Synopsis- It has been five years since the U.E.D defeat in the Koprulu sector. Seeing the potential threat of distant planet The Queen of Blades Kerrigan, dispatches her newly reformed Tiamat brood. Its orders are to destroy U.E.D infest, and their worlds to her ever expanding empire. Back on Earth infighting and economic decline weaken the U.E.D's military might leaving them unable to resist the Zerg as they descend on their first outer colony of Ganymede. The quick and brutal destruction of Ganymede shocks the U.E.D higher us, the factions push their own agendas aside, and once more the U.E.D is united. They begin to develop plans to set up a defensive perimeter, expand their control of resources, and rebuild their army and navy. Since Ganymede the U.E.D has done its best to stymie the endless tidal wave of Zerg aggression, but slowly they have lost ground, until now only Sol remains. Outside of the Sol system battlecruisers filled with marines patrol the border, ever vigilant for where the next attack may come from.
Chapter 1
In the darkness of space outside of Sol a mark 2 battlecruiser Alexander patrols diligently. The mark 2 vessels are only slightly different from their predecessors in that they sport thicker armor, several additional smaller light cannons, and a new recharging system that can recharge the Yamotto main cannon in half the time. Another major change is that now each ship holds a company of troops, vehicles, and fighters and serves as their headquarters.
The inside of the ship is a flurry of activity as soldiers go about their daily activities; marines clean their weapons and check their armors, while drivers and pilots assist the maintenance crews in servicing their vehicles. The work is brought to a temporary halt as a voice blares through the ships intercom. "B Company 245th battalion 11th infantry regiment, please report to the briefing room." Marines immediately stop what they are doing and secure their weapons before heading to the briefing room.
In the briefing the soldiers are all talking amongst themselves excitedly, until the leader of the Dark Knight Company enters the room. Captain Carl Homman is the mold of a Marine, fearless, charismatic, and an insight that has allowed him to win many battles over the Zerg brood even when the odds were heavily against him. The Marines as one stand at attention until Carl tells them to sit down, the lights turn off, and a projector begins to play. On the screen is a picture of a planet that is barley a bit bigger than Pluto. "This is the resource planet Katungi, it currently contains the largest concentration of minerals and vespene gas under U.E.D control. At 01100 hours yesterday the Katungi self-defense unit reported contact with a small group of Zerglings." This causes the men to murmur amongst themselves, unlike Carl many of the men and women of B Company are fresh troops with no real combat experience under their belt. "A scout unit attached to the planet tracked the surviving Zerglings and managed to locate their colony." The next several pictures of the Zerg colony show about a dozen buildings including Hatcheries, Sunken Colonies, Spore Colonies, Spawning Pool, and Hyrdralisk Den. "As you can see from the pictures the base is small, but like a cancer if left alone it will spread. The cave where the colony is located has three tunnels leading into it and the cave is in a large wide area, we will be deploying three of our rifle platoons. Sasso, your platoon will deploy to point A here to the west, Quiroz your platoon will deploy to point B here to the east, and Davis your Firebat platoon will deploy to point C to the south, Hammond your platoon will deploy with Davis." The platoon leaders all nod their heads, seeing that there were no questions Carl decides to wrap up the briefing. "The battlecruiser will arrive in orbit in fifty minutes; have all preparations ready by then, dismissed." Everyone stands and salutes before leaving.
Forty five minutes later the Alexander is approaching Katungi, inside the bay eight shuttles leave the ship and begin to make their way down to the planet, after entering the atmosphere the shuttles break off and head to their landing spots. The four platoons make it unopposed to the edge of the colony; all of them can feel their nervousness rising as they key their mikes to signal they are in position. Suddenly they hear Carl say, "Commence operation." As one all squads advance.
Sasso Platoon
Lt. Joseph Sasso leads his men against a group Zerglings; he made sure to keep their firing line tight as they mowed down the Zerglings before they could even get close. Once they were taken care of they moved to just outside the range of a couple of sunken colonies. "Rockets go!" Two marines un-shouldered their rocket launchers, aimed, and hit the sunken colonies in the center of mass causing them to explode into chunks of blood and gore. "Go for the hole" Joe shouts. As the marines advance forward one of them yells in pain as the tongue of a Sunken Colony splits him in half. Joe quickly scans the area and finds the colony.
"Ten o-clocks open fire." The platoon opens fire at the colony, their bullets tearing chunks out of the colony. Its tongue dives in to the ground and pierces a marine next to Joe through her left leg. Once their bullets tear a large hole in the colony Joe shouts "Crance grenade!" Joe and Crance each pull out a grenade and threw at the colony, Joes fell a little short, but Crance's grenade lands in the hole and blows the colony into chunks. Joe helps the wounded marine sit up while he calls for a Corpsman knowing that it was going to be a long day.
Quiroz Platoon
Lt. Bryan Quiroz is having a bad day. His platoon had not encountered the Sunken Colonies as Joe did. Instead they were hammered with wave after wave of Zerglings. After the sixth wave he led his battered squad into the remains of a building and jammed the door shut. As he turned to face his platoon he felt like crying; of his sixteen men five were dead, including their Corpsman, and four others were wounded and unable to fight.
Seeing no other choice he keys his com and contacts Carl. "Command this is Knight-3 come in command."
"Knight-3 this command go ahead."
"Sir my unit is down to one-third fighting with four critical wounded please advise?"
"I'm ordering your shuttlecraft to pick up your wounded, once their tucked away I want you to link up with Davis and Hammond. They are approaching the Hatchery, but are pinned down against Hydralisk. Flank the Hydralisk and allow them to set the charges."
"Roger that command." It is nearly twenty minutes before the shuttle arrives and takes his wounded off the field. Seeing that they need to hurry Bryan orders his men to pop a stim pack and double time it towards the other two platoons.
Davis and Hammond
Lt. Wain tried to warn his man next to him, but by the time the words could even begin to leave his mouth the Marine fell to the ground, the Hydralisk barbs piercing his face. Wain turns his rifle and empties the rest of his clip into the Hydralisk skull. He ejects the spent magazine and loads in a fresh one.
In front of Wain Lt. Thomas pushes his Firebats forward slowly, each member using their flame throwers to create a sea of fire. They are doing well since in front of them all that has been opposing them are Zerglings, and his platoon has been easily mowing them down. After a few more minutes they are within throwing distance of the Hatchery, the nerve center of the colonies. "Lt. Hammond, were here."
"Roger." Wain hesitates; he has the satchel charges to destroy the Hatchery, but what is left of his men is barely holding back the Hydralisks. Suddenly the Hydralisks begin to go down as they take fire from both sides. The other two platoons have met up with them and are now crushing their enemies under their combined might.
Wain leaves his Sergeant in charge and runs for the Hatchery after popping a stim pack. He moves next to Lt. Davis, pulls the cord, and throws the charge. "Fire in the hole!"
The Firebat platoon falls back, and soon it is rain blood as the Hatchery explodes into pieces. With the Hatchery destroyed the B Company quickly mops up the few remaining buildings and enemies. They call in their shuttles to head back to base to report mission success, but they have no idea that this is just the beginning.
R&R.