I lie in the mud, looking out between the trees of an alien jungle. I watch equally my surroundings and my target, who knows what creatures could be lurking in this place. The sky above me is still dark, although a blue pre-dawn glow from the planets sun is beginning to show on the horizon. I have been on this world for two and a half weeks now, tracking my enemy to this place. Despite my Hostile environment suit, the heat and humidity of the place are oppressive, I can feel the sweat on my exposed face. Many others wear their helmets all the time, enjoying the faceless anonymity and the intimidating red glow of the ocular sensors, but when I can I prefer to go without, it might be superstitious but I think my abilities are more powerful when I can see the target with my real eyes.
I carefully shift my grip on my AGR-14 rifle, raising the scope to see my enemy up close. Standing on average seven feet tall Protoss tower over most humans, with no mouths, skin colour that ranges from blue to purple and no hair they are very obviously alien. Typically they also have faster reaction times and greater strength than an unaugmented human, and most significantly for my mission, they are all powerful psychics. Wearing the gold armour and with the faint blue shimmer of a plasma shield my target is dressed for war. He is also holding the ceremonial staff of a High Templar, these are the most capable psionics amongst them, capable of unleashing lightning from their finger tips and crushing enemies with their minds they are deadly enemies. This is my target, I have been sent here to kill this alien, he is the reason I have been crawling through the jungle, creeping past guard posts and dodging observers. He is why I have a migraine at the moment from keeping my cloaking field active since my drop pod landed, keeping my presence hidden and my thoughts quiet. I bless the new Nyx class cloaking devices which my suit has been equipped with, allowing for extended use, without which my mission would have been impossible. All of this preparation to reach this place undetected, an ancient protoss temple of some kind. From my mission briefing I know that the protoss in my scope is from a religious cult amongst the protoss, called the Tal'Dareem, known for their xenophobia they are aggressive and they hate humans.
As I watch, the protoss appears to be meditating before a large array of green crystals, all of which have begun to float in complex patterns that mean nothing to me. The temple itself appears largely overgrown and abandoned, but statues and pillars dot the area suggesting an open air amphitheatre of some kind. I need to be closer; silently rising to my feet I slowly inch through the trees, careful to keep both physically and psychically as quiet as possible. I have closed almost half the distance, when I notice a change in the protoss, the glow of the crystals has brightened and they are now spinning more rapidly, I can sense greater power usage from the protoss as well, whatever he is doing, it looks to require great focus and energy, this is as good a chance as I am likely to get. I sink down into cover behind a fallen statue and focus my mind.
Some people call spectres eccentric, of course many more call us psychotic, but while both statements may hold a degree of truth the eccentricity at least has a valid excuse. In order to channel my powers most effectively it is easier to focus on an object, while the concept of increase the electrical activity in his cerebellum, and generate heat to destroy his synapses may be complex; it can be simplified through imagery. I carry around my neck a number of totems, small objects which I use to focus my power toward specific tasks. As I grasp the object in my hand I visualize it, so familiar with the shapes and contours I know it in every detail. Dangling from a leather cord is a skull, a tiny human shaped skull quarter the size of a babies, it was in fact not a human skull but the remains of a simian ape like creature which could be found on a world I visited when I was young, they were native to the planet and had by some coincidence of parallel evolution developed a very similar cranial structure to humans, albeit in miniature. For me it represented one thing, death. Focusing on my target and the bone beneath my fingers I felt the surge as energy was sapped from me to follow my intent. My pupils dilated, the hairs on my skin attempted to stand on end and I felt a current running through my bones, intensifying to the point of pain. Gritting my teeth I unleashed a hammer of psychic force on the unsuspecting protoss before me. Feeling the energy build up he spun round, abandoning the now rapidly spinning array of crystals and metal before him. He had time to widen his eyes, I saw the flare of light from his glowing eyes as surprise registered on his alien features, before the force struck him, his shields flared blue, lightning coruscating and plasma burning off before it popped like a bubble, the remaining force from my attack slamming into the protoss and hurling him into the mechanism behind him. One of the spinning pieces caught him and tossed him up, colliding with several more crystals before he fell, smoking, to the floor as the device continued unabated.
I grinned somewhat savagely, just like that, mission accomplished! Score one for the inferior humans. Two and a half weeks tracking down this bastard and waiting for him to become isolated and I can finally get off this miserable rock of a planet. I hold one finger to my ear, activating the embedded comm transmitter built into my skull. "Rosie, I hope your still up their coz It's time to go home"
"Acknowledged Lieutenant Trand. Dropship remains undetected. Dropship is on approach." The synthesized, female voice emerges from a mike built into the collar of my suit, and I grin, Rosie, the adjutant AI running my ship is dependable, if slightly lacking in conversational skills.
"I must have told you a dozen times Rosie, call me Dominic."
"Acknowledged, Lieutenant Specialist Dominic Trand."
"Ah Rosie, darling, must we play these games?" My voice brims with overdramatic hurt as I approach the whirling device. As I get closer I can feel the psionic emanations increasing, the rings are also spinning faster now, and I can feel ozone building up in the air. The corpse of the protoss is beginning to combust in blue flames, this is a feature I have come to expect, as a result of their massive psychic potential, when their brains cease to function, the energy is released, generally destroying the body. As I observe, something strange happens, the energy evaporating off seems to be collecting in the centre of the spinning array, and growing in size. As I watch my expression slowly becomes more serious. "As Gabriel would say, this is some bad mojo… Rosie, light up those engines, I need an evac right fuckin now!" I start running, jumping up steps designed for aliens a third my height again as I head up, racing to get out of the depression with the whirling psychic contraption.
The ground begins to quake as I feel the energy behind me spike, doubling, then quadrupling in a few seconds. Flowing through my head is a litany, a personal prayer of mine for when shit hits the fan. Fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck…fuck. Shouldering my rifle I pump my arms and legs faster, as I pull level with the lip of the amphitheatre I risk a glance over my shoulder, the rings are a blur, the centre a miniature star, blinding white, and it's expanding. Before my eyes I see it consume the nearest pillars, and keep going, and accelerating. As I start preparing to meet my untimely end (I'd always hoped it would be something cool like fighting off an army of Zerg or killing Mengsk rather than accidentally setting off some temperamental alien doohicky) I hear the most beautiful of sounds. Over the dull roaring of the device I can hear the high pitched scream of a pair of jet turbines! Bursting out from behind the tree line is a special ops Dropship, black and sleek and right now the most beautiful thing in the world as it comes into sight. I sprint for the already open bay door as the ship, spins, and lowers towards the ground. The earth is juddering savagely beneath my feet now and I almost fall as in a staggering run I close the remaining distance.
The pull from the device is noticeable now, I can see rocks and small plants whizzing by me in the other direction as the winds pick up to the point where all I can hear is the roaring of the gale around me, all flowing in the other direction, towards the growing vortex behind me. Reaching out I grasp the dropship bay doors, vaulting inside as a large log bounces by underneath me, barely missing my legs. "GO! I'm inside Rosie get us the hell out of here!" I shout, gasping for breath, adrenaline still coursing.
"Acknowledged lieutenant. Welcome back." The always serene voice of Rosie echoes over the speakers. As the door ponderously hinges upward, and the ship slowly swings about, I see what I have left behind.
Nothing is left of the structure now, a glowing dome of energy has grown, and whole trees are now being sucked into the swirling mass. The earth itself is beginning to noticeably swirl, like water down a plug whole. The ground recedes below me as we gain altitude, ponderously pulling away from the danger. "Gravitational anomaly detected". No shit Sherlock I think, as the door seals and I move through the cargo bay into the cockpit "Thrust capacity at 100%". What? Oh shit. Jumping into the pilot seat, I disengage Rosie from the controls and check the instruments. The turbines are at maximum capacity but we aren't experiencing the acceleration I would normally be feeling. In fact, looking outside, we're not even moving.
To make matters worse the radar pings urgently for my attention, glancing down I can see protoss ships are approaching, several of them. It seems they've either noticed me or the giant swirly vortex of doom I created, Im betting on the second but it doesn't really matter, the dropship is unarmed and currently a sitting duck. Talk about a rock and a hard place I think, slightly hysterically as a Phoenix and three scouts come into view, any one of them could destroy the ship given my immobile state. I push the throttle as far as it will go and hold it there, it's still not working, in fact, we seem to be moving backwards, the vortex is pulling us in.
"Well damn, looks like we're shit outta luck Rosie. You've been good to me over the years," I glance behind me to the alcove containing the robotic body and core of the adjutant. Her head, torso and upper arms make up her whole body, festooned with wires allowing her access to all the ships systems. "Goodbye darlin'." Her head turns to face me, glowing green LED eyes focusing, "Goodbye Lieutenant". Call me crazy (okay I am crazy) but I swear I heard a tinge of sadness in her cold robotic voice. Well maybe not but I'm gonna choose to pretend there was.
The vortex is looming ever closer in the rear view camera, and the protoss ships will be in range in a few seconds. I sigh; feeling strangely calm now that my options are exhausted, no point stressing, the end is well and truly fucking nigh. The Phoenix is only a few hundred metres away; I can see the blue charge of plasma build up as it readies its guns, rocketing towards me. A whole fleet of Protoss ships are now showing up on long range radar, ranging from small fighters like the one baring down on me all the way up to capital class carrier ships which are descending from orbit according to my sensors. Well, screw it, I'm not gonna give those mouth-less bastards the satisfaction, grabbing the controls I spin the wheel. Free to move as I stop resisting the pull of the vortex, the ship banks around, picking up speed as I race towards the glowing sphere in front, pursued by the protoss ship. No chance for second guessing now, the ship is really flying now and the vortex is dead ahead. I have time for one last thought before I die; well actually two, the 1st is that I have time for one more thought before I die. The second is that this would be so much cooler if I had a cigar right now. I grin like a maniac as I fly directly into the maelstrom, my ship being swallowed up with barely a ripple as the sphere continues to grow.
After several hours the Tal'Darim Protoss, having some experience with similar chain reactions before, manage to contain the vortex before it destroys the planet. Through the combined energy of the Khala they pit their might and technology against the rogue Xel'Naga device and eventually contain its raging power. Nothing remains of the dropship, or the device, the only legacy being a huge, 3 kilometre diameter crater in the surface of the planet. Neither the dropship, nor its occupants are seen again, for about 38,000 years that is.