Grell tapped the 5 number code to the bridge and the door opened, the light glow of the consoles scattered about giving a faint green and red tint throughout the room. Stepping into the familiar setting he looked among the seats seeing only two people here. Mike and third in command Felicia Williams.
“Welcome to the bridge sir.” she said still going over the data from the flight logs.
”Its good to be back.”
Taking a step towards the commanders seat he looked it over. It sat raised above all others in the center of the room. It had been designed that way so that the man in charge could lead from a position of authority, a design that had came with this older ship design. Swinging the chair around he took a seat and set his fingers on the keyboard infront of him. Typing in a list of the commands onto it data began to pour from the computer about the ship status.
“Alright Mike bring us out of jumpspeed in 30.”
“Already set and done, we should see the view soon.”
Grell, was still looking over the ship diagnostics when the lights flickered and dimmed, gravity lessened to less then half the normal, and the feeling of nasua set in from the sudden change in acceleration. In only a few seconds time all went back to normal the frontal screens coming on to show the view. Three Planets were visible, the last being to far away for such a broad capture to see it in any detail. The ones controlled by Tirion Republic were obvious with immense shipyards over them. Space cranes, and stations seemed to be working nonstop on the construction of a new capital ship in the works. Takeing all this in one would believe the death star could have been built there. Residing rather close were they came out of hyperspace, a cool blue planet had only a small space-station atop it, the ground inhabitants below obviously only just beginning to get a colony up.
“Sir we are being contacted by the Tirion BattleCruiser Deathstar, they want to know our business here.” Felicia said now looking at Grell.
Typing in a line of commands he forwarded his info to the battleship.
“Continue towards the planet Tennos, we should have no more trouble.”
“aye aye.”
The old ship moved forward silent in the depths of space. It moved closer to the massive shipyards and planet showing the scope of the operation up close. A zoomed in view of the planet showed it was lush with green forests and covered in oceans. The beautiful scene however was abit ruined by the popping up of cities distributed among the planet. The larger ones had even began a green flow spreading out in the oceans. He looked over the areas on the planet not knowing were they were going due to Mikes secrecy.
“Alrighty Mike, the dropships prepped I know that much, but were the hell are we going?”
The image on his screen zoomed to a major city near the ocean, constant streams of aircraft and ships in the water streamed in and out of the area. Skyscrapers loomed from the center of the city, the edges seemed to be largely used for housing and similar.
Mike began by highlighting one of the taller buildings which was a curved design elevators visibly running the side of its length. It glowed with activity, two of the levels even held their own landing pads.
“This is the building we will be going to, it is the area where much of the trade agreements and higher ups rest with the last say in decisions.”
“Very poetic, take us into a stable orbit-.” he tapped the coordinates into his console “at this location. You will also have the ship till me and Mike get back, take care of her.”
“Yesir I wont crash her into anything you wouldn't.”
“That scares me.” he said to himself now leaving the bridge with Mike at his side.
Dropship Heading towards Tennos
Mike had gotten the cloths ready for this meeting, they now both sat dressed up in suits while riding the dropship meant for soldier down to the planet. Checking it over Grell pulled at the tie abit hating how it hugged his neck.
“Common man, do not mess up your tie. This is an important meeting to get some extra forces on our side.”
“Yea, yea. First time I actually have to wear this suite aswell. If not for the importance of this 'diplomacy' I would of tore it off seconds ago.”
“Well try to hold out atleast till we have a solid deal with the man.”
“Aw so you do know who we are dealing with. So we playing good cop bad cop?”
“Just leave the diplomacy part to me, you can come in with major suggestings. I know you wont fail in that aspect.”
“Ofcourse not, you handle the pretty words I handle the big-bangs.”
They both began to laugh when the speaker for the dropship came on, and a female voice began to talk.
“Alright we are landing, when can I expect to pick you boys up from your little party?”
“I say about 3 hours if we are lucky.” Mike stated as he got up and grabbed the bar next to the bay door.
The ship decelerated steadying out and a light thump was heard as the ship made contact with the pad. Getting up, Grell fixed his tie and joined his friend as the landing ramp extended and they stepped out into the bright world. Looking up one could see flying vehicles zooming by, the sound of work was all around, it was industry at its finest.
Taking a sudden dislike to the world Grell looked at Mike and gestured towards the building.
“Well gentleman first my friend.” and they proceeded in.
Inside Tirion Headquarters
“Mike, we have been waiting here an hour. I understand you have contacts, but aren’t we abit higher than some nobodies waiting for the higher classes as they sip there expensive water?”
“Grell, you and I both know they don't like pirates, they probably would not have even seen us if it were not for the importance of claiming these worlds back from the Outsiders. So don’t complain and wait for us to get in.”
Letting out a sigh Grell stood and went over to a nearby window watching the ships go by. A moment later the door to the office opened and a woman came out to meet them. She wore a black dress, with a pair of exotic red high heels. Grell looked her over and though keeping a nuetral expression, knew she was a trained killer.
“We are sorry for the wait, Mr. Hendman man is now ready to see you both now.”
Walking over to Mike, whom stood up,checked his tie, and gave a curt nod to Grell and they both followed the woman. She led them up a small flight of stairs to a tall area of the building leading to the top.
“Enter through that door there and when you are finished I shall escort you out.” she said opening the door for both of them.
The inside of the office was quiet different then Grell had expected, the walls were lined with components of machinery, gun batteries, even what seemed to be a piece of the original siege tank design. The man sitting behind the desk in the center of the room turned from the open view of the city from the glass window behind and closely observed the two of them. He seemed to be in his older 60's a the beginning of grey showing on his beard and in his thinning hair.
“Please have a seat both of you.” he said gesturing to the two chairs which rose up from the ground in an odd fashion that almost seemed like they hovered. Grell took his seat with Mike close behind.
“Now you gentleman are here for important reasons I know, but I will say I do not expect much of your kind.” he said, taking a cigar out from behind his desk.
“Well I believe we both share a common interest, as you and I both know the recent movement of the Outsiders has not only cost the loss of your world, but of Aranov's, and Magrathean's aswell.”
Lighting the cigar he took a puff of it and thought it over. “Yes, you come to make an offer for our support none the less. I can understand you would like a fleet, but tell me what is it we gain from this?”
“The outsiders have been a nuisance nonetheless. Taking them down here and know will crush any counters they could pursue on other worlds, and get you back the planet you once held. Im sure you can see the strategic value in this aswell.”
“Yes I do, but I have no reason to send my people into such a danger. They took over the three planets that resided in the system and are no doubt setting up defenses against a counter attack of such.” He let out another plume of smoke watching it drift into the air and fade. Grell tired of this mans weakness leaned forward and spoke.
“So you will do nothing but let your own colony be kept by those rouges. I say either you step in to support us or gain us the support we need.”
“So trudge off to war blindly with you and your legion of pirates is the answer? No I don't think I will do that. As of what I have seen you have some pirate fleets at your disposal, and that heap of junk in orbit you call a ship. I will not help you in any way if that’s all you have going for you.”
“You seem to be to stuck on your belief of me and my friend here. Are you to blind to realise that your planet was attacked and ripped from your grasp by the outsiders. I think you also underestimate my ships and mens capabilities. If you refuse to take back this planet, your letting the Outsiders have not only your planet, but your allies aswell. Who says they wont use that as a staging point to gain even more ground.”
“Yet I dont see you and your zealous pirates coming in to take back a planet. Conflicts with the Zerg and Protoss could already cut us short as it is.”
“This will cut into you, allow for them to hit you when your weakest. This war has shone that people don't unite when global conflicts arise, it makes them greedy and separate from others. I am offering a chance to git rid of your Outsider problem, and give you back your land. I am only asking for your support!”
“Then tell me how do you plan on taking back these planets. I don't assume you will gun-ho rush them in hope of winning.”
Mike cleared his throat and brought up some plans on his datapad showing the combined power of the pirate ships and Tirion support.
“I believe that by using the pirates on an assault on there main base of operations, and the support ships along with our flagship leading a second flanking assault on the second planet will allow us to in quick succession take back these planets. The problem is our current numbers will not be sufficient, or will causes more loses than necessary.”
“Also due to the use of bunkers and infantry tanks will give us a significant advantage against the cannon-fodder infantrymen they have. With some precision drops from medivacs having a tanks get into position and a slow push forward with marines and the pirate forces we should be able to quickly move in and lockdown the area.” Grell responded
“I see.” he looked over the plans, checking over the data not twice, but three times to get it through his head. He took another huff of his cigar then looked at the two of them.
“You will have my support, but I do have something on the Outsiders that might interest you.” He tapped onto his desks console sending the specifics of one of the outsider ships to Mikes datapad.
Grell leaned towards his friend to look over the ship, wondering what was in store.
“The ship you see there is a Tirion design, a prototype we were testing before the attack on the system. If possible I need you to board the ship, get any relevant data, then either capture or destroy the vessel.”
Mike checked it over then realized the sheer strength of the ships hull. Though it was lighter on weapons and armor then most ships, the hulls strength was magnificent.
“Mr. Hendman, I believe this will be a hard job to do.” he said seeing the ships defences.
“Yes, but you are pirates and I'm sure you have plenty of ways to crack into a ship and steal. it.”
Grell smirked abit and got up, walking towards Hendman's seat, offering his hand. “We have a deal Mr. Hendman.” And they settled the deal with a firm handshake.
Entering Loading Bay of Gnarled Wolf
The dropship landed and Grell stepped out his suit unbuttoned, his tie no were to be seen.
“I can finally breath again, its good to be back aboard the ship.”
Mike still tapped the commands on his pad making sure everything was in order.
“Sir.” he began.”what shall we do with the Tirion support?”
“They will follow us to the Dinari system so we can get either some Aranov support or push him for more Tirion support. I want to leave system immediately so we can get their soon as possible, this waiting for a battle is killing me.”
“Alright sir it'll be done soon.”
“I know, ill be in my room if you need me, and make sure the new pilot does not ruin the ship, understood?”
“completely sir.”
“Good, seeya Mike.”
SoA: Grell arrived at Fyrad system and finished negotiations with the Tirions. This has gained him 1 Tirion support which is following him to the Danari system. Grell has lost his tie.
The gravity of the ship changed, going from normal earth gravity to half that and back again. The ship must have exited light-speed already. Steadying himself at the job at hand Grell continued checking the magnetic accelerator his gun used, making sure it hadn't been damaged after the battle on the Protoss ship. It had taken a bolt of energy from a stalker and needed to be checked over to make sure his gun Did Not explode in his hands.
Looking over the components he found that it was perfectly fine. Letting out a sigh of relief he grabbed the accelerator and slapped it back into his gun, snapping the four holding bolts in place and began to put his gun back together. The door to the room opened, and a quick check confirmed it was Mike. “Hey mate, what did you come down to the armory for?” he asked as he screwed in another piece that held the gun together.
“Well sir I got a transmission from the pirates again, seems they want you to take on another job. You know the pay is gonna be good, yet this one is abit different from the last.” as he finished he sat down and checked the work to see his friend hadn't misplaced or 'forgotten' a screw.
“Lemme guess, they want me to dive into another hell of a mission were I get to put my ass on the line for fame and glory of the world?”
“Not quite. You have heard of the outsiders right? The famous group of people who use old tech and continue to be a pain for the rest of the galaxy.”
“Yea, not only have I heard of them, I had met one before. Usually grusky looking fellows that seem to get on the badside of everyone. Now If it involves them I'm guessing we are hitting one of their fleets right?” He said slapping a fresh clip into the gun and setting it aside.
“Close, we will be hitting their planets, well technically speaking three planets they have just taken over.”
“Sounds like fun, I'm guessing we'll be getting an army for this, am-I-right?”
“The pirates want to negotiate this, I’m thinking they will provide some support, but this also allows us a chance to make deals with other people. You see the three planets there where originally under the control of the Tirion Republic, Magrathean Empire, and the Aranov Consectorate.”
Putting his gun away on the weapon rack he looked at Mike, thinking for a moment. “So your thinking we may be able to get some of those nations to give us support on this?”
“I'm fairly certain we can, and knowing you we will want to start with the Aranov and Tirion support.”
“And why's that Mike?”
“They have tanks sir.”
“You know me to well Mike, Imma handle this on my own, be back in about an hour.” he said putting away the data pad and heading up to the bay doors.
Tunnels of Domus Near Mikes Bar
Grell checked the vest he wore to make sure there where no stains on it and with that, proceeded on his way without Mike for once to the bar. The walk to the bar was a simple one, the few thugs and other shady characters keeping there distance as Grell went past. Coming through the authentic rock entrance leading to the bar, they quickly took a seat next to the Burly pirate sitting there drinking rum. "Doom, I believe you had a proposition for me." Grell said sliding a coin onto the counter, awaiting the usual whisky he had gotten every time he came to this place.
"Got a bit of a situation in Naran. Nice place, y'know, easy to raid and so on. Anyway, the Outsiders just decided to wreck and take over the place. Coalition wants the system taken out"
"Retaken." Kenny corrected.
"That's what I said. Anyway, intel says they got six flagships there, wouldn't be surprised if they called for reinforcements if they are attacked. Thing is, Aranov's busy holding Dras Lana in case the Protoss decide to do anything for... Well, the thing we weren't involved in in any way. I'm supposed to be patrollin' around there as well, and we can't really spare many ships either. Got two ships waitin' on ye orders in Ratar, ye'll have to get more support yourself."
“Well sounds easy enough, though I will say I don't seem to think getting the other factions on my side will be easy.” he said grabbing the glass that slid infront of him and taking a swig of it, giving the unknown drink a funny look.
"Go ask the other factions and make them an offer they can't refuse." Doom said emptying the bottle of rum in his hand.
“Got it, Ill stay in contact.” turning to the bartender he looked at him with distaste and then getting up, he left pocketing the coin he had set on the table.
Docking Tube to Gnarled Wolf
No sooner had Grell stepped into the tube connecting the Gnarled Wolf with Domus, then he saw Mike come to meet him. Expecting his friend to be angry at the quick negotiation and info yet he looked pleased. “Alright Grell I got info from Kenny about our mission, the ships provided and even some info on other possibilities for allies to help with this mission.”
“He never spoke a word to me while I was there, glad he sent us the files though, had forgotten all but the most important things.” he said taking out some hastily scribbled notes he had taken on the way back to his ship.
“Sir if I may say so you are a horrible captain.”
“Goods to hear it I was mean to lead people in the heat of battle, not this diplomatic shit. It'll, do for now though. So tell me what you gathered from Kenny and your sources.”
“Well I believe we may be able to strike a deal between us and the original owners of the planets. Im sure they are not to happy about the outsiders coming in and pushing them out of their territory, and even if we are pirates I am positive they will work with us to get them back if we can strike some negotiations with them. I personally know some Tirion higher ups that though weary of pirates are always willing to do whats needed to get ahead, and this will certainly be a prospect they wont want to turn away.
He tapped on his data pad bringing up some more relevant data and continued.”The Aranov faction most likely wont help us for nothing, gonna have to work to get them on our side. The Magratheans have a small amount of fighting forces, but I think alittle persuasion can get them on our side.”
Grell thought it over for a moment, then gave his friend a hug. “I must thank you for doing the hard work for me. I want you to set a course for your Tirion 'friends'. Now I'm going to head to the weight-room, get back to it. Send the data to my pad so I can look it over and remember to pick up your rifle and start practicing, I might need you if 'negotiations' fail.”
“Alright we'll be heading to Fyrd, and Grell, me and you in the ring today.”
Letting out a laugh Grell and his friend entered the ship.
SoA: Grell accepts the mission of taking over the 3 planets from outsider control in the Naran system. There course now is Fyrd to meet with Tirion diplomats wich Mike has an aqaintence with.
Grell checked his gloves and mouthpiece, making sure they were secure. He was in a pair of fighting shorts, they were right above knee height and fit well enough to be comfortable and still aloud someone to move around. He stepped forward, raising his left hand just infont of his face his right next to his side clenched into a fist. He checked his footing, adjusting at a good angle. He was fighting Lentan one of the marines that had survived the attack of the city. He had a scar on his right cheek from were a hydralisk spike had pierced his helmet and sliced his cheek pretty bad. His orange air usually got him bad attention, yet he had said to him it reminded him of a character from the old anime he had watched as a kid. Now each of them staring eachother down, fists raised, he could see the man was a true warrior.
“Alright, both parties ready?” said a man wearing a simple white shirt, the referee for the match. They both nodded approval. They stepped forward and tapped fists, the match was started.
Lentan attacked first, charging forward, he threw a right handed straight punch for the face. Grell sidestepped, knocking it to the side, he stepped in bringing his right fist forward to his opponents gut. The man jumped back, taking Minimal damage and managed to get a jab in, hitting Grell in the face. The punch left an opening for attack, he stepped forward, an began to let out a barrage, falling for the simple trap. Grell parried the first punch to the side, the second over his shoulder, then with a quick flash of speed slammed his fist into the mans forehead.
Lentan Stumbled back, reflexively shielding his face yet took a kick to the side. Grell stepped forward, delivering punch after punch to the man, soon the man shoved a bad punch to the side and came forward to tackle him. Twisting around him, Grell let down an elbow on the mans back, causing a quick shout as the man fell.
The referee stepped forward stopping anything from continuing. “Jesus man, you could kill someone if you fight like that. This is sparring, not street fighting.”
“I’m sorry . . . Ill be more careful next time.” he said, letting out a sigh as he exited the ring. He grabbed a small container of water and made his way to the end of the gym were his friend Mike stood, a frown on his face.
“You alright man? You have not been yourself lately.”
“I’m fine Mike, now what did you come here to tell me, or was you actually going to workout with me for once.?” he said finishing by spinning the lid off the water canteen and began to gulp it down.
“We are half an hour away from Domus, get a shower, and some clean cloths on before we get there.” he said his eyes avoiding Grell's, and instead running over the datapad he held in his hand.
“Alright sounds good, I know you got everything ready, thank you Ill be out before we dock.” with that he slapped his friends shoulder and walked out the door to his cabin to get showered and a fresh set of cloths.
Docked at Domus
“Alright Mike, I hope that you copied that data without them being able to find out.” he said as he slammed his boot against the metal wall of the airlock to push it all the way on.
“You cut it out of the fucking computer, an idiot like you makes my job harder, but it atleast makes all the locks that were on it make sense to be so scrambled up. He responded, his hand going over the usb with some of the scrap from a computer still attached to it. Looking up he saw the hat and old style cloths Grell was wearing. “Whats with the cowboy hat anyways?”
“It makes me look genuine badass with the revolver at my side.”
Mike made a comment, but it was to low to hear and they moved out towards the asteroid city. Entering the grusky place brought a smile to Grells face, and the opposite to his friends. The place had not changed much, walking towards the cantina was a quiet journey, with afew people looking at him oddly. Entering the cantina he stepped up to were the bartender was, the place had a lot of business today. He found one of the few empty bar seats, and sat waiting for the bartender to pass by.
“What can I get you.” The bartender asked, a Russian accent leaking from his lips.
“Get me some swamp water, unalcoholic please.” As he said that the few people around him looked at him like he was insane, but he wasn't getting drunk when he had serious business at hand. The man soon returned, a glass of lemonade set on the table infront of him. He took it and downed it in one gulp, set it down, and placed a coin on the table. He got up and left, sure enough that he would have caught the attention of the man he was looking for. He soon made his way over to the spot they had met last time, and heard the familiar voice beside him.
“Do you have the data?”
“Yes, now when am I going to get payment for this job?”
The man put his hand out, waiting for the data before responding. Letting out a sigh he tossed it into the mans hand which examined it for a split second before pocketing it in the trench coat he wore.
“The money has been sent to your ship, I believe we are done here.”
“Yea, If you need another job you know were to find me.” After tipping his hat Grell left, well aware his payment would be there.
Mike shook his head at him. “your slipping man, what if he had not of if given the payment to us?”
He just laughed and smiled at Mike. “You would of knocked the sense out of me before I left, so I knew he wasn't lying.”
“What now, go be a real pirate?”
“How about we check out the job board and see whats up, that's how I saw this one remember. Besides it offers a lot of odd jobs I’m perfect for.”
5 Minutes later
“Fucking scurvy ass pirate, why the hell you have to ruin my hat!” he yelled picking up yellow rum stained cowboy hat.
“You bumped into me you little asshole.” The two began arguing as Mike tried to settle it, Grell raised his fists. “Bring it on!” A street fight was started, people gathered around to see it happen. Mike, tried to stop it, yet failed as Grell pushed him aside, and nailed the pirate in the side of the head. A split second later he hit the ground from a punch the pirate slamming down the bottle, barley missing his head as Grell came up with a kick to his hand. Mike grabbed the burly man by the shoulder and was ripped off from someone in the crowd, it seemed to be another pirate.
Just as the four of them were about to get serious, the crowd moved aside as an eight foot behemoth came through. Pulling the Pirate off of Grell and Mike he stood there, the smell of rum and sweat seeming to fill the air. "Ye're fightin' one of mah boy, why's that?" he demanded.
Forcing his rage to subside, he brushed off and looked the man in the eyes. He showed no fear, and began, his voice calm. “They ruined my cowboy hat,” He placed the now rum stained hat on his head to emphasize the point. “I don't mean to of started a fight, but I don't take kindly to someone ruining my genuine cloths.”
“Are ya, a merc?”
He put the question through his mind, knowing that something else was coming. “Im one of the finest.”
“I has a proposition for ya then, "it involves ye gettin on a protoss ship o' mine and havin' my mens back. Ill offer upfront payment, and people.”
Grell looked at the man, and let out a grin. “Come to my ship, we can work out the details there.”
SoA: Grell Receives 20 points payment from the employer who hired him to get the data. After a short Rumble with two of Cap'n Dooms people, Grell gets hired for job involving protoss ship, his men, and watching over a Templar and Kenny to make sure they succeed. Upfront payment is 5 points, 8 marauders and 14 reapers. Gnarled wolf will remained docked on Domus until mission is complete.
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.
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.
“Hurry up Mike, you take to damn long getting ready.” Grell said as he checked the watch on his left hand. He had just gotten done fixing the coolant systems with Mike, his best mechanic and probably the only person he would dare trust on his ship without having a deep pocket. The repair hadn't went flawless, as one of the pipes had burst splattering the light blue liquid on his friend and him. Even now after showering he still had the slight smell of citrus and old motor oil lingering from him as he waited for his friend to finish getting dressed up. He himself did not mind what he wore most the time, this meeting with this pirate was the same as he had only taken the time to pull out a plain red shirt, a leather jacket and some unstained jeans. After getting ready he had taken the time to secure a knife to his side, and revolver just inside the jacket he wore. Could never be to careful he always had said.
The door slid open and Mike stepped out. He was dressed nicer then him, with dark black slacks, a white dress shirt, and black overcoat he almost looked like a man of business. Looking at him Grell let out a small laugh, yet was quickly silenced by the cold stare he got. Mike was defiantly out of place in the piece of rock he lived in. He had come from a rich family, the way he talked, dressed, and looked all made it apparent. Why he had come he hadn't said, yet he had lost everything here and Grell had agreed to take him into his crew not only because he was good with any machine he got his hands on, but also because he was plain deadly with any weapon he got his hands on. If there was anyone you would not cross, it was him. He pushed his long blond hair to the sides of his head and looked at Grell. “Alright, lets get going then.” he said in a neutral tone.
“Its bout damn time you finished in there, let me guess you couldn't find your hairbrush again?” he said as he stepped out towards corridor leading to the cantina.
“No, just took my time getting the smell off me, besides who the hell goes to a business meeting wearing rags, and smelling of citrusy oil?” he said following closely behind.
“Me obviously, now tell me, whats the statues of the ship?”
“Everything should be in working order, any problems we have are just small inconveniences nothing more.”
“Good, then if we can get this job we might actually be able to make it to the planet without the ship breaking apart.” he finished his sentence as they stepped into the bar. It was almost empty, set aside the few people sitting at the bar drinking there troubles away. He scanned the room, looking for anyone out of the ordinary, yet found no one. He let out a sigh and checked the time again, he was afew minutes late and might of missed his chance. Saying a curse to himself silently he stepped towards the bar, his friend staying mute as he took a seat and dropped a coin on the table. “Give me a shot of Tauren Whiskey.” he said looking at the grusky man infront of him. He waited as the man prepared the drink, the feeling of being watched beginning to nudge him. The bartender slid the drink infront of him, and he took it in his hand, swirling it around, debating afew things in his head. He downed the drink quickly, setting the glass down and letting out a sigh as a man walked up beside him. He turned, looking him over. He wore all black, a heavy trench coat covering his body. He had olive skin, with dark black hair coming down to ear length. He looked at Grell with a neutral expression. “Are you Grell.” he asked his voice devoid of emotions.
“Yes, and you wouldn't happen to be the man offering the job were you?”
“follow me to a more . . . private place if your interested.”
He stood up his friend giving him an uneasy look. “Alright, lets go.” he followed the man to one of the sub routes leading out of the bar, it was equivalent to an ally in the old cities. Turning around he pulled out a small datapad, which lit up green, holographics displaying from the device. “The job is simple, go to the Dvergar System, head to planet Dalar and recover some research data. This is very important information, and if you view it, not only will we know what you have done, we will by all means exact a price of failure.” Finishing the terse details of the job, he held the datapad out which was quickly snatched up by Mike whom began working his way through it.
“Your offering quite a lot for this data, so tell me, whats the catch.”
“There is no catch, it is either you take the job, or not.”
Grell looked at his friend whom was still going over the datapad, he wondered if he should debate it with him yet the thought of the money and simplicity of the job made his mind up for him. “its a deal then, but on the condition on partial payment before we head out.” he said to the man.
“Grell.” Mike said now looking at him. “this is more than just the coordinates and data on the job, its a million dollar payment.”
Looking abit shocked he turned to thank the man, yet was surprised to see he had vanished. Stepping out of the ally, he went to the bar and set another coin on the table, and was soon met with another glass of whiskey. “Well its a start.” he said as he downed the drink and looked at his friend who was already issuing the preparation of the ship through his datapad.
SoA - Grell's character introduction and info on job taken from asteroid city. The ship is traveling to Dvergar System, Planet Dalar which will take 12 posts/days.
Inside The Gnarled Wolf's Bridge
Grell tapped the 5 number code to the bridge and the door opened, the light glow of the consoles scattered about giving a faint green and red tint throughout the room. Stepping into the familiar setting he looked among the seats seeing only two people here. Mike and third in command Felicia Williams.
“Welcome to the bridge sir.” she said still going over the data from the flight logs.
”Its good to be back.”
Taking a step towards the commanders seat he looked it over. It sat raised above all others in the center of the room. It had been designed that way so that the man in charge could lead from a position of authority, a design that had came with this older ship design. Swinging the chair around he took a seat and set his fingers on the keyboard infront of him. Typing in a list of the commands onto it data began to pour from the computer about the ship status.
“Alright Mike bring us out of jumpspeed in 30.”
“Already set and done, we should see the view soon.”
Grell, was still looking over the ship diagnostics when the lights flickered and dimmed, gravity lessened to less then half the normal, and the feeling of nasua set in from the sudden change in acceleration. In only a few seconds time all went back to normal the frontal screens coming on to show the view. Three Planets were visible, the last being to far away for such a broad capture to see it in any detail. The ones controlled by Tirion Republic were obvious with immense shipyards over them. Space cranes, and stations seemed to be working nonstop on the construction of a new capital ship in the works. Takeing all this in one would believe the death star could have been built there. Residing rather close were they came out of hyperspace, a cool blue planet had only a small space-station atop it, the ground inhabitants below obviously only just beginning to get a colony up.
“Sir we are being contacted by the Tirion BattleCruiser Deathstar, they want to know our business here.” Felicia said now looking at Grell.
Typing in a line of commands he forwarded his info to the battleship.
“Continue towards the planet Tennos, we should have no more trouble.”
“aye aye.”
The old ship moved forward silent in the depths of space. It moved closer to the massive shipyards and planet showing the scope of the operation up close. A zoomed in view of the planet showed it was lush with green forests and covered in oceans. The beautiful scene however was abit ruined by the popping up of cities distributed among the planet. The larger ones had even began a green flow spreading out in the oceans. He looked over the areas on the planet not knowing were they were going due to Mikes secrecy.
“Alrighty Mike, the dropships prepped I know that much, but were the hell are we going?”
The image on his screen zoomed to a major city near the ocean, constant streams of aircraft and ships in the water streamed in and out of the area. Skyscrapers loomed from the center of the city, the edges seemed to be largely used for housing and similar.
Mike began by highlighting one of the taller buildings which was a curved design elevators visibly running the side of its length. It glowed with activity, two of the levels even held their own landing pads.
“This is the building we will be going to, it is the area where much of the trade agreements and higher ups rest with the last say in decisions.”
“Very poetic, take us into a stable orbit-.” he tapped the coordinates into his console “at this location. You will also have the ship till me and Mike get back, take care of her.”
“Yesir I wont crash her into anything you wouldn't.”
“That scares me.” he said to himself now leaving the bridge with Mike at his side.
Dropship Heading towards Tennos
Mike had gotten the cloths ready for this meeting, they now both sat dressed up in suits while riding the dropship meant for soldier down to the planet. Checking it over Grell pulled at the tie abit hating how it hugged his neck.
“Common man, do not mess up your tie. This is an important meeting to get some extra forces on our side.”
“Yea, yea. First time I actually have to wear this suite aswell. If not for the importance of this 'diplomacy' I would of tore it off seconds ago.”
“Well try to hold out atleast till we have a solid deal with the man.”
“Aw so you do know who we are dealing with. So we playing good cop bad cop?”
“Just leave the diplomacy part to me, you can come in with major suggestings. I know you wont fail in that aspect.”
“Ofcourse not, you handle the pretty words I handle the big-bangs.”
They both began to laugh when the speaker for the dropship came on, and a female voice began to talk.
“Alright we are landing, when can I expect to pick you boys up from your little party?”
“I say about 3 hours if we are lucky.” Mike stated as he got up and grabbed the bar next to the bay door.
The ship decelerated steadying out and a light thump was heard as the ship made contact with the pad. Getting up, Grell fixed his tie and joined his friend as the landing ramp extended and they stepped out into the bright world. Looking up one could see flying vehicles zooming by, the sound of work was all around, it was industry at its finest. Taking a sudden dislike to the world Grell looked at Mike and gestured towards the building.
“Well gentleman first my friend.” and they proceeded in.
Inside Tirion Headquarters
“Mike, we have been waiting here an hour. I understand you have contacts, but aren’t we abit higher than some nobodies waiting for the higher classes as they sip there expensive water?”
“Grell, you and I both know they don't like pirates, they probably would not have even seen us if it were not for the importance of claiming these worlds back from the Outsiders. So don’t complain and wait for us to get in.”
Letting out a sigh Grell stood and went over to a nearby window watching the ships go by. A moment later the door to the office opened and a woman came out to meet them. She wore a black dress, with a pair of exotic red high heels. Grell looked her over and though keeping a nuetral expression, knew she was a trained killer.
“We are sorry for the wait, Mr. Hendman man is now ready to see you both now.”
Walking over to Mike, whom stood up,checked his tie, and gave a curt nod to Grell and they both followed the woman. She led them up a small flight of stairs to a tall area of the building leading to the top.
“Enter through that door there and when you are finished I shall escort you out.” she said opening the door for both of them.
The inside of the office was quiet different then Grell had expected, the walls were lined with components of machinery, gun batteries, even what seemed to be a piece of the original siege tank design. The man sitting behind the desk in the center of the room turned from the open view of the city from the glass window behind and closely observed the two of them. He seemed to be in his older 60's a the beginning of grey showing on his beard and in his thinning hair.
“Please have a seat both of you.” he said gesturing to the two chairs which rose up from the ground in an odd fashion that almost seemed like they hovered. Grell took his seat with Mike close behind.
“Now you gentleman are here for important reasons I know, but I will say I do not expect much of your kind.” he said, taking a cigar out from behind his desk.
“Well I believe we both share a common interest, as you and I both know the recent movement of the Outsiders has not only cost the loss of your world, but of Aranov's, and Magrathean's aswell.”
Lighting the cigar he took a puff of it and thought it over. “Yes, you come to make an offer for our support none the less. I can understand you would like a fleet, but tell me what is it we gain from this?”
“The outsiders have been a nuisance nonetheless. Taking them down here and know will crush any counters they could pursue on other worlds, and get you back the planet you once held. Im sure you can see the strategic value in this aswell.”
“Yes I do, but I have no reason to send my people into such a danger. They took over the three planets that resided in the system and are no doubt setting up defenses against a counter attack of such.” He let out another plume of smoke watching it drift into the air and fade. Grell tired of this mans weakness leaned forward and spoke.
“So you will do nothing but let your own colony be kept by those rouges. I say either you step in to support us or gain us the support we need.”
“So trudge off to war blindly with you and your legion of pirates is the answer? No I don't think I will do that. As of what I have seen you have some pirate fleets at your disposal, and that heap of junk in orbit you call a ship. I will not help you in any way if that’s all you have going for you.”
“You seem to be to stuck on your belief of me and my friend here. Are you to blind to realise that your planet was attacked and ripped from your grasp by the outsiders. I think you also underestimate my ships and mens capabilities. If you refuse to take back this planet, your letting the Outsiders have not only your planet, but your allies aswell. Who says they wont use that as a staging point to gain even more ground.”
“Yet I dont see you and your zealous pirates coming in to take back a planet. Conflicts with the Zerg and Protoss could already cut us short as it is.”
“This will cut into you, allow for them to hit you when your weakest. This war has shone that people don't unite when global conflicts arise, it makes them greedy and separate from others. I am offering a chance to git rid of your Outsider problem, and give you back your land. I am only asking for your support!”
“Then tell me how do you plan on taking back these planets. I don't assume you will gun-ho rush them in hope of winning.”
Mike cleared his throat and brought up some plans on his datapad showing the combined power of the pirate ships and Tirion support.
“I believe that by using the pirates on an assault on there main base of operations, and the support ships along with our flagship leading a second flanking assault on the second planet will allow us to in quick succession take back these planets. The problem is our current numbers will not be sufficient, or will causes more loses than necessary.”
“Also due to the use of bunkers and infantry tanks will give us a significant advantage against the cannon-fodder infantrymen they have. With some precision drops from medivacs having a tanks get into position and a slow push forward with marines and the pirate forces we should be able to quickly move in and lockdown the area.” Grell responded
“I see.” he looked over the plans, checking over the data not twice, but three times to get it through his head. He took another huff of his cigar then looked at the two of them.
“You will have my support, but I do have something on the Outsiders that might interest you.” He tapped onto his desks console sending the specifics of one of the outsider ships to Mikes datapad.
Grell leaned towards his friend to look over the ship, wondering what was in store.
“The ship you see there is a Tirion design, a prototype we were testing before the attack on the system. If possible I need you to board the ship, get any relevant data, then either capture or destroy the vessel.”
Mike checked it over then realized the sheer strength of the ships hull. Though it was lighter on weapons and armor then most ships, the hulls strength was magnificent.
“Mr. Hendman, I believe this will be a hard job to do.” he said seeing the ships defences.
“Yes, but you are pirates and I'm sure you have plenty of ways to crack into a ship and steal. it.”
Grell smirked abit and got up, walking towards Hendman's seat, offering his hand. “We have a deal Mr. Hendman.” And they settled the deal with a firm handshake.
Entering Loading Bay of Gnarled Wolf
The dropship landed and Grell stepped out his suit unbuttoned, his tie no were to be seen.
“I can finally breath again, its good to be back aboard the ship.”
Mike still tapped the commands on his pad making sure everything was in order.
“Sir.” he began.”what shall we do with the Tirion support?”
“They will follow us to the Dinari system so we can get either some Aranov support or push him for more Tirion support. I want to leave system immediately so we can get their soon as possible, this waiting for a battle is killing me.”
“Alright sir it'll be done soon.”
“I know, ill be in my room if you need me, and make sure the new pilot does not ruin the ship, understood?”
“completely sir.”
“Good, seeya Mike.”
SoA: Grell arrived at Fyrad system and finished negotiations with the Tirions. This has gained him 1 Tirion support which is following him to the Danari system. Grell has lost his tie.
Inside Armory of Gnarled Wolf nearing Domus
The gravity of the ship changed, going from normal earth gravity to half that and back again. The ship must have exited light-speed already. Steadying himself at the job at hand Grell continued checking the magnetic accelerator his gun used, making sure it hadn't been damaged after the battle on the Protoss ship. It had taken a bolt of energy from a stalker and needed to be checked over to make sure his gun Did Not explode in his hands.
Looking over the components he found that it was perfectly fine. Letting out a sigh of relief he grabbed the accelerator and slapped it back into his gun, snapping the four holding bolts in place and began to put his gun back together. The door to the room opened, and a quick check confirmed it was Mike. “Hey mate, what did you come down to the armory for?” he asked as he screwed in another piece that held the gun together.
“Well sir I got a transmission from the pirates again, seems they want you to take on another job. You know the pay is gonna be good, yet this one is abit different from the last.” as he finished he sat down and checked the work to see his friend hadn't misplaced or 'forgotten' a screw.
“Lemme guess, they want me to dive into another hell of a mission were I get to put my ass on the line for fame and glory of the world?”
“Not quite. You have heard of the outsiders right? The famous group of people who use old tech and continue to be a pain for the rest of the galaxy.”
“Yea, not only have I heard of them, I had met one before. Usually grusky looking fellows that seem to get on the badside of everyone. Now If it involves them I'm guessing we are hitting one of their fleets right?” He said slapping a fresh clip into the gun and setting it aside.
“Close, we will be hitting their planets, well technically speaking three planets they have just taken over.”
“Sounds like fun, I'm guessing we'll be getting an army for this, am-I-right?”
“The pirates want to negotiate this, I’m thinking they will provide some support, but this also allows us a chance to make deals with other people. You see the three planets there where originally under the control of the Tirion Republic, Magrathean Empire, and the Aranov Consectorate.”
Putting his gun away on the weapon rack he looked at Mike, thinking for a moment. “So your thinking we may be able to get some of those nations to give us support on this?”
“I'm fairly certain we can, and knowing you we will want to start with the Aranov and Tirion support.”
“And why's that Mike?”
“They have tanks sir.”
“You know me to well Mike, Imma handle this on my own, be back in about an hour.” he said putting away the data pad and heading up to the bay doors.
Tunnels of Domus Near Mikes Bar
Grell checked the vest he wore to make sure there where no stains on it and with that, proceeded on his way without Mike for once to the bar. The walk to the bar was a simple one, the few thugs and other shady characters keeping there distance as Grell went past. Coming through the authentic rock entrance leading to the bar, they quickly took a seat next to the Burly pirate sitting there drinking rum. "Doom, I believe you had a proposition for me." Grell said sliding a coin onto the counter, awaiting the usual whisky he had gotten every time he came to this place.
"Got a bit of a situation in Naran. Nice place, y'know, easy to raid and so on. Anyway, the Outsiders just decided to wreck and take over the place. Coalition wants the system taken out
""Retaken." Kenny corrected.
"That's what I said. Anyway, intel says they got six flagships there, wouldn't be surprised if they called for reinforcements if they are attacked. Thing is, Aranov's busy holding Dras Lana in case the Protoss decide to do anything for... Well, the thing we weren't involved in in any way. I'm supposed to be patrollin' around there as well, and we can't really spare many ships either. Got two ships waitin' on ye orders in Ratar, ye'll have to get more support yourself."
“Well sounds easy enough, though I will say I don't seem to think getting the other factions on my side will be easy.” he said grabbing the glass that slid infront of him and taking a swig of it, giving the unknown drink a funny look.
"Go ask the other factions and make them an offer they can't refuse." Doom said emptying the bottle of rum in his hand.
“Got it, Ill stay in contact.” turning to the bartender he looked at him with distaste and then getting up, he left pocketing the coin he had set on the table.
Docking Tube to Gnarled Wolf
No sooner had Grell stepped into the tube connecting the Gnarled Wolf with Domus, then he saw Mike come to meet him. Expecting his friend to be angry at the quick negotiation and info yet he looked pleased. “Alright Grell I got info from Kenny about our mission, the ships provided and even some info on other possibilities for allies to help with this mission.”
“He never spoke a word to me while I was there, glad he sent us the files though, had forgotten all but the most important things.” he said taking out some hastily scribbled notes he had taken on the way back to his ship.
“Sir if I may say so you are a horrible captain.”
“Goods to hear it I was mean to lead people in the heat of battle, not this diplomatic shit. It'll, do for now though. So tell me what you gathered from Kenny and your sources.”
“Well I believe we may be able to strike a deal between us and the original owners of the planets. Im sure they are not to happy about the outsiders coming in and pushing them out of their territory, and even if we are pirates I am positive they will work with us to get them back if we can strike some negotiations with them. I personally know some Tirion higher ups that though weary of pirates are always willing to do whats needed to get ahead, and this will certainly be a prospect they wont want to turn away.
He tapped on his data pad bringing up some more relevant data and continued.”The Aranov faction most likely wont help us for nothing, gonna have to work to get them on our side. The Magratheans have a small amount of fighting forces, but I think alittle persuasion can get them on our side.”
Grell thought it over for a moment, then gave his friend a hug. “I must thank you for doing the hard work for me. I want you to set a course for your Tirion 'friends'. Now I'm going to head to the weight-room, get back to it. Send the data to my pad so I can look it over and remember to pick up your rifle and start practicing, I might need you if 'negotiations' fail.”
“Alright we'll be heading to Fyrd, and Grell, me and you in the ring today.”
Letting out a laugh Grell and his friend entered the ship.
SoA: Grell accepts the mission of taking over the 3 planets from outsider control in the Naran system. There course now is Fyrd to meet with Tirion diplomats wich Mike has an aqaintence with.
Hour away from asteroid City Domus
Grell checked his gloves and mouthpiece, making sure they were secure. He was in a pair of fighting shorts, they were right above knee height and fit well enough to be comfortable and still aloud someone to move around. He stepped forward, raising his left hand just infont of his face his right next to his side clenched into a fist. He checked his footing, adjusting at a good angle. He was fighting Lentan one of the marines that had survived the attack of the city. He had a scar on his right cheek from were a hydralisk spike had pierced his helmet and sliced his cheek pretty bad. His orange air usually got him bad attention, yet he had said to him it reminded him of a character from the old anime he had watched as a kid. Now each of them staring eachother down, fists raised, he could see the man was a true warrior.
“Alright, both parties ready?” said a man wearing a simple white shirt, the referee for the match. They both nodded approval. They stepped forward and tapped fists, the match was started.
Lentan attacked first, charging forward, he threw a right handed straight punch for the face. Grell sidestepped, knocking it to the side, he stepped in bringing his right fist forward to his opponents gut. The man jumped back, taking Minimal damage and managed to get a jab in, hitting Grell in the face. The punch left an opening for attack, he stepped forward, an began to let out a barrage, falling for the simple trap. Grell parried the first punch to the side, the second over his shoulder, then with a quick flash of speed slammed his fist into the mans forehead.
Lentan Stumbled back, reflexively shielding his face yet took a kick to the side. Grell stepped forward, delivering punch after punch to the man, soon the man shoved a bad punch to the side and came forward to tackle him. Twisting around him, Grell let down an elbow on the mans back, causing a quick shout as the man fell.
The referee stepped forward stopping anything from continuing. “Jesus man, you could kill someone if you fight like that. This is sparring, not street fighting.”
“I’m sorry . . . Ill be more careful next time.” he said, letting out a sigh as he exited the ring. He grabbed a small container of water and made his way to the end of the gym were his friend Mike stood, a frown on his face.
“You alright man? You have not been yourself lately.”
“I’m fine Mike, now what did you come here to tell me, or was you actually going to workout with me for once.?” he said finishing by spinning the lid off the water canteen and began to gulp it down.
“We are half an hour away from Domus, get a shower, and some clean cloths on before we get there.” he said his eyes avoiding Grell's, and instead running over the datapad he held in his hand.
“Alright sounds good, I know you got everything ready, thank you Ill be out before we dock.” with that he slapped his friends shoulder and walked out the door to his cabin to get showered and a fresh set of cloths.
Docked at Domus
“Alright Mike, I hope that you copied that data without them being able to find out.” he said as he slammed his boot against the metal wall of the airlock to push it all the way on.
“You cut it out of the fucking computer, an idiot like you makes my job harder, but it atleast makes all the locks that were on it make sense to be so scrambled up. He responded, his hand going over the usb with some of the scrap from a computer still attached to it. Looking up he saw the hat and old style cloths Grell was wearing. “Whats with the cowboy hat anyways?”
“It makes me look genuine badass with the revolver at my side.”
Mike made a comment, but it was to low to hear and they moved out towards the asteroid city. Entering the grusky place brought a smile to Grells face, and the opposite to his friends. The place had not changed much, walking towards the cantina was a quiet journey, with afew people looking at him oddly. Entering the cantina he stepped up to were the bartender was, the place had a lot of business today. He found one of the few empty bar seats, and sat waiting for the bartender to pass by.
“What can I get you.” The bartender asked, a Russian accent leaking from his lips.
“Get me some swamp water, unalcoholic please.” As he said that the few people around him looked at him like he was insane, but he wasn't getting drunk when he had serious business at hand. The man soon returned, a glass of lemonade set on the table infront of him. He took it and downed it in one gulp, set it down, and placed a coin on the table. He got up and left, sure enough that he would have caught the attention of the man he was looking for. He soon made his way over to the spot they had met last time, and heard the familiar voice beside him.
“Do you have the data?”
“Yes, now when am I going to get payment for this job?”
The man put his hand out, waiting for the data before responding. Letting out a sigh he tossed it into the mans hand which examined it for a split second before pocketing it in the trench coat he wore.
“The money has been sent to your ship, I believe we are done here.”
“Yea, If you need another job you know were to find me.” After tipping his hat Grell left, well aware his payment would be there.
Mike shook his head at him. “your slipping man, what if he had not of if given the payment to us?”
He just laughed and smiled at Mike. “You would of knocked the sense out of me before I left, so I knew he wasn't lying.”
“What now, go be a real pirate?”
“How about we check out the job board and see whats up, that's how I saw this one remember. Besides it offers a lot of odd jobs I’m perfect for.”
5 Minutes later
“Fucking scurvy ass pirate, why the hell you have to ruin my hat!” he yelled picking up yellow rum stained cowboy hat.
“You bumped into me you little asshole.” The two began arguing as Mike tried to settle it, Grell raised his fists. “Bring it on!” A street fight was started, people gathered around to see it happen. Mike, tried to stop it, yet failed as Grell pushed him aside, and nailed the pirate in the side of the head. A split second later he hit the ground from a punch the pirate slamming down the bottle, barley missing his head as Grell came up with a kick to his hand. Mike grabbed the burly man by the shoulder and was ripped off from someone in the crowd, it seemed to be another pirate.
Just as the four of them were about to get serious, the crowd moved aside as an eight foot behemoth came through. Pulling the Pirate off of Grell and Mike he stood there, the smell of rum and sweat seeming to fill the air. "Ye're fightin' one of mah boy, why's that?" he demanded.
Forcing his rage to subside, he brushed off and looked the man in the eyes. He showed no fear, and began, his voice calm. “They ruined my cowboy hat,” He placed the now rum stained hat on his head to emphasize the point. “I don't mean to of started a fight, but I don't take kindly to someone ruining my genuine cloths.”
“Are ya, a merc?”
He put the question through his mind, knowing that something else was coming. “Im one of the finest.”
“I has a proposition for ya then, "it involves ye gettin on a protoss ship o' mine and havin' my mens back. Ill offer upfront payment, and people.”
Grell looked at the man, and let out a grin. “Come to my ship, we can work out the details there.”
SoA: Grell Receives 20 points payment from the employer who hired him to get the data. After a short Rumble with two of Cap'n Dooms people, Grell gets hired for job involving protoss ship, his men, and watching over a Templar and Kenny to make sure they succeed. Upfront payment is 5 points, 8 marauders and 14 reapers. Gnarled wolf will remained docked on Domus until mission is complete.
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.
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.
Location: Asteroid City Domus
“Hurry up Mike, you take to damn long getting ready.” Grell said as he checked the watch on his left hand. He had just gotten done fixing the coolant systems with Mike, his best mechanic and probably the only person he would dare trust on his ship without having a deep pocket. The repair hadn't went flawless, as one of the pipes had burst splattering the light blue liquid on his friend and him. Even now after showering he still had the slight smell of citrus and old motor oil lingering from him as he waited for his friend to finish getting dressed up. He himself did not mind what he wore most the time, this meeting with this pirate was the same as he had only taken the time to pull out a plain red shirt, a leather jacket and some unstained jeans. After getting ready he had taken the time to secure a knife to his side, and revolver just inside the jacket he wore. Could never be to careful he always had said.
The door slid open and Mike stepped out. He was dressed nicer then him, with dark black slacks, a white dress shirt, and black overcoat he almost looked like a man of business. Looking at him Grell let out a small laugh, yet was quickly silenced by the cold stare he got. Mike was defiantly out of place in the piece of rock he lived in. He had come from a rich family, the way he talked, dressed, and looked all made it apparent. Why he had come he hadn't said, yet he had lost everything here and Grell had agreed to take him into his crew not only because he was good with any machine he got his hands on, but also because he was plain deadly with any weapon he got his hands on. If there was anyone you would not cross, it was him. He pushed his long blond hair to the sides of his head and looked at Grell. “Alright, lets get going then.” he said in a neutral tone.
“Its bout damn time you finished in there, let me guess you couldn't find your hairbrush again?” he said as he stepped out towards corridor leading to the cantina.
“No, just took my time getting the smell off me, besides who the hell goes to a business meeting wearing rags, and smelling of citrusy oil?” he said following closely behind.
“Me obviously, now tell me, whats the statues of the ship?”
“Everything should be in working order, any problems we have are just small inconveniences nothing more.”
“Good, then if we can get this job we might actually be able to make it to the planet without the ship breaking apart.” he finished his sentence as they stepped into the bar. It was almost empty, set aside the few people sitting at the bar drinking there troubles away. He scanned the room, looking for anyone out of the ordinary, yet found no one. He let out a sigh and checked the time again, he was afew minutes late and might of missed his chance. Saying a curse to himself silently he stepped towards the bar, his friend staying mute as he took a seat and dropped a coin on the table. “Give me a shot of Tauren Whiskey.” he said looking at the grusky man infront of him. He waited as the man prepared the drink, the feeling of being watched beginning to nudge him. The bartender slid the drink infront of him, and he took it in his hand, swirling it around, debating afew things in his head. He downed the drink quickly, setting the glass down and letting out a sigh as a man walked up beside him. He turned, looking him over. He wore all black, a heavy trench coat covering his body. He had olive skin, with dark black hair coming down to ear length. He looked at Grell with a neutral expression. “Are you Grell.” he asked his voice devoid of emotions.
“Yes, and you wouldn't happen to be the man offering the job were you?”
“follow me to a more . . . private place if your interested.”
He stood up his friend giving him an uneasy look. “Alright, lets go.” he followed the man to one of the sub routes leading out of the bar, it was equivalent to an ally in the old cities. Turning around he pulled out a small datapad, which lit up green, holographics displaying from the device. “The job is simple, go to the Dvergar System, head to planet Dalar and recover some research data. This is very important information, and if you view it, not only will we know what you have done, we will by all means exact a price of failure.” Finishing the terse details of the job, he held the datapad out which was quickly snatched up by Mike whom began working his way through it.
“Your offering quite a lot for this data, so tell me, whats the catch.”
“There is no catch, it is either you take the job, or not.”
Grell looked at his friend whom was still going over the datapad, he wondered if he should debate it with him yet the thought of the money and simplicity of the job made his mind up for him. “its a deal then, but on the condition on partial payment before we head out.” he said to the man.
“Grell.” Mike said now looking at him. “this is more than just the coordinates and data on the job, its a million dollar payment.”
Looking abit shocked he turned to thank the man, yet was surprised to see he had vanished. Stepping out of the ally, he went to the bar and set another coin on the table, and was soon met with another glass of whiskey. “Well its a start.” he said as he downed the drink and looked at his friend who was already issuing the preparation of the ship through his datapad.
SoA - Grell's character introduction and info on job taken from asteroid city. The ship is traveling to Dvergar System, Planet Dalar which will take 12 posts/days.