell down onto his seat. "This is insane..." he muttered again. Taking a moment to compose himself. "Please, continue." he said weakly.
"A few days ago, the exiled tribes had a meeting regarding this situation. The Tama fleet are to stay in Idum while Ambassador Kelanin will be taking part in the operation to rescue Erana."
"The Tama fleet are under no obligation to aid us, that is to be expected... but Ambassador Kelanin... I have heard of him before..." "Wait, Ambassador Kelanin? as in the scientist? What can one scientist do that half a warrior cannot?" Opheilm spat.
"Praetor, you shouldn't underestimate those that belong in diplomacy. Sometimes, the pen is mightier then the sword. Sweet words can bring even more allies then a sharp blade."
Opheilm pondered a moment at the Zealot's words. "My apologies, that is true. Do you have anything else to report?"
"No, Praetor. I shall take my leave." The Zealot bowed and walked out of the room. Before the Zealot Scout exited the room, Opheilm halted him "Wait, how about Rassyr and the other Order leaders?". The Zealot turned around and replied him.
"Rassyr is busy with meetings with the Exiled Tribes and the coalition. As for the other leaders, I do not know. All I can tell you is that Rassyr has sent messengers to each leader."
"Thank you, you may leave now." Opheilm dismissed the Zealot and went into deep thought.
"Assuming that the others have received this message, most of them would immediately muster whatever army they have left and wait for Rassyr's command."
"That's just foolish. The Imperium's army outnumber us like sands in the desert. A frontal assault would be worse then suicide."
"The best way to save Erana is by infiltration and distraction.'
"The only way this can be done is.. to assemble an elite strike force" 'But who can I even convince? All I have is my blade." Opheilm paced around his room, focused on his thoughts.
Wait..." Opheilm looked up and felt excitement, the first time in many weeks. 'Perhaps there is still hope after all. With the pen and the sword as one, nothing is impossible." Opheilm contemplated... "Connect me through to Ambassador Kelanin, tell him that Praetor Opheilm, the master of shadows would like an audience with him regarding Erana's rescue."
SoA
~~ Sar Shar, Sharon System - Heart of the Themos Brood ~~
Aria strode through the warm, red tunnels of the Great Hive, trying not to let the dread and anticipation show in her pace and pose. Showing fear could be seen as a weakness here, it could mean an instant and irreversible death as the swarm instinctively eliminates the weakness in it's own being. No. She had to be cold, calm and in control; or at the very least in control. Some of the other brood leaders were never particularly cold or calm, but they made do by giving the air of total dominance, at least for a time.
The person Aria was going to visit held complete and total Dominion over the Themos Brood, a dominion which she had usurped by following Orloth's advice rather then her own orders. Honestly, why Orloth insisted on this charade of an argument, no one in Themos understood. Evolution supported the winners, not those who played fairly. Lilith had succeeded Baal as Master of the Themos Brood. If Orloth would just give in and accept it Themos would easily be the strongest of all the other Broods, but with his faction sealed away and neutral they were now reduced to paying tribute to another brood just to keep them from attacking. Tribute! That was not going to sit well with the Mistress Lilith. She may get points for talking her way out of a fight, that was what the Themos were known for after all, but tribute? Aria was as good as dead.
She tried not to let that thought overwhelm her as she stepped into the Central Chamber, where Lilith held... court. It reminded Aria of the stories of Hell that her grandmother had threatened her with. The chamber wasn't large, about the size of a holo vid theater, but that made what it contained that much harder to avoid. It was part torture chamber, part breeding pool, part brothel; the sights and sounds of which did there best to disrupt Aria's calm; all lit by the ambient, red light that filtered down from the mouth of the Great Hive and surrounded by its fleshy walls. And there, at the far side, atop of a throne that seemed to be crafted from the body parts of numerous species, sprawled the Mistress Lilith herself personally adored by three Infested.
Aria approached the throne and lowered herself into a submissive bow, almost curling herself up on the floor, face to the ground. After what seemed like hours the purring voice of her Mistress commanded, "Stand, Aria." She did so, and met the gaze of the Nightmare Queen, and time seemed to take a backseat as she felt the contents of her mind being sifted through as if it were a newspaper. In a few moments she had relived everything she remembered since she had last been in her Mistress's presence, the conversation with Orloth and her actions at Pern were gone over again in vivid detail. When at last she was released from Lilith's gaze, she dropped to the floor as if her strings had been cut and lay there panting, trying desperately to regain a shred of poise, and ounce of decency, while Lilith stood up and began to circle her shuddering form.
"It is good," the Nightmare Queen purred softly, "that you held the Brood's best interests at heart, or you would no longer be alive. However, considering your actions, I had hoped that such a loyal servant as yourself would have been Dominated and swayed by my enemy, rather then a willing accomplice in his scheming. That being said, you have revealed to me some of my dear brother's plans, and that is valuable to me." Aria felt a hand on her chin and her head was lifted up to once more look her Mistress in the eye, "I may have some use for you after all."
~~ Dalar, Dvergar System ~~
Orloth studies the pitiful collection of clues he had gathered. Cloning tanks, samples of protoss and zerg DNA, and a clipboard with vague references to test progress in an undecipherable medical chickenscratch. For the most part, the base had been picked clean before he had even arrived. Whoever had been at work here had been quite thorough in wiping every trace of their project before the zerg had even gotten close. The only thing they had left behind was their computer records, highly encoded and booby trapped as they were. The infested imagined that he had probably tripped an alarm with his meddling; it was only a matter of time before the system's previous occupants took notice. It would be prudent to leave well enough alone and continue to lie low; keeping his brood safely hidden until they were strong enough for what was to come, but his curiousity had grown into an obsession, and it would not be denied. Besides, it helped distract him from that other thing.
Just as his thoughts wandered dangerously close to that trap, another thought tapped lightly on his consciousness. His minions had spotted a ship. A terran ship. A Frankenstein's monster of a vessel that had nearly gotten smashed to pieces by asteroids upon its arrival. Nearly, but not quite. It skillfully maneuvered its way out of the field and began making its way for Dalar.
How convenient. Maybe he had triggered some alarm, or perhaps they were merely pirates here for the salvage. It mattered not, they would provide him with a convenient distraction from his thoughts for a time. "Who knows, perhaps they might actually be useful." The infested said to himself quietly as he instructed his brood to allow the ship to pass and keep out of sight.
~~ Karinth System ~~
The only reason Razarac realized his behemoth had exited warp space was the sudden, rapid influx of information into his mind. For a moment he was overwhelmed and paralyzed by the sheer volume of external images, scents, sounds and thoughts that were suddenly entering his brain. He saw through the eyes of hundreds, heard through the ears of thousands and thought through the minds of millions. He relaxed and allowed the flood of information to diffuse into him, content to witness the workings of the entire Fenrir Brood.
But gradually, the flow of information ceased, or rather, was relegated to the unconscious part of his mind. In its place stood a single separate entity, one which was made up of thousands of millions of smaller minds and was more fearsome and imposing than all of them combined.
{Brood Mother.} Razarac said, doing the mental equivalent of bowing his head. He briefly sensed satisfaction coming from Shaharaz but this was soon replaced by cold neutrality.
{I have granted you control of Karinth's broods, Razarac. Your goal is simple: destroy the Nirogg's presence in the system and claim it for the Fenrir. Do not hesitate, do not make mistakes. Do not even entertain the idea of failure for if it becomes a reality, you shall feel my wrath... if the Nirogg don't destroy you first.}
And then it was gone. The Queen of the Fenrir Brood disappeared from his mind, leaving behind only a fraction of itself.
Razarac did not waste his time. He immediately tapped into the mind's of the system's zerg and began to assimilate all their knowledge, both of themselves and the Nirogg. What he learned was not too promising. The Nirogg held the majority of the system and not only had enough forces to hold their ground in head-on battles but also had a separate force capable of striking the Fenrir where and when it was most vulnerable. The Fenrir were pinned down and outnumbered. But that was about to change.
Razarac ordered Pangar to make way for the only Fenrir controlled planet in the system while releasing five overseers into the cold of space with the aim of locating hidden Nirogg forces.
SOA: (Repost) Aria arrives in the Sharon system for her meeting with the Nightmare Queen. It goes better then expected.
Orloth directs his Brood to stay out of sight and out of the way of the Gnashed Wolf. He will personally be approaching the landing site (once it has landed) as stealthily as possible with a small force.
(Repost) Razarac arrived in Karinth. He was given control of the Fenrir Brood there. Karinth is looking to be a Meat Grinder soon, as the Fenrir and Nirogg position themselves for a battle to claim the system. Initial pokes have begun.
City of Aurun, Planet New Aiur, Khasan System
"{You may enter.}" The two guards stepped aside and the door they were guarding irised open. Khalos stepped through it, leaving the brightly lit hallway and entering a cool, dimly-lit room. The door closed behind him silently and the light from the hallway was replaced by what little light came in through the large window opposite him.
Khalos walked towards the window, ignoring the rest of the room. Through it he saw Aurun, the planet's capital, spread out far, far beneath him, like a sea of darkness filled with millions of lights. From such a great height, and with such dim lighting, he could only make out the city's most prominent features: the Council Chambers, the Citadel and the Founders' Monument, which was badly damaged as a result of the recent attack.
"{Appreciating your home, Praetor?}" The thought came from somewhere behind him, as cool and dry as a Nerazim's. Khalos did not turn around or flinch as Councillor Odranos joined him. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the city below him.
"{Aurun is not my home, Councillor,}" he answered, his mental voice matching the Councillor's neutrality to keep the feeling of surprise out of it.
"{It is not? I am under the impression that you haven't moved from the planet in the past three years. Am I mistaken?}" This statement surprised Khalos as much as Councillor's first question.
"{No, of course not. But merely staying in one place for a prolonged period of time does not make it one's home.}"
"{But you are used to Aurun?}"
"{Yes, Councillor.}"
"{Tired of it?}"
Khalos hesitated before replying. "{Councillor?}"
"{You have not moved from New Aiur in the past three years. It is only natural that someone of your talents and experience would find the... immobility sickening, especially when others of the same rank and profession are as mobile as ever. For instance, did you know Executor Sevethrun returned to New Aiur only yesterday?}" The Councillor's sentence ended in a way which invited inquiry, despite its lack of emotion. Khalos turned to face the protoss.
"{The Executor is here?}"
"{So it would seem. He has been recalled in order to coordinate what the Council deems a top priority mission.}"
"{What mission?}"
"{Did you know that, had it not been for your relationship with a certain treacherous Praetor, it would be you and not Sevethrun who would be the current Executor of the Imperium's forces?}"
Once again, Khalos was taken aback by the Councillor's questions.
"{What? My relationship with... Erana?}"
"{Yes. The Council deemed it too dangerous to let you assume control over the Imperium's military. A tragic flaw.}"
Khalos suppressed a surge of anger.
"{While I do not agree with all of praetor Erana's actions, to say that she was a bad commander would be a lie. And to deem a superficial military relationship a genuine threat to the Imperium is, in my honest opinion, paranoid folly,}" he said it before he could stop himself and immediately wished for more self control. The Councillor's blue eyes flared.
"{Praetor Erana committed a crime against her people when she handed over the Arken and the technology used to create it to the terran Coalition. In doing so, she put us at the mercy of the terrans and destroyed any chances we had of driving the zerg out of Eurim. However, when I said 'a tragic flaw', I was referring to the Council.}"
Khalos' anger disappeared as quickly as it had come and was replaced by surprise.
"{You think the Council incompetent?}" he asked. Odranos seemed to think for a minute. Then:
"{Do you?}"
Before Khalos could reply, the Councillor continued.
"{While Executor Sevethren is heading Erana's transfer from New Aiur to Vetras, it does not mean he will go unaccompanied. After all, this is a top priority mission. Expect to leave the confines of our capital soon, Praetor.}" As soon as he had finished talking, the doors to the Councillor's room opened again, filling it with the hallway's orange light. Seeing that the Councillor had said what he had wanted to say, Khalos thanked him and left.
SoA:
(Repost): Introducing Praetor Khalos. Talk about Erana's transfer.
SoA:
The Bonecrusher Pirates buy Dagganoth's protoss "junk" for 1.5 points and 40 supply of mutalisks.
Location: Outside of planet Dalar in Dvergar System, Gnarled Wolf, Cargo bay.
Grell stepped out the armory, slapping a fresh clip into his rifle. He was in the special suit of combat armor that he had found on the ship. It was tinted with such a dark red that only in the light could you tell the difference from black. He stepped towards the black dropship, marines passing him to get to the armory. He saw Mike running diagnostics on his bird, and with a thumbs up he knew it was all good. “Mike, Im sorry bout earlier, I just have to think things through man.” he said his visor coming up just as he ended his words.
“Its nothing man, running into the rock field wasn't your fault. So, sir. Do you need me for combat after I finish up on the ship?” he asked with abit of anticipation edging his voice.
“Negative, I need you to get 12 people that are on nonessential areas to get the Orbital ready for launching to the planet. I want the ship to keep orbit, use aslittle fuel as possible and monitor the situation from up here. He paused and looked at his friend whom had lost the spark from when he had began talking. “Mike, Im trusting you with this million dollar ship, with our lives. I know you can do it.”
“Yea, Ill keep the pile of shit in orbit, don’t worry about the rest of the forces that are coming behind you, Ill have them come down in the best area near were your going.” he patted the piece of armor, then took off towards the pilots of the other medivacs. Grell smiled knowing he could trust him and turned as 7 marines stepped over to him.
“Sir, heard you could use an escort.” The man infront said, an unlit cigar hanging from his mouth.
“Yes, you all will do just fine.” he clicked the button for the ships back doors to drop down and stepped into it, feeling abit claustrophobic as the rest of them piled into it. Taking a seat at the back he turned away towards a special console for linking to datapads, the ships systems, and radio chatter. He clicked it on linking the sound to his suit, and linked to the viking pilots he had sent out to scout. “Whats the reports on your findings planetside?”
“We have light scatterings of Terran buildings, the location the data sent us to had the largest of the structures. Believe it may be the area the research is located at, but sir. . . we have a major problem.”
He could hear the tension in the pilots voice, and let out a small sigh before asking what the problem was.
“We have signs of Zerg activity near the building. It does not seem recent though, more like they had been here before, maybe why the planet is almost devoid of life.” he started, taking a pause to let out his breath, he must have been holding. “Also . . . we have had sightings of Zerg just off the area, not massive amounts, but ruminants.” Fuck, Zerg might still be there. He let the details go through his head. A small strike force to get the data with the army setting up outside there range might work. He could stay near the structures, dig in, and get anything relevant from the planet, then take off with what he gathered . . . he would get the data, some resources, and even some Zerg burgers if he was lucky. . . or death if he underestimated the Zerg.
“Get me imaging.” he said and a few seconds passed before the aerial view of the research facility cam to view. It was large, two story building with a small telescope stationed ontop of it. Afew satellites were positioned on the side, probably to receive and relay information to a ship in orbit. Perfect. He slid the image to the side and brought up the city that lay about a mile away from the research station. That was were his forces and base would be located at. He linked up with everyone being sent out and sent the pictures and info from the viking pilots out before he spoke.
“Listen up people, we may have a Zerg force on this planet, but all evidence shows that they are small residents probably left over when the Zerg attacked here before. My forces will be spread across the city and fortify around it. The command center will be located just outside it near a small mineral patch gathering resources with mules. It will be protected by 10 men and in the case of an attack, will fall back to the center of the city. Marines, fortify yourselves just outside the city, use the sandbags from the ship and any other scraps you find to fortify the area. I will go with this dropship and seven marines to make a snatch at the data and a thorough search of the building. 8 marines will need to be stationed outside of the area to alert of any oncoming enemy forces. Mike will be in charge of operations as I enter the building, incase I encounter hostile activity he is second in command. People, today we will earn I way into the world, this is a step towards making more than just ragtag living off the scraps of old ships we could steel, or delivery jobs. This might be a fight, this might be an easy snatch and grab, but one things for certain. We will do our job.”
he cut of the communication and heard the marines in his ship scream Hoora! He smiled an banged on the metal twice, the signal for takeoff. The ship moved, it took off, the loss of gravity would be soon and he soon felt the zero-Gs pull at him. He grabbed a handhold from above turned around and looked as his men, there red armor looking battleworn in the red light that illuminated them overhead. He smiled and then heard the pilot speaker snap on with a staticky sound.
“Alright boys, enter the atmosphere in five, four, three, two, one, zero.” as she finished the countdown gravity hit them all and metal clanking into the seats was registered. The ship was buffeted with the sudden re-entry to an atmosphere. He still held onto the handhold with his left hand, his other grabbing the rifle at his side.
“Woohoo one hell of a ride!” said one of the marines.
“Ofcourse, just wait till the pilot of the wolf tries a stunt like this with the big ship.” they all started laughing, all but Grell who felt as if something was wrong. He squelched the thought as they continued on there ride.
Inside Gnarled Wolf
Mike walked over to the people in engineering and pulled twelve of them off duty. He explained how lucky they were to be on the orbital and watching as all but two of them walked away complaining about the sudden transfer. He stepped out of engineering and checked his pad over again. All was going well and the troops were being loaded and sent out to the most defensible positions. Things were going well. He tapped a connection to the bridge and got Samantha on the screen.
“Mike, how can we help you?” she asked a smile spreading across her face. Mike admired her for a moment, looking into her deep blue eyes, but shook the thought setting his mind to duty.
“We need an orbit around the planet at these coordinates,” he tapped in the data and sent it to her screen. “It gives the best radio contract and allows quicker way to deploy, and load on troops.”
“Well get right to it, anything else?”
“No, that will be all for now.” he clicked the screen off and sent a notification for the other twenty viking pilots to get onto the planet, giving cover for the medivacs and commanders ship if needed. Satisfied with his work, he began his way over to the Command room were he would have tactical data on what was happening on the ground streaming in. He let out a sigh as he got closer to the room. He was one of the most important pieces of this strategy, yet . . . he felt like he could do nothing, but watch over what happened.
Grell's Special dropship at Research Facility
He jumped out, his men already checking the area out, there guns raised as they searched around. Grell thought about a link to the pilot of his ship and it happened, his suiting linking him up. “Alright, bug out and come back in an hour, or if I call emergency Alpha Red. We'll be here awhile.”
“Alright sir, see ya soon.” she said as the dropship lifted up and took off towards the sky. The link was cut and he turned towards the door a marine was examining. “Its jammed, gonna need explosives.” a marine said, but had spoke to soon. Grell lifted his foot and slammed it into the door denting it, the frame and door bending back from the stress. He bent down and charged it breaking the door down with his shoulder rush. He lifted his weapon ignoring the comments from the marines behind him as he moved in. The place was a mess, with papers and equipment scattering the floor. He picked up some of the papers, reading abit into how they were studying the psionics of the Zerg. He dropped it and continued forward, one of his men already ahead of him. “This place was ransacked, you think the Zerg did this?” The lead marine asked.
No, not enough scratch marks, there are a few blood splatters, but the way there on the ground and wall recommend bullets, not claws. . .” The silence stayed for a few moments and he heard another marine talking about the lack of bodies. “Cut it out, if there is Zerg here they, will hear you.” he said more to scare them then of seriousness. He saw a flight of stairs up and then some down. Alright four of you up three with me. He stepped down into the darkness, he closed his visor and the faint red glow made everything much easier to see. He stepped off the staircase to what seemed like a huge computer room.
They were to the left and right, a main one at the end of the room near a glass window. As he stepped into the room it lit up a light blue color and he switched the night vision off. Of all the computers in the room only two or three came on, luckily the one near the window worked. Grell stepped forward towards it and switched his rifle to his other hand so he could type in commands more effectively. He turned and looked at the marines.
“Look around the room for anything relevant, if you find something tell me.” with that he went back to the computer. It was full of Zerg, and Terran research. He skimmed through the files. All were lightly encrypted, until he came to a folder called X-Brood, Data-X. It caught his attention and he tried to access it with no success, it was not only encrypted and blocked, but also in something other than this computer. He clicked the eject button, with little success he then looked at the port being used.
“Fuck, I can't waste this info though. . .” He grabbed his datapad jacked it into the system and dragged afew of the more relevant files to it. When they finished downloading he took his knife and worked his way into the machine skillfully cutting out the device he needed. He took it out, it was oddly small only about the size of a USB drive. A piece of the computer it was locked to was still hanging from it, but he could fix this problem later when he got to Mike. He placed the datapad at his side, the research data in a small storage slot next to it. Turning around he went over to the marines as the went through the computers. He would make a thorough check of the place then head back to the town were his men were.
Outside Terran City Perimeter
Jim, placed another of the sandbags from the ship onto the other few that were piled onto the ground. He and the others had been working nonstop to make the area as defensible as possible, and as he looked around at the others who had erected similar defenses it pleased him. His name was Lentan, an odd name, yet his orange hair was even odder. Having being born into a military family he thought his life was set. Join the career later, do some fighting, and get to come home to an easy life. It had not happened, his family had been killed by the Zerg invasion of his homeworld, but atleast he was making a living here. He forced himself to focus on his duties, going back as 2 more sandbags were dropped. He grabbed both and carried them over to the others just as he saw something that made him drop the bags.
Zerg were coming, and in mass. The zerglings were in the head of the pack, yet hydras were coming out right behind them. “Fuck everyone get ready the Zerg is coming!" He looked right and saw a bunker that had been put up with some mined minerals would now probably save there lives, he bent down, placing his rifle on the sandbags to steady it. Marines joined next to him, there were thirty of them altogether, that and 3 landed vikings covering them. The other 4 were in the air covering them.
The zerglings finally got within range and he pulled the trigger, rounds arcing out and cutting into the line of enemy units. Four, five, eight fell, but they kept coming. The hydras would soon advance on the line, but they could hold. The vikings lanced out with shells shredding the zerglings that got closer to the marines. He heard 3 screams of pain as his buddies fell. The hydras edged closer, the lings were near bout on them. Suddenly the vikings in the sky could be heard firing at something in the air. He took the chance to glance at a flying dragonfly like thing. Suddenly he saw a cloud spew out, he couldn’t see shit.
“Fallback, Fallback!” he heard on his radio as screams, gunshots, and the sound of Zerg tearing armor and flesh was heard. He fell back running at full speed out of the hell. He saw a man get out just to be mawed by the zerglings. He ran, the only thing protecting him was 2 vikings that had landed and afew marines that were faster than him. He ran to the main road, the area almost wide Open, except for the fact they had placed a bus near the entrance sideways to make it 3/4ths of the original size.
He got to the line that was holding the Zerg of and fired. Hydras came out of the smoke and the needles hit next to his head, almost killing him. He shot at it, the viking shells tearing its side apart, his shells hitting near the head of it. He saw four more men join the group, they must have been from the bunker. Ones left arm was scorched from an explosion.
“Get into the line and hold it!” he screamed, it came out by instinct, yet he could see another of the dragonflys coming forward and the vikings were gone the sound of Vikings zooming by overhead and the mutas soon after made him realize why. He fired a crack shot at the already bleeding muta and to his amazement it fell, he did not get to see the result as the ominous smoke came again clouding hi vision and forcing him back from the bus area and into a building were others were shooting out of, covering him. The Zerg kept at it, but only rarely attacking them directly, more like they were.
“Get me a line to Mike ASAP!” He shouted, the connection being linked the man now being heard.
“Whats the situation down there soldier?” he said, an edge in his voice.
“Sir, I have something more important to say, the commanders in trouble, get him the hell out o-.” The connection was lost as a hydralisk burst through the back room a spike of its shattering through his helmet, slicing the side of his face, the force sending him to hit the ground. He got up in pain, some men still shooting at the corpse before three more went back to guard the other entrance. He grabbed the spine ripped it out the back of his now breached helmet and grabbed his gun. His visor went up, blood leaking from the gash across his face, yet he still stepped forward, his hand swapping out a fresh clip as he walked over to the window and took aim.
Medivac Pilot over city
“Damn it, so much chaos!” she said, now forcing herself to focus on the job at hand, healing a man who had a gash in his armor from a zergling.. The healer tabs at the end of her medivac were working nonstop, to the wounded that fell back from the battle. The viking in the air were holding so far, but if any more anti air came other than hydras, they would have to retreat. That thought became reality, as she saw a swarm of 12 mutas closing in fast. They tried to turn in time but the mutas slammed fast on them, the few missles they took doing nothing to them. The vikings bugged engines smoking, when suddenly a medivac pilot blocked the way causing one of the mutas to slam into it an fly lower than usual. The medivac died quickly, but the vikings were able to retreat away.
The mutas continued there pursuit, yet 4 of them stayed to hit the medivacs. She let out a scream as one of them came towards her. She throttled up and began to fly away, but was to late. It had her tail and soon the engines began to fail from repeated shots to them. One broke, she lost control, saw flames burst out from the sides, and slammed into a building.
Research Station
The last zergling fell dead. About thirty of them had rushed the house, and five had gotten inside. eight men stationed outside were being to lazy and the attack had caught them offguard. It was only him and the seven he had when he came here now and they had to get outside onto the ship now, his men were at war with the Zerg and he needed to get there to help them. He exited the building his gun coming up as he looked around, nothing. He put a broadcast to dropship frequencys and spoke. “Alpha Red.”
He heard the speaker come on in his helmet, the familiar voice of his dropship pilot beginning to talk. “Commander, coming in after you called, eta is 3 minutes.”
Damn it that was to long, they might be dead by the time he got there. He stepped out looking in the sky for the pilot, it was a mistake. The ground burst, he instinctively kicked whatever it was and saw a ling go flying. He aimed low firing near his feet, catching another two of them in the head. The marines began firing, one falling down, his leg torn off his body. Grell moved sideways as two hydra spikes went towards him, he fired at it taking its head off with two bursts of his gun. He began focusing on the oncoming zerglings taking three more down, but the rest got to him, one jumped for his face, he lurched forward, the bayonet piercing through its body, yet as he shook it off he felt another bite at his side. He shook rolling sideways, and bringing his rifle up in a prone position fired, nonstop killing another two lings. He got up a spike hitting his left shoulder. He moved time seeming to slow down. He aimed holding the trigger at the new hydralisk threat that stood infront of him. He shot down one, then two, then three hydras, another needle lodged into his side. He turned, to see another was there.
A marine began falling back a zergling ripped into his chest. He grabbed the him by the shoulder ripping the injured man infront of the hydralisk spikes speeding towards him. They pierced, the zergling died along with the man whom let out one last scream then died. He held him up with his left arm, the rifle slapping against is now dead allies shoulder and he shot letting the bullets go from the hydras chest to its head. He felt a burst in him, a loss of energy.
He coughed up abit of blood dropped the man and turned to meet what had done this to him. He saw the blur, aimed and opened fire, hitting the invisible creature in the side. He would have went to the head, yet a zergling rammed into his side, throwing him offbalance and causing him to instinctively rip it off him with his left arm and stab it in the face with his bayonet. He tried to readjust towards the new enemy, but the world shuddered, blurred. His rifle was right at it, the trigger was to heavy to press. He forced it in though and heard the sound of a bullet flying out of the barrel, heard everything so clear for a split second like time had stopped. Another man had screamed, now dead. He knew he had got them killed, he would probably be dead and that he was going to see if hell or heaven really existed. Then a weight forced him to clench in pain, and everything went black.
SoA: Grell and his forces go to the surface of Dalar, Grell himself going to a research facility, while his forces cover the perimeter of the city and a orbital mines minerals for as long as its safe. The marines erect 2 bunkers from the resources gathered. Grell found special data while inside the research facility. During grells scavenging, the city went under attack and loses of 38 marine, the 2 bunkers, a viking, and 6 medivacs from mutalisk harass. Grell was captured when leaving the research facility losing another 7 marines totaling 45 marine deaths.
Domus, the Asteroid City
As the pirates took off, Sarah chuckled. "Nice job there, Adam!"
-"Oh shove it, you!"
"That could've gone a lot worse, to be fair", said Jeremey.
-"Yeah, if- "
"Excuse me, gentlemen."
A scrawny man wearing a raincoat had somehow snuck up on them. He looked as if he had some kind of bump on his back.
"What do you want?", Adam said in a hostile manner, having caught on to Kosh's words.
"What do I want? That's a strange question coming from someone serving the Zerg on Domus", replied the stranger.
Adam looked shocked for probably just a second too long before he managed to pull off a semi-convincing chuckle. "Seriously... what?"
"Your man over there is infested", the stranger said nodding at Jack.
Jack seemed better than Adam at playing his role, and replied with an aggressive "Infested? Do I need to infest you, little man?"
Sighing, the stranger replied with an irritated voice. "Oh, cut to the chase. I know you've got a parasite in you and I know you are working for Dagganoth. I need to get a message through to him. Follow me".
With that, the stranger strotted off into a subroute.
"I don't trust that man...", Adam replied.
Jack shrugged. "Let's follow him. There's four of us. We can take him if trouble arises.
With that, the four followed the strange man. Until they were standing in a quiet corner. The man looked at Jack and seemed to direct his full attention to him.
"Dagganoth. I know you can hear this. Listen up. My name is Adrian. I was a member of the Themos Brood."
-"Was?", Jack asked.
"Was. Or actually, still am, to Lilith"
-"Who's Lilith?", asked Adam.
"I'm offering you my services, Dagganoth.", Adrian went on, completely ignoring Adam's question. "I'm willing to give you all information I possibly can on the Themos Brood"
Jack was seemingly the only one who understood the situation, the parasite in his body feeding him information form Dagganoth.
-"Dagganoth wants to know how he can know whether you aren't actually a Themos spy."
"Check my synapses. Do you see any external factors controlling them? For all the scheming she does, she does a remarkably poor job actually controlling her Brood. Specifically the infested Terrans that Baal left her - most of the companions I travel with have their free will to at least a degree. Yet we are still connected to the hive mind and get an easy glimpse into every plan she shares with her troops."
-"Why would you help us, though?"
"My reasons are simple. The bitch infested me. I want my life back. Protoss and Terran will never accept me this way, and any other Zerg Brood would just assume control and use me for their army. I have heard about your techniques, Dagganoth, and they seem my only option. When I saw you were somehow working together with Terrans I knew I had to contact you - their research could be the key to me getting my body back".
-"Very well. Dagganoth assume you'll be able to come and go if you're flying so low under the radar. Any information is good information. We will be counting on your reports."
"And I will be counting on your assistance, Dagganoth. Keep in mind that I am not doing this out of charity."
-"Dagganoth says he knows."
"He'd better..."
And with that, the strange man walked off. Though Jack had completely understood what had just gone on, Jeremy, Sarah and Adam were left looking rather bewildered. "First pirates, now this... Some place this is. I wonder what's next!", Jeremy said.
SoA
-Jack's crew meets 'Adrian', a free-willed Infested Terran who wants to spy on the Themos Brood for Dagganoth.
Planet Dras Lana, Dras Lana System
"{Is that really necessary?}" Rassyr asked as he and the templar-turned-pirate paced the corridors of the Order's headquarters.
"{In the eyes of the Council, it would certainly eliminate the possibility of terran involvement. Terrans in a protoss ship look a lot more like hired mercenaries than terrans in a terran ship. The Council's bias towards your Order would only further this belief,}" Waiter responded in his emotionless, Nerazim voice.
"{I don't understand,} Rassyr said, shaking his head.
"{Reliance upon terrans would fit into the Imperium's perception of your Order. They do not think highly of you. The only thing that would truly surprise them would be cooperation with the zerg. And even there they would find logic and a weapon to use against you.}" There was a brief silence. Then:
"{I can't say I take pride in having to hire mercenaries to do our job for us. However, it is the Imperium that has forced us to take these measures and we have few other options, none of which are wise. Have you actually found these mercenaries or are you still searching for them?}"
"{We are still searching. Had we found them, we would not be having this conversation. There are not many terrans willing to venture into protoss space, at least not with the aim of attacking protoss.}"
"{I am not surprised. Our might is not something a measly terran fleet can handle head-on. Do you require aid in the construction of this ship?}"
"{Only in the form of instruction and schematics. We have already procured the materials necessary for the vessel.}"
"{Is that so?}" there was a badly concealed hint of surprise in Rassyr's mental voice and Waiter picked up on it all too easily.
"{Seeing as I just said so, probably,}" the Nerazim answered. Rassyr's eyes narrowed at this and he stopped walking.
"{I shall inform the others of this and instruct a group of engineers to accompany you back to Domus. As you may already know, the Exiled tribes have agreed to assist with the operation meaning we will definitely have the firepower needed to destroy the Imperium's fleet. En Taro Tassadar,}" he said, indicating that the meeting was over.
"{En Taro Tassadar, Rassyr,}" Waiter answered. As the two went off in opposite directions, he thought to himself: Firepower. As if that's what it's about.
Khasan System
The lone observer drifted through the dark rim of the Khasan system as dim and inactive as it had been for the past few decades. And then something caught its single robotic eye.
Suddenly, the robot sparked to life, unfolding its gravitic boosters and adjusting its course. OX-73, eye of the Imperium, had spotted something unusual.
SoA:
Rassyr and Darth Waiter discuss the Erana mission. A group of Erana's Order engineers is instructed to accompany Waiter. An Imperium observer is activated after thirty years of aimlessly orbiting the Khasan system.
SoA:
The Pirates offer Adam a job involving "blowing up protoss", details will be given after the "job interview"Darth Waiter is heading for Domus to conduct the "job interview". 2 posts until arrival.
Grell started awake still in his suit and standing. He quickly took stock of his surroundings: what looked to be an old civilian bomb shelter, covered with zerg creep which also held some of his marines, still unconscious, plastered to the walls. The pirate attempted to move step forward to check on his men, but found that he too was restrained by the creep and could not break free. A quick diagnostic of his suit revealed to Grell that his communications were non-functional. He was on his own.
Grell's eyes instinctively darted to the door in time to see a form run past. The pirate recognized the low-slung form of a zergling and immediately started looking for his gun. He spotted it, to his right, along with a neat pile of Gauss Rifles. When his eyes returned to the door a figure stood in it. "Finally. You wake up. It was getting difficult to keep the zerglings back. How are you fealing?"
The pirate studied the newcomer carefully before answering. It was infested, that much was obvious by the discoloration of its skin and the psionic tendrals in place of hair, pulled back from his face into a rough bundle at the back. The rest of his form was covered in stained and battered longcoat. Seeing that he was not in any immediate danger, Grell responded, attempting to keep his voice authoritative, "Pretty good, I see that im not mutilated or infested yet, so why dont you break the big news of why Im here then."
The infested frowned in disappointment and shrugged, before raising his hand to reveals the Data Pad and the external drive that Grell had salvaged. "Do you realize how long I have been after this?" He starts fiddling with the pad, clearly sifting through the files, "It was very kind of you to supply me with them. I thought I'd return the favor."
"Why that's mighty fine of you to do, kill my men, steal my stuff, and then you let me live. I have to say that's quite a way to repay me. Now why dont you just tell me the whole reason I am alive and well." he responded, as he tried to struggle his way free of the creep.
"I saved some of your men," the infested stated dejectedly, waving his hand about the small room. "Honestly, things got rather out of hand. I really have work to do to teach the zerg how to be subtle. I appologize for my failing."
Grell looked at the zerg in surprise. "So all zerg dont just murder everything in there path?" he let out a sigh, abit relieved that he and some others were still alive. "Now, what is it. . . you're after?"
"Have you read these files? This 'X-1' project is quite amazing. I do hope they are exaggerating about its abilities, though. Otherwise it could be quite dangerous."
The pirate set his mind through what he had read and went through, remembering nothing of the sort. "Well Im guessing you have, so refresh me if you would."
"These Auruleans are attempting to enhance their own soldiers using zerg and protoss DNA. They may even have been successful at least once. You know, I hate it when people ignore their history."
"So your saying this may actually work, and that it is a danger to you and all your zerg buddies. This merging of DNA though, would it not cause the man to be un like a human in any way or look, people dont just look at a half zerg leader and follow them to war or such. . ."
"Maybe, maybe not. It depends on which genes you spliced, and when in the developmental process you implemented the transfer. Certainly a new born hybrid would be quite a sight, but someone given gene therapy to say, increase their psionic abilities, enhance their skelital and musculatur and regenerative abilites, such a subject could look quite normal, for a time."
"Alright, so whats this have to do with me?" he said running over the possibilities through his head.
"You tell me. You came here for the data, after all. I assumed that you would have something to do with it."
"I took a job on it, snatch the data, bring it back, no questioning the reason, and no looking at the data. Seems like I was setup, sent right into your claws. I never got the full chance to read it, the data was encrypted. I would ask how you were able to do it, but that's a waste."
"Oh, the decription codes were on your data pad. You could have gotten the data from any terminal with this pad. Quite clever of you to take the drive, though. Gives you plausible deniability to your employers. I am called Orloth." The infested reaches out and lightly draws a line down the creep, which promptly splits open dumping Grell unceremoniously to the floor.
The pirate picked himself up, rubbing the goo off his chest and then stood there testing each of his limbs for weakness. He stretched his arms out, let out a yawn, and then finally faced the infested. "My names Grell, but seeing as my dogtags are gone you probably already knew that. Now, what is it you needed me for?"
"Information." Orloth paused thoughtfully, "I don't think your employers diliberately set you up. If I have been successful, The Coalition should have no idea that I am here, and any reports of zerg in the system would show minimal presence. If I have been unsuccessful, they probably wouldn't have sent you."
"A ghost, using wits to hide from his enemies, and be a valuable asset inside a system that no one knows about. If I had not returned, they could say the threat might still be there, yet still again if I go back, you might be in danger of me talking." He paused thinking of the zerg plan, and then of his employer. the bastard hadn't told him the system had been attacked by zerg, or of what magnitude. He scrubbed the thought. "So, what is the information you seek?" he said, abit of curiosity leading his voice.
"Oh, I don't think I'll be in too much danger of you talking. Either you will be leaving here without the inclanation or without the ability. Which it will be is your choice."
"You know, a simple pinky promise could have been enough."
"A pinky promise? We are down to simple logic, my friend. Why would you tell your employers about me, when they care so little about your life? It is in your best interests to keep me friendly."
"You knew I was not going to talk is that it, or is there some ransom you are going to use against me, though we both know you won't choose the first. Everyone knows I could make money off just the information you are here, so would I trade it? No, not without reason, but in the interest of your 'logic' let me here what you do plan to do."
"If I am not satisfied with your intentions by the time you leave here, I will erase our little chat from your mind. I would prefer not to do that, as you have been quite friendly, considering, but I cannot take chances at this stage. Besides, you are far more useful to me alive then dead."
"Then we can both agree on something. Now how about I make it easier on you to not take my life, somthing that could benifit us both. Im sure you can get were this is going."
"Yes, but I prefer that you are polite enough to state it."
"Ha, if you would like it then, I presume that we form an alliance. I can understand that you would like an outside connection, that and me having a zerg ally could benefit me in ways as well."
"'Form an Alliance.' Such a formal way of putting it. But if you insist, it will do. Your men will wake up shortly. Go well, Mr. Sharton." With a slight bow, the infested abruptly left the shelter.
~~
Mike was sitting in the command station of the Gnarled Wolf, attempting to coordinate search and rescue teams when the call came in. The Captain had been found. He along with eighteen other men had gotten nabbed by those damned dragonflies, and now were apparently just strolling back into base, with a couple of pilots from the downed medivacs as well.
"Somebody get the Captain on the speakers."
There was some shuffling as they swiftly go Captain Sharton to the Command Center.
"Mike! Damned its good to be back. No questions now, just give the order to pack up and go. I want to be on the first shuttle up."
"Yes sir, captain. Will you be taking command back when you get up here."
"I will not. I want you to get us back to Domus while I get myself good and drunk. Tell the barkeep to have my bottle of Tauren Whiskey ready."
"Yes sir."
SOA: Orloth has a little chat with Captain Grell, and then lets him and 18 of his (believed dead) marines and 2 medivac pilots to go free. The Gnarled Wolf will be immediately packing up to return to Domus.
Paleora, Idum System
"{Everything is prepared for the take-off, Master.}", said Dealash while escorting Kelanin to his ship. "{Your escort troops are already prepared and are waiting for you commands.}"
"{Well done. Take care of Grogir while I'm absent.}"
"{Rather he'll take care of me, I guess. Have a good flight.}" With a raised hand Kelanin appreciate his wish while he enters his ship.
In the moment he take seat as the commander of his ship the conversion signal lightens up. "Who is it?", asked he gently while pressing the button which flashed.
A holographic screen appears in front of him with another protoss. "En Taro Tassadar, Ambassador Kelanin no'Karanur. I am Opheilm from the Order."
"En Taro Tassadar, Opheilm of the Order."
"Ambassador, I've heard you will participate in this mission as a representative for your tribe."
"That is true.", he replied, wondering about what could comes next.
"We both know that a direct attack on the transferring fleet is impossible."
"Sure."
"This fact causes me to build an infiltration squadron and here I'm asking you to take a leading role aside me."
"What are you planning me to do?"
"I will infiltrate the ship while our main forces will distract the convoy and I would like to see you accompany me."
"Sounds easy enough to me."
"We could also need some additional troops."
"The Tama are willing to support me with a couple of dark templar."
"I'm afraid to tell you that this won't be enough. I'm thinking about some terran mercenaries."
"Sadly, I didn't got any ressources from my council."
"Well, I'll talking to my leader if he's willing to support us with ressources."
"I am about to head to Dras Lana in the very moment."
"Then I won't try to hinder you anymore."
"Thank you, consider my presence next to you when we are aboard. En Taro Tassadar."
"En Taro Tassadar, Ambassador." The screen disappears and Kelanin is thinking about a possible strategy comparing to the one of Orpheilm.
"Commander?", asked one of his helmsman.
"Huh? Ah, yeah. Take-off heading Dras Lana."
"Yes, Sir."
SOA: Opheilm asked Kelanin to join his task force, which should infiltrate Erana's transport ship.
Additionally Kelanin is heading to Dras Lana (10 hex with speed 4)
SoA:
Darth Waiter and Dagganoth come to an arrangement.Adam is given an FTL communicator able to directly contact Kenny, and through him the pirates.
Darth Waiter arrives at Domus.
Murkag, near Domus
Adam was sitting on his bunk. His trip to Domus had certainly been interesting. For all the adventure he went after, he felt like he nearly got killed three times. Then again, it didn't turn out so bad; the first of those times was just a bunch of five foot pirates illegally buying his wares, the second time it had been an infested Zerg and the third time it had been a Dark Templar that threatened to... what was it again? Break his bones and rip his throat out. No, he'd had enough adventure for now and felt like 'taking a day off' and relaxing. First, he was going to get some sleep, and later he would maybe try out that Jacuzzi. He couldn't shake a bit of a dreadful feeling, though, as if he had taken too big a bite of this adventure game - at least life on Barkanos was less complicated.
{I can sense that you are not at ease, Adam}
Adam jumped before he figured it was Dagganoth.
{I did not mean to startle you. It was my intention to put you at ease}
"How'd'you want to do that?", Adam replied to the air.
{I have something I wish to tell you. A story. Do you wish to hear it?}
"I'm not sure what 'story' a Zerg could come up with that would put me at ease, but sure, I guess...", Adam said as he laid down calmly on his bed.
{A long time ago, the Zerg started out small. Most younger Cerebrates like me do not remember the very beginning, but I know our history back fairly far. I am talking about the point where the Zerg were already Zerg, but not yet capable of planetary travel. At this point we had our distinct state of being that your species has dubbed the 'Hive Mind mentality', yet our race was stuck on the planet Zerus where the Xel'Naga were experimenting on us. The Overmind had bundled our gear towards evolution and focused it towards greater purposes.)
(Similar to your own history, even the Zerg had its disagreements. When the Overmind attempted to lure in the Behemoths to prepare us for space travel, several Cerebrates had expressed serious discontent towards the idea. We knew not for certain what space held, and some Cerebrates even doubted the possibility of real flight. Others did not see the use in it, and proved content with the various species our planet still had to offer. They did not want to see the fact that Zerus would eventually run out of resources and other species. However, the Overminds will was strong enough to maintain complete leadership, and the Zerg race did eventually end up in space. Evidently.}
"You're saying that strong cohesion and leadership through a single being prevents strife? Then why do you not, like your brethren, seek to dominate all life to prevent this strife from taking place in the universe?".
{Because what you have dubbed 'free will', and what is for me still nameless, cannot be denied. Even on Zerus, like I told you, the Cerebrates themselves already argued about different opinions. Have you really prevented strife and succeeded in creating unity if you force arguments out of your race? I do not think so. Therefore, I think that perfect unity is impossible. Which has lead me to my beliefs: the closest we can get to perfection is through consensus. Combining our opinions, and letting them flow together in the fact that they all matter. This is why I avoid fights. I do not think force will help us get much closer to our goal than it already has.}
"Well... if you look at it that way. I guess you were right, you did ease my mind". Ever since coming aboard, Adam had not fully trusted Dagganoth. He had trusted him enough to leave Barkanos with him, but some part of him still thought Dagganoth was part of the Zerg killing machine who'se image he had burned into his brain. That part was now gone, and Adam was finally ready to trust the Cerebrate as if he were a Terran.
{'Good night', Adam... is that how you say it?}
Adam grinned. "Good night, Dagganoth". With that, he drifted up to sleep as Murkag began to accelerate - with the Terran crew back on board, he was headed towards the Celest system.
SoA
-Flavour story, Dagganoth earns Adam's full trust.
-Murkag leaves for the Celest system from Domus. He will avoid the Borus system in regards to his last contact with the Gracken Brood, leaving his travel time at 14 hexagons. With a 6 speed ship this means it'll be 10 posts from this one until he'll arrive.
SoA:
"Filler" post shedding some light onto the relationship between the Aurulean Technocracy and Aranov Consectorate
Amadeus' meeting room, hiding at the dark side of Khasan
"I am about to head to Dras Lana in the very moment." Ambassador Kelanin said
"Then I won't try to hinder you anymore." Opheilm replied
"Thank you, consider my presence next to you when we are aboard. En Taro Tassadar."
"En Taro Tassadar, Ambassador." The screen disappeared.
Both the words Praetor and Tassadar stung deeply, with the latter much more then the former. Opheilm was glad that the conversation was over quick. Had it continued, he may had showed weakness in front of Kelanin, and that is the last thing he wanted to portray to a diplomat. At least that went better then what Opheilm had expected. He knew that Kelanin was a shrewd diplomat and diplomats usually tend to choose decisions that favor themselves more then the other party. However, this time, it seemed that Kelanin's decision favored the Order then the Exiled Tribes, which led Opheilm wondering.. "Why?". Opheilm fell into deep thought and pondered about events that happened.
{"The alliance between the Coalition and the Protoss only happened because it was necessary for survival. Likewise, Erana wasn't detained by the Imperium immediately after she gave the technology to the Terrans because they needed her to maintain this alliance."}
{"Once the war was over and the alliance wasn't needed anymore, she became useless to the Imperium and was imprisoned."}
{"Currently, with Erana captured, both the Tribes and Coalition have nothing to gain from rescuing her. Her status as a symbol of the alliance has already dwindled." Furthermore, if they were serious about rescuing her in the first place, they would have aided us against the Imperium at the dawn of our resistance, when we were much stronger."}
{"So the question is... why now?"}
{"The only clue that I have is her transfer to the planet Vertax."}
{"No, that is too narrow minded. Think, Opheilm, think. Why? What could benefit them if Erana was being transferred?"}
Before Opheilm could continue, his first mate called him over. {"Praetor! our sensors have picked up a small object that suddenly appeared at the middle of our radar at true bearing 330 and is closing in on us"} he said urgently.
{"Suddenly appeared? What's the size of the object, Reois?"} Opheilm asked, not feeling any sense of danger. After all, objects like these float around everywhere in space, and this is not the first time it has happened. Reois is a dependable first mate, but has a habit of reporting any small abnormality as a big bang, which sometimes gave false calls to the entire ship. He also likes to poke around and invite himself into private conversations. Needless to say, he isn't really well liked, but Opheilm preferred a first mate like this, so that he is updated on the happenings of the ship despite not being very social as a leader.
{'Based on my experience Praetor, this could either be a small asteroid, or..}" he paused, his tone changing. Opheilm could feel something in his gut, {"An Imperium Observer."}
{"Get me a visual on that blimp. Send out observers of our own in all directions and order the engineers to start the engine. What's the speed on that object?"} Opheilm said tensely. He had a gut feeling about this "object"."}
{"Its moving at around 1.81 speed Praetor, constant. Asteroids.. do not move at that speed, Praetor."} Reois replied, his voice shaking a little.
{"Prepare the Psionic Transmitter, I'll inform the whole ship myself. I am heading to the bridge now."} Opheilm ordered. Reois acknowledged the command and prepared the Psionic Transmitter for usage.
The Psionic Transmitter does what it says, it acts as a catalyst to transmit information throughout the entire ship via transmitters that are located at each different department of the ship. These transmitters act as mini amplifiers that sends Psionic waves into every living being onboard the ship. This allows for efficient spread of information if there are no intruders.
One minute later, Opheilm was at the bridge. He could feel the stiffing tension in the air and he knew what everyone was thinking. The last time they had a confrontation with Imperium troops, they were almost wiped out. If reinforcements didn't arrive from the Order, Opheilm was sure that they would have met their end. Reluctantly, he put on the Psionic Transmitter and began to speak.
{"Attention, this is your Praetor speaking, 3 minutes ago, a blimp was spotted in the middle of our radar at true bearing 330, both the watch and I have accessed that the chance of it being an Imperium observer is high. All hands are to man your stations. I repeat, all hands are to man your stations. That is all"}. Opheilm took off the Psionic transmitter and looked at the radar. {"What about our observers? How long more for them to pick up that object?"} {"About 5 minutes more, Praetor."} Reois replied, his voice lacking the usual spark it had.
The wait for the next five minutes was one of the longest that Opheilm had experienced. {"Our observers are having a visual on the blimp, I am bringing it up now."} Reois said, with a tension that felt like a slight excitement.
A screen popped up from the navigation console, Reois magnified it and saw what everyone had hoped to see - An asteroid. The pressure on the bridge immediately subsided and Opheilm could feel the relaxation coming back to the crew. Opheilm put on the Psionic Transmitter and just when he began to speak, the radar showed another blimp, this time at true bearing 045, their starboard quarters. When the image was pulled up, he saw something which he didn't want to see - An Imperium observer.
{"Hands to battle stations, I repeat, hands to battle stations. Scouts are to sortie immediately, but stay in close proximity of the ship."} Opheilm said through the transmitter, calmly but with a sense of urgency. {"Where to, Praetor?"} the helmsman asked.
{"Full ahead bearing 235, Helmsman. Our eventual destination is Dras Lana, where we will rendezvous with Rassyr and the others. However, based on our current situation, we will head for Evora if possible, or if not, Sindiris and hope that the exiled tribes will find us before the Imperium do."}. The engines of Amadeus roared and the entire ship began accelerating, but not before Opheilm and Reois saw many more blimps at the very end of the radar. He looked around and felt adrenaline creeping slowly. He was sure his crew felt the same way, each of them had fallen comrades that they wanted to avenge. As Amadeus moved, the blimps edged slightly closer towards the center of the radar.
Ophelim thought to himself. {"A tempest is coming".} One so big that would not stop until they are wiped away to oblivion...
SoA
SoA:
Someone has an relatively irrelevant nightmare.
Xavier starts deploying forces on Dunar to take out the Outsiders hidden in a tunnel complex under some hills.
Brand new pirate ship leaves Tortuga, Karibia for Domus. 7 post travel time.