Chapter 1: The Peaceful Valley
A red creature with webbed limbs similar to wings on the sides of its body dug into a cluster of blue crystals with its crab claws. Once it was done cutting the shards, it brought them closer so it could inspect them with its two big, red, bulging eyes. Being a zerg drone, its role was to gather pieces of minerals, clean them of any useless material, and bring them to the building where it was born. Unfortunately for this drone, it was about to meet trouble the moment it would turn around.
"Well, whaddya know? A mineral line without defenses!" said a terran man who looked at the drone through his round, red glasses. His long, pointy ginger beard made him seem like he had a beak growing from his chin. The guy found it fitting since he drove a vulture hoverbike.
The drone let out a buzzed scream and quickly dug its way under ground. The other two drones nearby followed its example and burrowed as well.
"Aw, hell! Now I can't find 'em!" the vulture pilot said. He pushed a button next to a screen inside his vehicle, then proceeded to speak. "Yo, Captain! We need a scan ova' here! Pronto!"
He got the answer from the voice of a man over the station. "I am sorry, but our ComSat station is a little low on energy at this time."
"Say what now?" the pilot asked, staring at the map on the screen. "Captain, what the hell did ya use the scans on?"
"I was looking for more vespene geysers. We'll need them when our main ones get depleted."
The pilot took his purple, pirate-style headscarf off his head, revealing his ginger short hair. Then he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the headscarf. He was barely holding back from lashing out at the captain after what he had just heard.
To make things worse, some other creatures started to come out of the spiky living structure behind him. The hissing was a telltale sign that he was about to deal with hydralisks – those slithering bastards with scythes for arms and foaming mouths full of sharp teeth.
He looked behind for a split second and then started the engine.
The hydralisks slithered so fast that they were almost touching the back of his vulture the moment he started to drive away. One question popped up in his mind at that moment. Drive away to where?
A vast deep chasm lay before him, so he had no choice but to hit the brakes. This was the end of the road, and the zerg weren't going to miss the chance to shoot their deadly spines at him. He looked behind and saw four hydralisks with their head flaps open, making them appear to have elephant ears. They were ready to riddle him.
"Well, looks like I'm as good as dead."
The hydralisks launched the needles, which pierced through the armor of his vehicle. Two of the needles went through his leather jacket, right into his right shoulder. His scream was drowned out by the sound of a massive explosion.
"Look at that! Nothing but a pool of innards left!" a guy shouted cheerfully through the vulture's station. "You okay there, Sony?"
The vulture pilot stopped cowering behind his vehicle's seat and looked behind to see a tank with its giant cannon pointed at the place where the hydralisks once stood. "Tony! Just in time, man!"
A larger hydralisk with spider legs and a row of thick spikes on its back appeared from behind the hatchery of the zerg. It roared at the two vehicles and then dug its way under the purple creep substance that was on the ground. Then a line of sharp spikes made its way toward the tank, damaging its threads.
"Let's get out of here!" Tony said as he switched his tank out of siege mode and drove it off the creep. Sony started up his vulture and followed him.
The zerg spider abomination came back to the surface and triumphantly watched them leave.
The tank and the vulture bike drove side by side while their drivers communicated over video transmission.
"Hey, Sony, why the hell were you near the zerg hatchery, man?" Tony asked. He was a slightly plump guy with a subtle mustache, black stubble on his chin, and a helmet with goggles on his head.
"Their drones were in plain sight! I just had to take the chance!" Sony said.
"Dude, you were told to scout! You had one job!"
"But getting rid of their workers is–"
Tony cut Sony off. "I don't care what our old strategy was like. We're no longer under Sons of Korhal, so no one's gonna bring new soldiers to our army unless the captain finds more lost people somewhere. So try to stay alive, damn it!"
Sony sank into his bike's chair, not finding anything he could say. They were on this planet with blue ground and rusty sky, with no other humans around except their tiny crew of former army men. Then the zerg came after them … The creatures ruined the peaceful life they've had for the past month there.
Three more hydralisks came out of the spiky structure that served as their den. They began to morph into cocoons next to the larger hydralisk that looked like a spider. A shimmer appeared near a tall pile of crystals. The distortion was in the shape of a slim humanoid wearing some kind of suit with goggles. It raised its right arm to its head's temple and said in a breathy male voice, "Requesting permission to exterminate the vermin, sir."
A man with a deep voice replied over the station with, "Permission granted, Agent 40. The nuclear silo is armed."
The three cocoons burst open, and the zerg coming out looked exactly like the modified hydralisk that guarded the area before them.
The shimmer moved away from the crystals and pointed a rifle at the zerg hatchery. A red blinking dot appeared on the giant structure, causing all four of the eight-limbed zerg to look at it and gasp in horror.
"They'll never know what hit 'em," the agent said.
The sound of a giant missile being launched could be heard from the distance. Soaring through the sky, the projectile began to curve its trajectory downward, heading toward the blinking red light.
The zerg drones and mutated hydralisks dug their way into the ground, hoping that they could survive the explosion. It didn't work. They all perished in the scorching mushroom cloud that covered the area. The only things left standing were the two bleeding structures.
Agent 40 turned off his cloaking device, revealing himself as a man wearing a dark blue suit. His face had a mask and goggles with three glowing cyan lenses – two small ones over his right eye, and a big one over his left eye. From the back of his head, a hose was connected all the way to his right cheek. In his hands he held a long, heavy C-10 rifle. He activated the station again and said, "You can send in the marines now, sir. All the zerg are dead; we just have two weak structures to deal with. I'll be heading back to base now. I need a drink."
Behind him, eight marines with blue armor ran alongside sixteen marines that had white armor. One of the blue ones opened fire on the hatchery and said, "Let's take it down, boys! Go, go, go!"
All twenty four marines shot in unison, making the hatchery melt into a puddle of red gooey blood. Then they started shooting at the hydralisk den, not stopping until it splattered all over the creep that started to dry out in absence of the hatchery.
"Way to go, boys! Now it's beer time!" the marine from earlier said.
The mass of marines went along the giant chasm until they got to the end of it. Passing by the tusk-like rocks, they turned right when they saw the lake up ahead and then went to the left, reaching an area that was protected by an U-shaped chain of cliffs. In this area, two bunkers were at the front of the opening, with a firebat guard near each of them.
"Good to see you're all in one piece, guys!" one of the firebats said, smoking a cigar while wearing a heavy red suit of armor with two white gas tanks on its back.
"Let's hope it stays that way," a marine in white told him. "The zerg had some complex stuff near that hatchery. Stuff like hydralisks and some bizarre mutations of those. But we didn't see the vespene geyser next to them being claimed, so something's off here."
Still holding the cigar in a corner of his mouth, the firebat asked, "D'you think they got a lair somewhere?"
"I sure hope not! These things breed faster than rats. But the commander said that we got nothing to worry about, because he scanned most of the areas rich in minerals and saw nothing before the scanner broke down."
The firebat spat his finished cigar. "I think he should get an SCV to fix that thing. Who knows what else could be out there ..."
"The SceeVees are on a lunch break," a marine in blue armor said.
"Well, I'm knockin' on wood that nothin' comes up while we're in this situation," the firebat said.
The marines marched on, passing by the command center that had an empty nuclear silo attached to it. Then they went between two barracks and two large areas that were covered with minerals. In front of the left mineral patch there was an engineering bay, a factory with a machine shop attached, a science facility with a covert ops addon, and a giant science vessel floating atop it. Up ahead, there was the command center with the broken ComSat station. There were two supply depots to its left and right side, storing the weaponry and other tools. Further from that place, between two refineries of vespene gas, there was something looking like a frigate and spaceship hybrid. It was ten times larger than the science vessel and had a ramp on its side, leading to an entrance to the ship.
Once the marines passed the entrance hall, they reached the bar area. There, everyone was trying to relax, some having a drink, some eating their lunch, and most of them talking to those of their profession. Sony on the other hand chose to sit alone at the counter and eat some purple, meaty, boiled food that looked like coral branches. He looked at the water in his glass and started contemplating.
Tony brought Sony back to the present when he yelled, "Yo, Sony! Finally decided to try that thing Magellan cooked?"
Sony frowned at him. "Lower your voice, man! You shoulda gotten ear implants while we were in the Confederacy."
Tony sighed and took a seat next to him. "If only they weren't so stingy on the price … Actually, they should have given me those for free. It's because of the Confederacy that I've lost my hearing. The CVC helmet they gave me was defective. Anyway, what does that alien coral taste like?"
"It's pretty close to the taste of squid, but it's more chewy."
"Say, what thoughts did you sink into just earlier? You were staring at that glass of water like you were trying to melt it with your sight."
Sony looked at the counter. "This bar … is the only place where I feel at home. When I go outside and see blue sand and an orange sky, I just know I don't belong. I miss Mar Sara. I was ready to give my life to protect it against the zerg. And then Mengsk came along ..."
"Well, that's in the past now," Tony said and then began drinking some beer from a mug he got from the waiter in exchange for a mineral piece.
At another table, some guys were hanging out with a wrinkled bald man who had a brown mustache.
The bald man was telling a story in his monotone, robotic voice. "Creature tried to perform landing. Goliath missiles ready. Opening fire. O.S.K.O.."
Next to him, a guy with dark complexion said, "That's great and all, Rob, but I don't think those giant flying lizards pose any threat. Even my SCV could probably kill them with ease."
"At least goliath missile systems are functional," Rob said.
To the right, at yet another table, Agent 40 and three other men with masks similar to his were preparing to eat as well.
One of the masked men had his red goggle lenses in a mirror image to that of Agent 40's mask. Instead of having just one hose to the right side of his face, he had one on the right and one on the left. A vertical antenna extended from the place where his left ear would be. His suit was crimson.
Another masked man was dressed exactly like Agent 40, but his goggle lenses glowed green and his suit was the color of artichoke.
The last one had a black suit and green goggles with only one lens for each eye – the right one being smaller. For some reason his mask had a green light where his nose should be. Yet the oddest thing about him was the slightly flat, conical straw hat he wore.
"Nuclear lunch detected!" the guy with red glowing goggles said in a sultry voice while receiving his ordered dish from the waiter. On the plate there was a giant roasted mushroom with mashed potatoes at its foot.
"Your fascination with nukes is disturbing," Agent 40 said. He got up from the table, took his plate that had a triangular sandwich on it, and moved to the counter.
"Where did you get the mushroom from?" the guy with the hat asked in a stoner voice.
"Magellan grew it in his lab," the man with the red goggles said.
At the counter, Agent 40 sat next to Tony, who asked him, "What's up, Spook? Freaked out by your fellow ghosts again?"
"And I thought the academy was weird ..." Agent 40 grumbled.
Sony looked at the table where the ghosts were eating, and then stared at the ghost near Tony. "'Ey, what's up with the dude wearing that sedge hat every day?"
"That guy … he creeps me out more than the other two. When asked why he wears that hat, he said that people thought he wore one during a transmission due to the poor lighting, and then he started wearing one just so they didn't know they were wrong."
Tony and Sony were speechless at that response.
Agent 40 put a hand on his forehead. "Don't get me started on what his mind is like. It's a fucking Escher world in his head! Nothing makes sense; it almost drove me crazy the last time I tried reading him."
"I wonder where the captain found him," Tony said.
"Oh, he didn't find Hat Guy. Hat Guy found him. While the ship was still in space. The freak just made himself right at home in here."
"Do you think he's an alien?" Tony whispered, at the same time wondering if his words could be heard.
The ghost whispered back. "Some people around here theorize that Hat Guy might even be a robot. No one has seen him eat, though the food he says he will eat just disappears when nobody is looking."
Tony tried cleaning the hole of his left ear with his pinky while saying, "Could you repeat that, please?"
"Some … Oh, never mind. I'll just deliver it via telepathy."
"I think the zerg are the least of our worries while we got that freak around," Sony said.
"Hey! When did you ruin my mushroom?" the red-goggled ghost said to Hat Guy while pointing at the mushroom that lacked a small piece of its top.
"I just wanted to see what it tastes like," Hat Guy said.
"How come you never eat while we're watching you?"
Hat Guy shrugged.
At another table, a long-haired blond guy and a guy with short black hair sat and whispered to each other while pointing at Sony, Tony, and Agent 40. "These guys are quite the oddballs, mate. They prefer to not stick around with their own kind."
"I can't blame Tony, he's the only tank driver we got," said the other guy. "Same with Rob being the only goliath pilot and hanging out with the SceeVees. Then again SCVs are mechas as well, so they do kind of mix." Then he pointed at Sony. "But this guy … what's his name … He ain't ever eaten with us even though he's a vulture pilot too. At least Spook tries to get along with the other ghosts."
The large television screen mounted on the bar's wall was displaying a football game when the transmission was cut off and replaced with an image of an android. The android had three red eyes on his face's right side, and a white, human eye on the left. On a red banner at the image's bottom, white text said, MAGELLAN and on a yellow banner below it, written in black, NEWS REPORTER & SCIENTIST. On the top-left of the video, there was another yellow banner with BREAKING NEWS written in black as well.
"We interrupt this program to bring you this breaking news!" the android said.
Sony rubbed his beard while staring at the screen. "What's Magellan doing on TV?"
The screen then showed five red creatures similar to velociraptors, except that they had a second pair of hands ending in scythes. Two of them had yellowish-green smoke emanating from their bodies and ran around their group frantically while the other three seemed dizzy and unable to stand anymore.
"Holy shit! Zerglings!" Tony said.
The five creatures burst open, their remains forming a huge pile of guts. Then the transmission was changed back to show Magellan, who said, "Zerglings have arrived at our camp and attempted to destroy our barracks. They have been swiftly irradiated by yours truly. But don't sigh in relief just yet. Have a look at this!" He switched the camera to show a massive wave of zerglings heading toward the camp.
"Holy mother of … It's time to roll out my tank!" Tony said, then he got up from his chair and ran toward the exit.
"Marines! Get to the bunkers!" Sony said while wrapping his headscarf around his head.
"Fuck no! We're goin' out there to mow 'em down!" one of the marines in a blue armor suit said.
"But–"
"Y'can't order us around anymore. We're pirates now!" another blue-suited marine told a befuddled Sony.
Tony was driving his tank off the factory's ramp when Sony arrived to get his vulture bike. The other vultures were way ahead of him, already driving toward the swarm that approached the area. They planted six spider mines that remained hidden under the blue sand. Then the bikers teased the zerglings to chase them toward the landmines. As soon as the creatures stepped on the death traps, they were sent flying by the explosion, dying instantly.
The blond vulture pilot sent a transmission to his comrade. "Did ya see those wankas fly?"
"Yeah! They sure had a blast!" the other guy said. Then he heard the sound of claws thumping on his bike and he quickly turned around to see three zerglings getting their hooks into the metal in the rear of the vulture. "Crap! I gotta jet!" When he looked at what was ahead, he saw three more zerglings blocking his way. "N-no!"
After a few more whacks from the six zerglings' claws, the vulture bike exploded, killing its driver.
"You still alive, man? Shifty! Shifty!" The blond vulture pilot was screaming at his bike's screen while hitting the microphone area with his fist. "Goddamn it! They got ya, didn't they?" He heard something hit his bike's rear, so he turned around and saw a zergling. "Oh no you don't!" Starting the engine, he drove away faster than the beast could run.
The zerglings poured into the valley and started attacking the bunker in which the firebats hid. They took fire jets to the face, but more of them joined in and started hitting the building with their sharp claws repeatedly, cracking the metal.
"Over here, you disgusting pieces of shit!" a marine in blue armor said while he and the other marines opened fire, causing the first eighteen zerglings to die and melt away into the sand.
"Woohoo!" a white-armored marine yelled while dancing.
Then they were swamped with zerglings that killed four marines in white suit and the one in blue who attacked first.
The siege tank's cannon released a blast that splattered most of the zerglings, obligating the remaining eight to retreat.
"I ordered those marines to hide in the bunkers, but they just had to ignore me," Sony said to Tony over the station. "I am a sergeant!"
"Our ranks don't matter now," Tony said. "I can't order you around, you can't order me around, and nobody's the boss around here except … maybe the captain. I don't know, maybe not even him."
Said captain appeared from the frigate spaceship while holding some kind of smartphone in front of his face. He had a large, black mustache and was a little overweight, but his red cap and uniform decorated with golden stripes made him seem strong. "Attention, men!" he said as he passed by the vulture and tank. "Mister Magellan has alerted me about the existence of a zerg lair just past the wall of our valley, to the east. Y'all are to eliminate the threat at all costs. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Tony said.
Sony decided to make himself heard too. "I read ya, sir. It's like reading a children's book."
The captain turned to look at the vulture pilot. "What was that?"
Sony smirked at him and said, "What? Ya sat too close to Tony's tank while he fired?"
Giving him a nasty look, the captain walked away to talk to the marines in person. From what Sony could see, they weren't too happy about the orders either, but they complied and marched along with the two firebats, leaving the valley.
Nine zerg drones were busy collecting all the minerals they could get from around their lair while four other ones were carefully carrying gas from the vespene geyser of the mud pit near the terrans' base. There was a green pool of goo near the water, and twelve zerglings swam in it.
"There they are!" a firebat said while pointing at the lair up ahead.
The zerglings jumped out of their pool and began charging while the marines unleashed their rifles and shot at them. The marines seemed to be winning, but then they realized that there were at least twenty more zerglings hiding behind the lair.
"Fall back!" a blue-armored marine said after noticing one of the two firebats being torn to shreds by the zerglings' claws.
More men would have died if the blast from the tank's cannon hadn't pulverized all of the zerglings in two shots.
One of the blue marines looked at Tony's tank and saluted in front of its camera. "Thanks, man! We woulda been butchered if it weren't for ya."
"Don't mention it!" Tony said.
Sony drove right into the mineral line and started shooting at the drones.
One of the white-armored marines pointed at the terrified running creatures. "Heheh! Look at those things scurry! Hey! I got an idea!"
After killing one drone with his vulture's fragmentation grenades, Sony turned his bike around to see what the marines were laughing about. When he saw, he facepalmed.
Four marines were riding on the backs of drones, trying to steer them toward the lake. Once in it, they forced the drones to swim in circles on the water's surface while they continued to ride them.
"See this shit?" Sony said to Tony while pointing at the event going down at the lake. "This is the kind of shit that makes the protoss want to glass us."
A loud bang was heard and one of the drones had its head destroyed by a shot. The sniper was the green ghost. "Party's over. Now get to work!"
One of the drones tried to morph into a hydralisk den but got killed by a cannon blast before it could finish. The marines gunned down all of the drones while Sony, Tony, and the other vulture pilot shot at the lair. Then everyone focused on getting rid of the green pool. Once all zerg structures were gone, the purple creep dried up and then got blown away by the wind.
A white-armored SCV arrived. Its pilot – who also doubled as the waiter at the bar – said, "I hate being an SCV. I hope the captain's right about this being the last zerg structure, so we can have peace again. I just want to serve at the bar. I hope this is the last command center I'll ever have to build." Then he began laying the foundation for what was to be their third command center.
"Peace …" Agent 40 said. "Whenever there is peace, I can't help but think it would be the perfect time to nuke everyone to hell."
Sony looked at him for a moment and then said, "I better go fix my bike."
Agent 40 gave a sinister laugh. "You're scared, aren't you, Sony boy?"
Sony started the engine. "Uh … I'm outta here." He left almost instantly.
In the evening, the SCV pilots left their mechas outside and went to sleep in the command centers. Sony, Tony, and the other vulture pilot left their vehicles near the SCVs and slept in the factory, which could be the equivalent of a mansion in their case.
Rob's goliath was atop one of the cliffs, resting one of its legs over the bones of a creature twice as large as the mecha. In the meantime, Rob was in one of the barracks, along with the four ghosts and eight marines who were still in their suits. "G.N. everyone!" he said while getting into one of the floor bunk beds.
The red ghost sat in the top bed above Agent 40's one. He searched underneath his pillow and found what he wanted: a magazine that showed female ghosts. Admiring the way their suits went along their slim but toned body shape, he said, "Mmm, look how well-equipped these ladies are! The sausage fest of this place makes me miss the academy."
"Hey, Playboy, if you're not gonna share, keep quiet about it!" Agent 40 said.
"Well, I only got one magazine, but I could hook you and the other ghosts to my mind if you want."
"Eww!" the green ghost said.
Hat Guy flinched and then put his hat over his face. "No, thanks."
Agent 40 felt like he was about to puke. "Not just no but hell no! Just … keep it to yourself and let us sleep!"
"Suit yourselves!" The red ghost turned invisible.
Outside, behind one of the repaired bunkers, a zerg drone dug its way out of its burrow. Its large red eyes shone demonically in the night as it buzzed and looked at the frigate spaceship. Then the creature made its way out of the valley.
To be continued.