STARCRAFT

THE BIRTH OF CHAOS

Prologue:

"Fire, rubble and mangled corpses are all that remain of this once peaceful Vespene refinery on Maltair IV," said the reporter, his microphone held to his lips as he spoke matter-of-factly. A British accent gave his voice a sophisticated edge.

Behind him lay the smoking remains of the refinery which was nestled in the midst of a rocky quarry. Rescue workers could be seen battling the flames which still burned as trucks transported the wounded from the site to medical facilities.

"Almost a year has passed since the start of this war in late 2485 and neither side appears to be willing to yield. Fringe worlds continue to witness attacks as the Kel-Morian Combine targets Confederate resource facilities and supply stations. This week alone has seen almost five hundred individuals killed or injured in raids. This begs the question: when will the bloodshed end and how many must suffer before it does? If history has taught us..." the television screen flicked off, causing many of the marines watching to exclaim objections.

"Breaks over, boys," said the Lieutenant. "You can go back to watchin' that crap later, now get to your posts."

The marines muttered a "yes, sir," as they stood up with a light hiss from their CMC powered combat suits. They all gave the Lieutenant a nod as they passed him, a verification of their respect for him.

The Lieutenant waited until all the men had passed before walking outside himself. Dark clouds hovered over the fringe world of Chau Sara. The afternoon sun caused orange light to mottle the grey sky, splattering it with patches of vibrant colour.

"Lieutenant Caedo," said a voice, causing him to turn to the source.

A man in CMC power armour approached him. The man had dark brown eyes, black skin and black hair which was somewhat frizzy despite its short length. He had a full beard upon his face which was kept trimmed to a relatively short length.

The Lieutenant smiled. "Good to see you back in one piece. How'd it go out there?"

"We're lucky to have made it back here. There are three battalions of Kel-Morian soldiers on their way!"

The Lieutenant's smile dropped instantly. "Seriously?"

The man smiled and laughed. "Nah, I'm just screwin' with ya. There ain't nothin' but rocks and sand out there."

"Damn it, Roland," said the Lieutenant with a chuckle. "Don't do that to me. You almost gave me a damn heart attack."

"Don't worry, brother. Chances are they won't even strike here. I don't even know why we were sent here to begin with. Surely forty marines could be better used somewhere else."

"I agree, but the Confederacy wants this supply compound guarded. If the Kel-Morians get their hands on this equipment..."

Roland cut the Lieutenant off. "Then we'll just be short a couple of weapons and power suits. It 'aint like we've got enough men to use 'em anyway. The confederacy has the guns, but it doesn't have the manpower. Kind of funny if you think about it. Sure we outgun the Kel-Morians, but what's the point when they're just sitting here collectin' dust?"

"Well, for starters, if they get the equipment then they'll use it against the confederacy, so it's more about making sure our enemy stays in short supply."

One of the marines standing nearby joined in on the conversation. "How much longer do you think this war'll go on for?" he asked, a heavy southern drawl leaning upon his words.

"Don't worry," sounded the deep, throaty voice of another nearby marine. "Chances are this war's gonna be over by this time next year. And besides, we were assigned to a pretty good location. We're still in the same system as our homes. We'll probably be done here in a few days, then it's back to drinking on Mar Sara!"

Several of the nearby men laughed and voiced a simple "I hear that!" or "Got that right!"

The Lieutenant rubbed a hand across the top of his blonde, crew-cut style hair. He smiled with the men, but Roland saw the doubt in his blue eyes. Dallas Caedo was a man of honour who had always commanded respect from those who served in his platoon. On his home planet of Mar Sara, he had assisted in the training of hundreds of soldiers. When in battle, he always looked after every soldier who came into his presence. As such, he had developed a respectable reputation on Mar Sara. Roland Ordell was the second in command of his platoon and his greatest friend. Roland was two years younger than the forty two year old Lieutenant, though they enlisted at roughly the same time. As they trained with one another, their bond of friendship grew on. Roland was the godfather of Dallas' six year old son. Roland would often visit the child and would mind him while Dallas went out on occasion with his wife. It was thoughts of the child that plagued Dallas' mind. "You alright, man?" asked Roland, snapping the Lieutenant back to reality.

"I don't know. Walk with me," he said.

The two walked across the compound and up the stairs leading to the two and a half metre tall defensive wall. They moved to one of the wall's corners where two marines chatted casually while surveying the desert land beyond the compound. "Go and take a break, boys," said Dallas. "We'll keep a watch on this section for a few minutes."

Their faces lit up as they saluted Dallas. "Thanks, boss!" they said.

He smiled and gave them a nod as they passed. Dallas simply stood for a moment, gazing out at the harsh terrain as wind blew gently through his short hair. The land beyond was filled with naught but a flat stretch of sand and broken rocks until it rose in a series of small hills. Beyond the small hills lay large, rocky mountains.

He delicately lifted something from a pocket on his power suit. He unfolded the photo of his family. In the photo, he stood side by side with his brunette wife, his arm around her waist, his blonde-haired son standing in front of the two. The three were smiling in the photo.

He desperately needed to speak with Roland about his friend's past, but every time he thought of what he was going to say, the words melded into an incoherent jumble of confusion.

Roland grew up on Tarsonis, one of the core worlds. At an early age he displayed his ability to detect telepaths. His father served in training members of the ghost program. When Roland was brought into contact with a ghost operative, he was able to detect the telepathic abilities at once. He possessed some psionic abilities himself, but only enough to detect other telepaths at close range. During his younger years, he became a designated Wrangler, an agent hired by the ghost program to bring in children with telepathic abilities – the core essence of all ghost operatives. Despite this consuming much of his teen life and early adulthood, he craved naught but joining the Confederate marines. Though he desired service in the marine force, he lacked the motivation to follow it for fear of the risks involved in the change of profession, until one dark yet fateful day. It was not long before he realised that a childhood friend of his had telepathic abilities. The friend was like a brother to him, yet it was Roland's duty to bring him in. He was torn between whether to let his friend go or whether to fulfil his obligation. He decided upon the latter, bringing his comrade into the ghost program. When the friend realised what was happening, he attempted to escape. In the chaos that ensued, he was killed. Roland could think of nothing but escape and so he ran. He found his way to Mar Sara by passageway on a commercial trading vessel. There he started a new life, joining the Confederate Marine Corps.

"What's up?" he asked, looking at Dallas who still gazed at the photo.

Dallas turned to look at his friend. "It's my son."

"What's wrong? He's alright isn't he?" Roland's brow furrowed in concern.

"I think he's a telepath."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's just a feeling I've got. It's like sometimes he knows what I'm thinking. At times, I'll go to ask him a question and he'll answer it before I've even asked it. There are other signs too, but I've only noticed it recently."

Roland nodded. "Well he's at the age when signs would be starting to emerge. In fact, now that you mention it I thought I could detect something stirring in him, but I guess I just dismissed it."

"Well then what the hell do I do about it? I've been losing sleep thinking about it."

Roland chuckled. "Hell, man, you've got nothin' to worry about. You'll be hard pressed finding a Wrangler anywhere near where we live. Not when there's so much opportunity for catchin' telepaths on the core worlds. As for me, my days as a Wrangler are long gone. And even if I was still one of those sly bastards, you know I'd never turn him in. You do know that don't you?"

"Yeah," said Dallas with a sigh of relief. "I just needed to make sure. It's just the thought of his mind being wiped like it's some piece of paper with an error on it gives me the damn chills. To think that he'd lose every piece of who he is, everything that makes him unique. I can't imagine ever looking him in the eye only to see a complete stranger. I don't know what I'd do if they tried to take him."

"You'd bust down their front door and get him back is what you'd do and I'd be there right next to you. Now come on, we've got rocks to stare at. You never know what they're up to, just sitting there silently planning like they do."

The two shared a laugh and simply enjoyed conversing while they waited for the two marines to return.

The marines returned sooner than expected. As Dallas and Roland turned towards the two men they noticed a grave look marking their faces. "Sir," started one of the marines, his eyes fixed on Dallas'. "We've just received an urgent distress call. A small town just south of our position has been attacked."

Dallas and Roland looked at each other for a second as the news sunk in. The Lieutenant gave the men a nod and hastily made his way through the compound, walking past the rows of crates and supply boxes neatly set up on the concrete foundation. As he closed in on the building being used as a base of operations, many of the marines turned to look, expressions of concern now clinging to their faces. Curiosity and anxiety alike caused several of the marines to follow the Lieutenant. The doors of the command building before him opened with a hiss. He made his way through several of the rooms and corridors before coming to the communications room, Roland and the marines close behind. One of the men pressed a button, opening the channel to the survivors of the nearby town.

Dallas leaned down towards the speaker. "This is Lieutenant Dallas Caedo of the Confederate Marine Corps, what's your situation?"

"Thank you Lieutenant, we thought no one had heard our distress call," said a quivering male voice. "We were attacked by the Kel-Morians. They came from out of nowhere. Most of our town is in flames and many of our people are dead. Those of us that survived hid in an abandoned mine. A lot of the people here are in bad shape. Please, we need help, we're trapped in here. The entrance to the mines collapsed and we can't get out. The explosions must've loosened up the structure of the mines, because we're hearing a lot of rumbling. This place may collapse any minute now. Please, we need help."

"I understand, just remain calm. Are the Kel-Morians still in the town?"

"No, they've all gone now."

"Okay, do you know where they went?"

"No, none of us saw. We just ran as fast as we could."

The Lieutenant stood up straight again, moving away from the speaker and turning to face Roland. "Okay, so what do we do? The Kel-Morians are probably on their way here, but that mine could come down at any minute and if that happens then all those innocent people will die," he placed his hand over his mouth as he contemplated the gravity of the situation.

An idea came to Roland's mind. "We could always send a handful of men to sneak around the Kel-Morian force and rescue the civilians while the bulk of the men stay here and defend the compound. We'd only need about five soldiers to save the civilians."

"I don't know," said Dallas. "It's risky. The soldiers that go down to the civilians could easily be spotted and killed."

"Dallas, it's the only option we've got."

Dallas considered for a moment before nodding. "Okay, but who goes to get them?"

"I'll go," said Roland.

"No," replied Dallas, holding out a hand. "Out of the question. I won't see you run off on what'll probably be a suicide mission."

"Hey," Roland placed a hand on Dallas' shoulder. "It'll be alright, man. I'll take one of the fast jeeps and I'll avoid the main pathway. I'll stick to the high ground and then I'll be back before you know it. Let me do this, you know it's the only way."

Dallas paused in deliberation before yielding. "Fine, then who's going with you?"

The two marines that Dallas and Roland had relieved on the wall stepped forward. "We'll go."

Two more marines from the group took a step forward, offering their assistance. "Okay," said Dallas, turning back to the speaker. "We're sending some men down there to assist you. Just hold on tight and they'll be there in no time."

"Thank you, Lieutenant! Bless you!" replied the voice.

He pressed a button, cutting the signal. The entourage walked back outside before heading over to one of the abandoned vehicles. As they walked outside, the last of the day's light shone in the distance, casting the landscape into a dark silhouette.

After arming themselves, the four marines entered the vehicle, leaving the driver seat for Roland who stood before Dallas. "You ride hard and you ride fast and do not stop for anything. Just get there and for God's sake, man, do not get yourself killed," said Dallas.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay. You just watch out for yourself, brother."

They grasped one another's hand and amiably knocked their right shoulders together. They gave each other a nod before Roland entered the vehicle. As he started it up, a marine on guard duty lowered the front gateway. Dallas gave Roland and the marines a salute as the vehicle slowly eased forward. The company within the jeep returned the salute before it took off into the darkened distance.

Dallas immediately called the thirty five marines left in the compound together. He told them of the impending attack which was met by differing responses. Some nodded and smiled in excitement, others simply stood silent in fear and apprehension. Once the information he knew had been explained to the men, the strategy was formed.

The compound faced South, with the building being used as a base of operations located at the back of the complex. The base had six heavy machine guns set up on the walls with another two in the heart of the compound on the lower ground. The left and right walls had but one turret each. The top left and top right corners of the wall both had a turret, with two more located on the front wall. The Lieutenant ordered fifteen men on the front wall and ten on the left and right walls. If the enemy came from a more specific direction, the soldiers would move as necessary. With the plan set, the marines took their places crouching down on the wall, so as to hide behind the protective parapet which spanned the entire outer rim.

The sun had long since been down before the Lieutenant received radio communication from Roland. "What's your situation?" whispered Dallas, holding the handheld radio close to his mouth.

"We've arrived safely at the mine," answered Roland. "We're in the process of moving the stones blocking the entrance. Even with the added strength from our power suits, this is gonna take a while. Oh, and we got a glimpse of what the Kel-Morians are sending your way."

"Could you tell how many there were?"

"I don't know for sure, but it was easily seventy soldiers. Your outnumbered two to one up there, I don't know if you can hold up against that many. Just get out of there. Take the men and leave."

"We can't. They'll just chase us down and we'll be forced to fight somewhere else. Just concentrate on getting those civilians out of there."

"Copy that. I'll maintain radio silence from here on out unless something big happens."

"Roger, good luck down there. Caedo over and out."

The Lieutenant put down the radio when he felt a droplet land on his face. He looked up to the cloudy sky only to feel another droplet, and another. Before long, the clouds began to pour forth rain which grew in intensity with each passing second.

He simply sat in silence and listened to the rain pattering down on his helmet. Most of the marines put their visors down to avoid getting water inside their suits, but the Lieutenant did not care for the rain. He enjoyed the feeling of serenity it brought.

The marine next to him sat watching a handheld screen. It displayed an image in near-infrared which was directly connected to one of the cameras mounted on the wall. The Lieutenant leaned over to look at the screen, noticing several small white signatures in the distance. "Can you zoom in on those?" he asked.

The marine nodded and intensified the magnification of the image. It was evident from the video feed that their enemy was close now.

The minutes seemed to crawl by as the signatures drew closer and closer on the screen until they neared firing range. The Lieutenant gave one of the men a hand signal, to which the marine nodded and grasped a switch attached to the wall.

As the enemy entered firing range, they cautiously moved forward little by little. "Wait for it," Dallas whispered to himself.

They continued on. "Almost," whispered Dallas. "Just a little further..."

He continued to watch the screen and when he saw that the enemy was close enough, he stood up, bellowing but one word. "Now!"

His marines hastily got to their feet as the soldier flicked the switch on the wall. Bright lights facing the enemy flicked on, temporarily blinding their soldiers and restricting their vision greatly.

Guns burst into action with a hail of high velocity gauss bullets. The enemy was left in the open without any cover, leaving them vulnerable to the well-defended Confederate marines.

The enemy's force attacked the compound in a front-on assault. This allowed the marines guarding the left and right walls to move over to the front wall.

The heavy machine guns tore through enemies with ease. Dallas looked down the barrel of his rifle, firing at anything that moved. He noticed some of the enemy soldiers slipping over in the mud from the heavy rain.

The lights assisted his force in not only restricting enemy vision, but revealing the Kel-Morian's position. As such, it was not long before the enemy began targeting the lights, taking them out one by one. Dallas watched as a marine beside him fell off the wall with a bullet hole through his visor. Another nearby defender received a shot to the chest, causing him to fall for a moment before standing up again. He fought on, firing at the enemy until two more rounds pierced his torso, causing him to fall to the ground.

The last of the lights was destroyed; robbing the Confederate marine's of one of their greatest advantages. One of the soldiers manning a heavy machine gun fired into the enemy in a constant stream of bullets. In the darkness, the only thing to give away the enemy soldier's positions was the flashes of light coming from their rifles. He fired on, taking out target after target until he felt something make impact with the left side of his body. He looked down, pressing a hand to the impact site. As he raised his hand, the rain slowly mingled with the blood covering it before he felt another round pierce into his side. He fell over, his body motionless. "They're flanking us from the left!" shouted a marine, his voice competing with screams, rain and gun fire.

Several of the marines rushed to the left wall, firing as they moved. Their guns tore through the enemy as two of their own fell from Kel-Morian gunfire. Dallas held his position on the front wall, shooting at targets as their firing guns illuminated them. Rain splashed on the barrel of his gun, trickling down it as he reloaded. He returned to firing at the enemies who drew closer to the wall. He heard the desperate shout of a marine from the left wall. "Rockets!"

He turned to look just in time to see a section of the wall erupt into a fireball as a deafening explosion tore into it. The explosion was followed by two more which blasted a section of the left wall away. He looked down from the wall, seeing that the enemy was too close to give his force any advantage any longer. "To the centre of the base!" he shouted.

He couldn't help but gaze at the fallen marines on the wall for a moment as he made his way off the fortification. Their blood mixed with the rain, pouring over the sides of the wall. The remaining marines jumped off the defences, regrouping in the base's lower grounds. It took but a moment for the enemy to start climbing the wall.

As soon as he saw a head emerge over the wall, he fired. The shot pierced the enemy soldier's visor, causing the fighter to fall back over the wall. Guns burst into action once again as the Kel-Morians scaled the wall. Two of Dallas' soldiers took to the heavy machine guns on the ground level. He turned his attention to the smoking gap in the wall, from which soldiers were now pouring in. They tried to run to the cover of supply crates but most were shot down as they tried. A marine standing in front of Dallas fell to the ground, blood mixing with water beneath his fresh corpse.

The Lieutenant fired into the broken section of the wall, hearing screams as he did so. His marines fought on but it seemed to be to no avail, for the enemy simply kept coming. His forces were dwindling. He noticed that several of the enemy had broken through, finding cover. He did the same, running to the cover of a stack of crates. He poked his head over the top and fired at the opposing forces, taking out two with one burst of his rifle. He heard another scream behind him as another of his men fell. He looked back to see only four men left, one of whom still clung to the heavy machine gun turret, firing away.

The marine on the turret sustained a shot to the shoulder, but he simply kept firing. He let off a long-drawn battle cry as he held his finger on the trigger, ripping into the enemy. Four Kel-Morians fell by his hand before he received another shot that sent him to his knees. He summoned his remaining energy and continued to fire, taking out another three foes before receiving a shot to the heart, forcing his limp body to the ground. Dallas watched helplessly as the last of his men fell. He had received a shot to the arm, but as he ducked behind the crates and looked back, he realised he was the last one alive.

Memories of his loved ones back on Mar Sara flashed through his mind. The guns had stopped firing, and the only sound left was shouting from the enemy and the pelting of rain.

He took a deep breath and charged towards one of the heavy machine guns. He took the handles and pulled the trigger. Enemy after enemy fell as guns erupted into a hail of fire once again. He marked his targets and fired bursts of magnetically propelled rounds into every soldier he could. They hid behind boxes and supplies, trying to fire at him. A shot bounced off the edge of his shoulder and another pierced his leg. Adrenaline took care of the pain as he concentrated on firing. Another handful of enemies fell before he was shot in the back three times by soldiers who had climbed over the walls. He fell to the ground, holding his chest. With the last of his strength he pushed himself up, kneeling on the ground as he picked up a rifle and continued firing. Two enemies fell as bullets ripped through their visors. He managed to kill yet another before sustaining a hit to the chest.

He dragged his body to a stack of crates and propped himself up to a sitting position. He could feel his life-force pouring out from every wound. He looked to the side, seeing all the fallen soldiers, both enemy and friendly. Rain still pattered down on their lifeless bodies which lay scattered across the compound. He reached into a pouch on his suit and pulled out a folded photo. He opened it and smiled as he looked at his family, rubbing the thumb of his power suit over the picture of his wife and son. Dallas wondered what the fate of his son would be. He took relief in the knowledge that Roland would take care of him no matter what. His eyes slowly closed as the life left his body. The compound fell silent as only the pattering of rain sounded in the dark night.

On Mar Sara a boy felt the last breath of his father. He would never forgive those responsible and would one day stop at nothing to destroy them.