STARCRAFT SHORTSTORY: BATTLE FOR KAISER PASS
CHAPTER 1: Planet of fire
It is said that during a battle, your pulse raises to an almost exploding rate. That blood and adrenalin are rushed to the brain to raise it's reaction time to an almost non-human state. But that's probably all in vain when fighting the Zerg or Protoss. It had been three weeks. Three weeks of hell on this fire planet. Char was its name. Dominion Border-Colony E-14 Char to be completely exact. Jason Wolfe had seen things in his time here that he never would have dreamed about seeing in the "normal world". He'd seen everything from pyroclastic flows to people getting ripped to bits by the ferocious alien invaders. "On the left flank! Damnit Jason, watch out!" voice boomed over the headset. Corporal Jason Wolfe turned around to see a three foot tall zergling foaming at the mouth mere yards away. He raised his gauss rifle...BAM! BAM! BAM! Its muzzle lit up in a flame that peppered the zergling with hot lead. The determined little alien continued its warpath towards him despite the damage to its carapace. It was now filled with bullet holes spraying gore all over the gritty black sand. It leaped and just in time, another Marine opened fire. "Thanks dude. Those little buggers have no brains" Jason said in a relifed voice. "No problem. Just watch your back from now on" the anonymous man answered back. "Oh god! They're everywhere! We can't hold em' off! Get some 50s on those Hydras!" another unknown voice spattered over the comm. Corporal Jason Wolfe was assigned to the 6th Marine Division, part of the Omega Squadron Terran Dominion Converted Forces. After the fall of the Confederacy, the military remnants were all alone, separately fighting on different worlds. The new Dominion under Emperor Mengsk had reunited most of them into a single powerful army. The 6th was sent out here to Char to set up a new outpost to monitor the local Zerg spore colonies, and then take them out for the Wraith and Battlecruisers to get through. They had dropped with over two thousand Marines. Now they had at tops, five hundred. Most of them were killed on the first day of combat when the SCVs were also dropped off. They had been able to set up the Command Center and also the bunkers and barracks before thousands upon thousands of Zerg underlings had surprise attacked them from the valley to the north. Now, they're reduced forces were trying to hold the Zerg at bay until relief arrived, or if necessary, abandoning the base. "Sergeant Anderson! Do you hear me Anderson? Pull back! Abandon the outer perimeter!" the Lieutenant was screaming over the radio link waking Jason up from his daydreaming. "But ma'me, there's nothing in-between the outer perimeter and the base!" one soldier spoke up. "Don't dare second guess me boy! I've seen five years of this damned war and I know a thing or two about the Zerg that you don't" she replied in a harsh tone. The Marine was now silent, looking down at the ground. "Wolfe! Are those mines up and running?" she suddenly asked him, stepping out of the protective bunker he was standing next to. "Err, yeah. Last time I checked, we had about a thousand operational mines in the field" he said with a now serious voice. "As soon as Anderson and his boys get into the Safe-Zone activate them" she ordered. "Yes sir!" Jason ran over the corpse of the Demolitions Expert who had been killed in action yesterday in a skirmish. He picked up the small control panel the man had in his death grip and set the "Activation" button for 5 minutes. It only took the Sergeant and his men three to cover the large expanse between the outer and inner perimeters. "Sir, were pretty banged up. I've lost more than half the platoon back there. I don't know what happened to Sergeant Eversly. He and his men were covering our retreat. I wouldn't exactly count on em' being alive, ma'me" "Well then, we will just have to keep the few men we do have" the LT replied, Jason overhearing their conversation as the Sarge and the dozen men he had left ran into the area. In the distance, not to distant, the spider-mines activated just as a wave of incoming Zerg was coming down upon the base. The mines locked onto a target, and launched themselves at it with a suicide attack. Explosions from the mines pummeled the Zerg lines, but they kept advancing. "Everyone in the bunkers!" the LT screamed over the comm. link. Jason entered the nearest titanium reinforced bunker, hit the door lock button and took a position near the firing slit. "They're coming' in at 50 yards!" a familiar voice announced. It was Jason's friend PFC Cole Lance. Jason started hearing sporadic weapons fire along the defense line, but almost none of it hit the too distant enemy. He waited, and waited, and finally, opened fire along with the rest of the garrison. "What the hell man? The reinforcements were supposed to be here weeks ago? They've probably forgotten about us man! Were all gonna' die!" one Marine standing next the Jason said, his voice strained and frightened. "Shut up and shoot the bastereds or you will die!" he replied. His arms were starting to feel numb with the recoil now going on for nearly thirty seconds. His first clip ran out, so he slammed in a fresh one. The zergling, hydraslisk wave was now almost upon the bunkers. Jason heard scratching noises. The zerglings were trying to rip the bunker open. The next thing he noticed was the hydralisk that aligned itself with his window slit slanted its head up and fired its deadly spine cloud. Jason pulled himself away from the window as fast as he could. When he looked back at his position, it was covered in the spines, along with the blood of the frightened Marine whom was now pinned to the wall with several spines through his head. "Ah holy crapping cow!" Jason cried out. "Keep shooting!" another Marine in the bunker said. Jason looked back out of his window slit at the Zerg wave, now bypassing the perimeter. The adjacent bunker to his was ripped open from the roof by zerglings. The last this he saw of the men in those bunker was one of them whom tried to get out, only to meet another 'ling at the door. "Keep pouring it on them boys, they're starting to wear thin" one of the COs announced. Not much was left of the Zerg wave now but guts and broken pieces of their hardened outer shells. There were a few zerglings still running around but for the most part, it was over. Or was it? "Crap! We got new contact! They're coming up the chokepoint again. Looks a lot bigger this time sir" a radioman in the command center stated. "No rest for the weary eh?" Jason asked sarcastically nudging a Marine in the bunker. "Shut up, damn back-worlder" was the only reply Jason got from the faceplate that covered the mans head. Jason peered out the now empty slit at the next Zerg attacking force. "Dear God! How can we stop that?" Jason asked out loud. Ultralisks, mulalisks, hydras', 'lings, defilers, and some devourerers were now slowly moving up the pass. This time, they were being cautious. A third of the previous wave had been taken out by the mines. Suddenly, a loud thunderous clap filled the air. Explosions ruptured the Zerg attacking force, sending it into a confused rampage. Jason looked behind him. The siege tanks, the drop ships, the reinforcements...they had finally arrived.
CHAPTER 1: Planet of fire
It is said that during a battle, your pulse raises to an almost exploding rate. That blood and adrenalin are rushed to the brain to raise it's reaction time to an almost non-human state. But that's probably all in vain when fighting the Zerg or Protoss. It had been three weeks. Three weeks of hell on this fire planet. Char was its name. Dominion Border-Colony E-14 Char to be completely exact. Jason Wolfe had seen things in his time here that he never would have dreamed about seeing in the "normal world". He'd seen everything from pyroclastic flows to people getting ripped to bits by the ferocious alien invaders. "On the left flank! Damnit Jason, watch out!" voice boomed over the headset. Corporal Jason Wolfe turned around to see a three foot tall zergling foaming at the mouth mere yards away. He raised his gauss rifle...BAM! BAM! BAM! Its muzzle lit up in a flame that peppered the zergling with hot lead. The determined little alien continued its warpath towards him despite the damage to its carapace. It was now filled with bullet holes spraying gore all over the gritty black sand. It leaped and just in time, another Marine opened fire. "Thanks dude. Those little buggers have no brains" Jason said in a relifed voice. "No problem. Just watch your back from now on" the anonymous man answered back. "Oh god! They're everywhere! We can't hold em' off! Get some 50s on those Hydras!" another unknown voice spattered over the comm. Corporal Jason Wolfe was assigned to the 6th Marine Division, part of the Omega Squadron Terran Dominion Converted Forces. After the fall of the Confederacy, the military remnants were all alone, separately fighting on different worlds. The new Dominion under Emperor Mengsk had reunited most of them into a single powerful army. The 6th was sent out here to Char to set up a new outpost to monitor the local Zerg spore colonies, and then take them out for the Wraith and Battlecruisers to get through. They had dropped with over two thousand Marines. Now they had at tops, five hundred. Most of them were killed on the first day of combat when the SCVs were also dropped off. They had been able to set up the Command Center and also the bunkers and barracks before thousands upon thousands of Zerg underlings had surprise attacked them from the valley to the north. Now, they're reduced forces were trying to hold the Zerg at bay until relief arrived, or if necessary, abandoning the base. "Sergeant Anderson! Do you hear me Anderson? Pull back! Abandon the outer perimeter!" the Lieutenant was screaming over the radio link waking Jason up from his daydreaming. "But ma'me, there's nothing in-between the outer perimeter and the base!" one soldier spoke up. "Don't dare second guess me boy! I've seen five years of this damned war and I know a thing or two about the Zerg that you don't" she replied in a harsh tone. The Marine was now silent, looking down at the ground. "Wolfe! Are those mines up and running?" she suddenly asked him, stepping out of the protective bunker he was standing next to. "Err, yeah. Last time I checked, we had about a thousand operational mines in the field" he said with a now serious voice. "As soon as Anderson and his boys get into the Safe-Zone activate them" she ordered. "Yes sir!" Jason ran over the corpse of the Demolitions Expert who had been killed in action yesterday in a skirmish. He picked up the small control panel the man had in his death grip and set the "Activation" button for 5 minutes. It only took the Sergeant and his men three to cover the large expanse between the outer and inner perimeters. "Sir, were pretty banged up. I've lost more than half the platoon back there. I don't know what happened to Sergeant Eversly. He and his men were covering our retreat. I wouldn't exactly count on em' being alive, ma'me" "Well then, we will just have to keep the few men we do have" the LT replied, Jason overhearing their conversation as the Sarge and the dozen men he had left ran into the area. In the distance, not to distant, the spider-mines activated just as a wave of incoming Zerg was coming down upon the base. The mines locked onto a target, and launched themselves at it with a suicide attack. Explosions from the mines pummeled the Zerg lines, but they kept advancing. "Everyone in the bunkers!" the LT screamed over the comm. link. Jason entered the nearest titanium reinforced bunker, hit the door lock button and took a position near the firing slit. "They're coming' in at 50 yards!" a familiar voice announced. It was Jason's friend PFC Cole Lance. Jason started hearing sporadic weapons fire along the defense line, but almost none of it hit the too distant enemy. He waited, and waited, and finally, opened fire along with the rest of the garrison. "What the hell man? The reinforcements were supposed to be here weeks ago? They've probably forgotten about us man! Were all gonna' die!" one Marine standing next the Jason said, his voice strained and frightened. "Shut up and shoot the bastereds or you will die!" he replied. His arms were starting to feel numb with the recoil now going on for nearly thirty seconds. His first clip ran out, so he slammed in a fresh one. The zergling, hydraslisk wave was now almost upon the bunkers. Jason heard scratching noises. The zerglings were trying to rip the bunker open. The next thing he noticed was the hydralisk that aligned itself with his window slit slanted its head up and fired its deadly spine cloud. Jason pulled himself away from the window as fast as he could. When he looked back at his position, it was covered in the spines, along with the blood of the frightened Marine whom was now pinned to the wall with several spines through his head. "Ah holy crapping cow!" Jason cried out. "Keep shooting!" another Marine in the bunker said. Jason looked back out of his window slit at the Zerg wave, now bypassing the perimeter. The adjacent bunker to his was ripped open from the roof by zerglings. The last this he saw of the men in those bunker was one of them whom tried to get out, only to meet another 'ling at the door. "Keep pouring it on them boys, they're starting to wear thin" one of the COs announced. Not much was left of the Zerg wave now but guts and broken pieces of their hardened outer shells. There were a few zerglings still running around but for the most part, it was over. Or was it? "Crap! We got new contact! They're coming up the chokepoint again. Looks a lot bigger this time sir" a radioman in the command center stated. "No rest for the weary eh?" Jason asked sarcastically nudging a Marine in the bunker. "Shut up, damn back-worlder" was the only reply Jason got from the faceplate that covered the mans head. Jason peered out the now empty slit at the next Zerg attacking force. "Dear God! How can we stop that?" Jason asked out loud. Ultralisks, mulalisks, hydras', 'lings, defilers, and some devourerers were now slowly moving up the pass. This time, they were being cautious. A third of the previous wave had been taken out by the mines. Suddenly, a loud thunderous clap filled the air. Explosions ruptured the Zerg attacking force, sending it into a confused rampage. Jason looked behind him. The siege tanks, the drop ships, the reinforcements...they had finally arrived.