Life of an Immortal, a starcraft fanfic

This was a failed entry for the Blizzard Writing Contest 2011, and also my first time writing a complete short story. It's about the brief experience of an Immortal accompanying an expedition to set up a base on a remote planet.

It was cold on the plateau, the only warmth coming from the few rays of sunlight that had slipped through the cracks in the grey clouds. It was all the same to Has'nik, however, as the concept of temperature was no longer familiar to him. Long has it been since he had been stripped of nearly all his senses. As he lifted a leg and put it down, he knew that it was experiencing resistance from the ground, but could not feel it. Basic sensors captured heat and light and informed him of his surroundings, but he did not see or feel them. He could not even feel the fluid swirling around him. Some who shared the same fate as him told him it was a good thing, that the fluid was a most unpleasant thing to feel. He doubted them. They were lucky to still have nerves.

Has'nik had been a dragoon for more than three hundred years. He'd been severely crippled when he was attached to an observation team in charge of a lesser species, when a freak warp storm unexpectedly engulfed their starship. Nearly the whole crew perished, but the starship escaped the storm intact and drifted for years until it was rediscovered. The incident had long since been forgotten, dismissed as a accident, but it was still clear in his memory. After all, it had doomed him to be confined in a cylinder for life.

The dragoon was a complex system. Only the Masters of Robotics fully understood its functions. Even those who are entombed within them, take centuries to fully master their movement. Has'nik immensely hated his new body, and chose to spend most of his time deactivated, until recently when the crisis of Aiur called for his assistance. He'd regretted not familiarising himself with its movements, and now took as many opportunities as he could to exercise his mechanical limbs.

That did not lessen his dislike of it. Nevertheless, duty came before everything else. He was one of the few precious dragoons - now heavily retrofitted Immortals - left, and he had to make what remained of his miserable life count.

A small sound made him turn his body around. Tarul, a young templar initiate, saluted him and joined his side. Small and light-footed for a protoss, but still sturdy. He wore his full armour, which he must have spent hours cleaning, for they reflected the few rays of light falling on him perfectly. Has'nik could not help but feel a twinge of envy.

"En taro Tassadar, ancient one," the young warrior said as he reached him.

"En taro Adun, warrior," Has'nik corrected. Tarul did not say anything to that. "How goes your meditation?"

"I am in peak condition, and am ready to execute my tasks. What brings you out here, elder? It is not within your duties to patrol the borders."

"I am taking a mere walk," Has'nik replied. Tarul fell into his shadow and walked by his side. Such a thing was rare in the older days. The "crippled ones" always kept to themselves. Now the younger warriors frequently approached him, mostly to ask him for stories of the now-lost Aiur.

He didn't know if he should appreciate it.

"Pardon me for speaking out of my place, elder, but you seem troubled."

"Do I?"

"Yes. In fact, you have been since we touched down two months ago."

Sharp, this young one was, and well-attuned to the Khala. He must be particularly sensitive after his meditation. Has'nik however had nothing to hide. "I am brooding over our purpose here. This planet is of little significance. Why bother to set up a base here? Surely our strength can be lent to a larger force elsewhere."

"High Templar Kelas'fa said that not ground within this cluster can be yielded to the zerg."

"Kelas'fa's judgment is flawed."

Even among followers of the Khala, Has'nik was known for his brutal bluntness, even to authorities above him. "Surely you're being too harsh?"

"I am no commander, but I have seen enough to know a flawed decision when I see one."

"Did you relay your opinion to him?"

"Yes," Has'nik said, with a tone of finality that hinted at the outcome.

The two of them watched the mild sun that hung at the horizon's edge, largely obscured by thick grey clouds. "This planet," Tarul said, changing the subject, "is nothing but barren rock."

"The terrans came here in their early days," Has'nik rumbled. "It did not present them habitable conditions, so they built factories, thousands of them. The entire planet was stripped bare in two years. We did not interfere, as the Dae'Uhl dictated, even though many wanted to. They eradicated the ecosystem without hesitation. I have seen it a few times. It was like Bel'shir, although drier, with a thinner atmosphere."

"Bel'shir. You were on Bel'shir, elder?"

"Yes. Before I was attached here."

"I've heard rumors about our brothers there. About the Tal'darim. About how... how they turned away from the Khala."

Has'nik nodded grimly inside his tank, even though Tarul couldn't see it. "It bewilders me even now. Old friends beside me, changing before I knew it... I am partly responsible. I should have watched them more carefully, and supported their failing faith in the Khala." His voice hardened. "This Tal'darim business no doubt had been started by weaklings in the Khalai. To think it would spread to our noble caste. How could our warriors have fallen to it... It is akin to the blasphemies of the Nerazim."

"You do not like the Nerazim?"

"No," Has'nik said, "I do not, although I welcome the recent reunification. It is kinship that have brought our two factions together at this great time of need. Perhaps they will see the error of their ways someday and return to the Khala. The Tal'darim, on the other hand, are true heretics. They are no better than the zerg, and should be executed as such."

"Perhaps they are merely confused, and can be redeemed."

Has'nik shook his head. "I have seen them for myself. To not be exposed to the Khala is one thing, to break away from it is another. That foul substance, it clouds their minds and confuses their thoughts. They have truly fallen. The only thing we can do is prevent others from sharing the same fate." He stopped and swiveled his body towards Tarul. "That is why, brother, you should approach neither the Khalai nor the Nerazim too often. Immerse yourself fully in the Khala, which is the right way and the only way."

"You can trust me, ancient one," Tarul replied. His response was earnest, but it still worried Has'nik. Tarul was still young. He had not seen the corruption within the protoss with his eyes before. It was subtle and insidious, an enemy more foul than the zerg, in Has'nik's opinion.

The younger protoss frowned at Has'nik, clearly sensing his doubt, but he was denied the chance to prove himself. Alarm suddenly rang through the Khala, startling the two protosses. It had come from an observer at the front gate. The next moment, High Templar Kelas'fa's voice spoke in their minds, as clearly as if he was right beside them.

"Warriors, move to your battle stations. The zerg are upon us."

The two protosses looked at each other, stunned. The zerg? Where did they come from! There had been no sign of them for the past few days. No spaceborne pods had been detected. Could it be a false alarm?

No, it couldn't be. Observers around the base were sending urgent psychic signals back to them. The zerg was indeed upon them.

"I am returning to my company," Tarul said, breaking into a run. The older protoss strode after him, only to stop as Kelas'fa's voice agian.

"Immortal, you will move to 41-A36 and fortify that position."

A small bud of anger blossomed in his mind. He hated being called "immortal". Kelas'fa was treating his elder with no respect. Has'nik pushed his emotions aside and called up a cybermap on the wall of his tank. A bright dot lit up at the coordinates he'd received.

"You would sent me alone to defend the south!"

Kelas'fa did not reply. Unlike him, Has'nik did not have the psychic capability to reach him over such a long distance. It was a one-sided communication line. Has'nik felt the remaining blood in his crippled body curdle. This arrogant young templar, ordering him around, refusing to let him join the others at the front line-

But there were hostiles. Not a wandering cowardly terran gang, but a zerg squad seeking their deaths. He had to obey his orders. Furious, he moved his legs towards his battle station a little too forcefully, and the gyros whined in protest.

There were three photon cannons on the ledges above Has'nik, their phase disruptors floating in the air, ready to fire in any direction. His old dragoon body was effectively a smaller, mobile version of them, but in recent times had been modified in many ways he did not understand. He was now armed with two giant, immobile guns not unlike the terran ones, instead of the usual rotating sphere. The Master of Robotics had spoken to him for hours about them when he executed the modifications, but the technicalities escaped Has'nik. It didn't matter to him, as long as he could kill with them.

He was alone, as the deployment dictated. Kelas'fa probably believed that the cannons were sufficient to hold off any attacks on this side, and with good reason. There was only a single narrow choke between the ledges where ground forces who move through. Sending Has'nik, too, was a wise decision, for the immortal body was huge, effectively blockading the path. Plus, a living mind needed to be there to organise and coordinate the defence. Nevertheless, Has'nik was still displeased at being separated from his fellow warriors.

Using a combination of his psionic ability and the machine's circuits, Has'nik accessed one of the cannons' sensors. The enemies were in a relatively small number, about fifty or so heat signatures. They had just entered the cannons' firing range. Has'nik switched to ordinary daysight, but saw no trace of them. He frowned in his tank. They were there, and moving towards them, but he couldn't see them, and the cannons were still not firing.

Underground?

He commanded the cannons to fire at the signatures. The machines, designed to obey protoss commands, immediately charged their disruptors, the spheres crackling with vibrant blue energy. A second later, three balls of antimatter shot towards the foremost heat signature - towards the ground. The first blew a chunk of the ground up into the air. The second did the same thing. The third bore results - a insect-like screech captured by the cannons' sensors and relayed back to Has'nik.

He recognised it. Roaches. He'd first encountered this new zerg species at Bel'shir. They had the uncanny ability to dig through the hardest rock and form ambushes. Fortunately they were slow, above or under ground. The cannons would take out most of them before they arrived... or not.

Unfortunately, the roaches had dug deeper into the ground, and the cannons couldn't attack them efficiently. It took several hits to blow up the hard ground before exposing the insect under it. Has'nik did not have the same range and precision as the cannons did, so he had to wait until the roaches came closer.

They must have sensed his presence, however, for instead of making straight for the choke they were burrowing towards the left ledge, where one cannon and the pylon supporting it were. Did they intend to make him irrelevant by heading straight for the base!

Has'nik began to panic, but he didn't dare to leave his position, for fear of exposing the choke to a runby. The cannons did not detect any zerglings, but if they were there, perhaps waiting outside the cannons choke, they could easily sprint across the plains and into the base while Has'nik was distracted. He continued waiting, swiveling his upper body around to face the twenty-odd remaining signatures, which were under the left ledge now. It felt unpleasant to know that there were hidden enemies so close to him. He wondered what'd happen if he fired his new weapons straight into the rocks.

The roaches didn't continue moving towards the base. They stopped underneath instead, buried too deeply for the cannons to tear them out. The cannon they surrounded could not do anything with the zerg so close to it.

That's when Has'nik realised that the cannons could not fire in just any direction.

The cannon under attack could do nothing as the roaches ripped into its walls from underneath the ground, tearing their way up and into the internals of the cannon. Has'nik could not see anything, being on the low ground, but he knew that the cannon would be destroyed in the next few seconds. He linked its intelligence to his own body and issued it a final command.

The phase disruptor charged itself when the cannon's base cracked and tore. The sphere fell down onto the ground, power diffusing from it in a circle rather than a concentrated bolt. But it nevertheless managed to spray the roaches with antimatter, causing a series of high-pitched shrieks above him.

Has'nik tapped into the cannon on the other ledge. There were no dead bodies. The zerg had survived and were now digging their way towards him. He swiveled towards them and stepped away from the rocks.

The walls tore apart and a roach's head popped out in front of Has'nik, who fired immediately. The muzzles of the modified phase disruptors flashed, but instead of ejecting an antimatter bolt like the cannons', they sent a thick invisible wave through the roach's body. The wave passed through the roach easily, curdling its insides as it did so. Green gore leaked out of its orifices and it collapsed without a sound, only to be replaced by another, which clambered over the former's body in its attempt to reach Has'nik. There was an audible clink as the phase disruptors finished recycling, and he fired again. This one failed to kill the second roach, its head swinging away just in time, but the wave hit half of its body, causing it to screech and thrash in pain, all thought of attacking forgotten.

Has'nik watched the creature for a few seconds, contemplating whether to fire another pulse to put it out of its misery, but before he could do that the roach tore into the ground, kicking up a pile of soil through which another roach plowed through.

The other two cannons, locating an open target, fired upon the advancing roach. Their aim was so precise that the antimatter shots struck the roach square in the head and burned it cleanly off. It had no chance to burrow and run away. For all their stealthy movement, the zerg had chosen a bad spot to attack. Despite destroying one cannon, they'd exposed themselves to the cannons on the other ledge. The ones still within the rocks attempted to tunnel around the first hole, but the photon cannons tracked their exact movements and fired the moment they dug their way out. Has'nik coordinated his attacks with them, providing a constant stream of firepower that overwhelmed the roaches easily. Very soon the wave thinned, and the signatures disappeared like flies. The last one managed to dash out of one of the tunnels and throw itself bodily at Has'nik, causing the shields to flash at the impact. But Has'nik was much larger and stronger, hardly losing his balance. His generators were already restoring his shields as he disposed of the roach.

A few seconds of silence ensued before Has'nik tapped into the surviving cannons' vision again. He saw no enemies within five kilometers. If there were reinforcements, they had completely wasted their vanguard and lost the chance to overwhelm the southern defences. No, that was probably the last of them.

Elsewhere, however, Tarul was probably under heavy fire. Should he give up his position and reinforce his younger brethen?

Kelas'fa had told him to support this side of the base, but never told him to stay there. The majority of the invading forces were now concentrated at the front gates. He decided to move. They would appreciate his help.

The front gate was faring worst than he'd expected.

The zerg numbers were larger than what he'd encountered at the south, but still not significant enough to threaten them. Red dots scrawling over his tank suggested about a hundred of those creatures still standing. There were roaches, as well as the foul hydralisks infamous amongst the zerg arsenal. But the damage that they'd dealt was more than he'd expected - five warriors had already been teleported away, and the two forward cannons had been ripped apart in a matter that the creatures present could not have.

Most curious of all the was the large pile of crushed rock in the middle of the battlefield. It looked like something had dug underground, and the size of it was an unpleasant thought. He was about to access a nearby observer's sight when the thing itself erupted from the ground again, breaking though the rock with the force of a falling starship. Huge, protected by thick organic war plates, the ultralisk lifted its ugly head into the sky and let out a deafening bellow.

All attention turned towards the monster. All notion of formation broke up as warriors disengaged from their fights to rush at the imposing threat.

"Leave it to me!" Has'nik howled, "Concentrate on your surroundings!"

The others paused, surprised by his entrance, but a split second later they were upon the lesser zerg again. Has'nik was right to have come. He was built to handle these things.

Kelas'fa's voice cut into his thoughts. "What are you doing here, immortal!"

"Bringing critical aid to you younglings," Has'nik replied. Kelas'fa said something again, but he ignored it, focusing on the threat at hand. He faced the ultralisk, catching its attention. Although the immortal exoskeleton was taller than a human goliath and as large as their siege tanks, it still had to look upwards at the huge zerg. Scars littered across its underside, no doubt done by brave but dead protosses, but the wounds were too shallow to hinder it.

The ultralisk, sensing a new presence, lumbered its way towards him, stepping a hydralisk in its way. Has'nik fired. The anti-armor wave hit one of its giant scales, causing it to crack and explode outwards in ton-heavy chunks. But the ultralisk still approached unfazed. Its sheer bulk was significant enough to absorb the shot before it could reach its vitals. Has'nik began to panic a little, stepping away from the ultralisk to put more distance between them, but the creature was picking up speed. It had closed a further two hundred metres before Has'nik could shoot again. The second shot missed the exposed flesh the first had made, merely ripping a second plate off. The ultralisk was upon him now, bearing both of its bone scythes upon the immortal.

The two blades struck him from both sides and should have sliced him apart like a knife through butter. Instead, a loud noise resembling a vacuum seal being popped thundered around him, and the shields flashed in a vibrant, strange pattern. The blades were pushed away. Warning signs flashed inside his tank, but the shields held. Bless the Master of the Forge, he had worked his magic on the new body. To think he could face an ultralisk alone and survive its attack. Bellowing in perhaps shock and frustration, the ultralisk rammed its head into Has'nik. The blow should have flung the immortal away, but the special shields flashed again, absorbing the blow completely.

The disruptors flashed just as the ultralisk made to withdraw and hit it square in the mouth. A disgusting torrent of flesh and blood poured out as the inside undulated and disgorged from itself. The teeth exploded, some hitting Has'nik with the force of artillery shells, further straining his shields, others ripping through the ultralisk's head like shells. It miraculously still lived, despite its ruined head, but the sheer pain caused it to go berserk. It couldn't even think to burrow to safety.

Has'nik hurried out of the range of the wildly thrashing blades, repulsed yet pleased by the beast's suffering. It took four more shots from his enhanced weapons to kill the still alive zerg. The ultralisk was tenacious - as the last shot hit, it suddenly flung itself bodily at Has'nik. The immortal's four legs suddenly dropped flat down - a maneuver Has'nik had never used before, but it happened almost reflexively - lowering him just enough to duck from the soaring creature. The ultralisk catapulted across some further twenty metres before smashing headfirst into a boulder, which unfortunately proved sturdier than it. Blood and gore sprayed over the unmoving granite of the ultralisk's true killer. Has'nik thought he heard an awed gasp across the Khala. He breathed again, his heart having nearly stopped, and opened eyes he'd unconsciously closed to see himself exposed in front of seven roaches.

They opened their mouths before he could react, issuing long jets of green acid at their target. Each of them landed precisely a second apart from the next. The shields flashed and whined, barely able to take the concerted assault. Has'nik knew that the roaches' next attack would come before they could replenish themselves. Cursing in panic, the immortal trained his weapons on one of the roaches, but the bulky insect surprisingly managed to juke away just in time to avoid the invisible attack.

When did these things become so fast? The roaches at Bel'shir were much slower and never had such quick regenerative abilities. He had only recently received the new immortal upgrades from the Master of Robotics then and was able to route them with ease. They must have mutated into a stronger form since then. Damn their wretched queen and her sorceries.

The roaches opened their mouths again, but their next shot never came. The air crackled as tangible psionic energy suddenly manifested and enveloped the roaches. Distracted, they tried to swat the warp energies away, which seeped through their thick hides and fried the insides of two of them. Dismayed, the survivors turned tail and fled. Has'nik shot one of them in the rear. The rest quickly burrowed underground and moved away.

"Find yourself a favourable position, immortal," Kelas'fa said, some two kilometres away.

Has'nik's robotic legs found themselves again and clambered back up from their awkward position. He did not thank the templar. Then he saw Tarul, a certain distance away from him. Several bodies already lay strewn at his feet, yet he was still busy fighting more. Has'nik moved as fast as he could towards him, only to spot an insidious creature sneaking up on him.

"TARUL!"

His scream came too late. Tarul went down with a howl, his knees pierced by spines. Grinning and salivating uncontrollably, the hydralisk slithered towards its prey. A roach unintentionally stood in its way, and was beheaded without hesitation by one of its claws. The hydralisks were perhaps the most emotional and independent creatures among the zerg. Has'nik had seen a pack of them flee while mutalisks futilely drove themselves at protoss carriers before. He'd seen one kill two zerglings that were devouring a human it was slowly and methodically dissecting. They were amongst the deadliest of the zerg, but killed unexpectedly slowly and were quick to flee if things turned for the worse. If he could threaten it, before it reached Tarul...

Has'nik anxiously fired at it, but his shot went wild. Tarul twisted himself around, his hateful eyes seeking out the enemy, which was not hard to identify. The hydralisk bore down on him, eager to finish him off, but Tarul fended it off with his blades, scoring a nasty gash across its chest. Shrieking in pain, it backed off and released another volley of spines that punctured through Tarul's armor with ease. He thrashed in rage, but could only watch as his foe approached again, eager for vengeance. It would be denied its satisfaction again, however, as Has'nik finally caught up and locked the monster in his targeting sights.

His shot when through the hydralisk's body, causing it to screech in pain. But that did little to stop it. Unlike the roaches, the hydralisk's body was a lean mass of muscle, and the phase disruption passed through it too easily. The hydralisk might have a couple of bruises, but nothing more. It glared at Has'nik, wanting his death. Its distraction cost it, however, as Tarul's still working arms drove both blades into the wound he had previously made. With the last of his strength, he ripped the hydralisk into two.

Has'nik continued to stand by his side, shooting rhythmically at the encroaching zerg. The teleportation mechanisms in the suit appeared to have failed, presumably destroyed by the hydralik's spines. He thought of stepping over the younger protoss and covering him with his body, but revised that decision. No warrior would want to suffer being in such a humiliating position.

"Kill me, elder one," Tarul rasped.

"What foolish nonsense are you blabbering?"

"I… I am critically injured. I can no longer aid you." His eyes flickered. "Would you condemn me to be flayed alive by these zerg, elder?"

"No," Has'nik said, "but you are still alive. You still can…"

He faltered. There were no more dragoon exoskeletons left. Even if Tarul didn't die, he would have to live forever in eternal paralysis. A far worse fate than Has'nik, who at least had the privilege of a mobile coffin.

"Grant me a quick death, elder," Tarul pleaded. "My life is slowly trickling away, but all I can do is watch these things run amok. Don't let me suffer this indignity."

"Manually start your teleportation," Has'nik barked. His stomach was starting to curdle. He was feeling grief, in the middle of a battlefield, and it was showing in his poor aim. He was a warrior. He should not let such things affect him.

He'd been too close to the younger ones.

"Grant me a quick journey to the Khala. Please."

Has'nik closed his eyes.

"May your memory never fade in the Khala," he said in a hoarse whisper, and raised his leg.

He brought it down as precisely as he could onto Tarul's neck, crushing his throat as quickly as possible. He didn't want to use his disruptors. They might not kill him instantly, as with the hydralisk.

With that act, sorrow gave way to rage. Has'nik looked up once more. The zerg ranks had thinned, but he felt no joy in it, only a fervent desire to kill. He wanted to see these brutes suffer. It was almost as if the hydralisk had possessed him. He wanted them to punish them with slow painful deaths.

No matter how much he could torture them, however, they would understand what Tarul felt. For they were mindless things who didn't understand honour.

He'd seen death before, so this feeling was not new to him, but his mind was never numb to it. He always felt it with all its pain and fury.

Has'nik bellowed in his tank, his psychic voice reaching the warriors around him. Their fervour increased as if inspired by his war cry. Those still upright ran towards the hydralisks with great speed, letting the spines hit their armour. Some of them fell before they could reach the zerg, shouting in anger before they were teleported away, but the majority managed to reach the enemies. The cowardly hydralisks broke rank and fled, shooting their spines everywhere indiscriminately.

Has'nik gave chase as fast as he could. The robotic body reminded him urgently that his shields were nearly gone, but he didn't care. If only this ungainly shell could understand his anger. How cold, how monotonous! Even in the heat of the battle, he could do nothing but fire slowly and rhythmically. He could not keep up with his brethen.

With the zerg forces in disarray, the protoss slaughtered them easily. Soon the battlefield was quite again, littered with foul flesh and blood. There was a thick aura of relief in front and behind Has'nik. He couldn't relate. The dark vengeful anger was still churning in his heart, but it could not be satisfied. There was nothing left for him to kill.

"We're abandoning this planet," Kelas'fa said.

Has'nik started at the templar's voice.

"What?"

There was no reply. He realised that Kelas'fa was speaking from a distance again. The anger that had just recently dissipated return. Has'nik powered up his body, startling the probes around him, and marched towards the meditation chambers.

Kelas'fa's council looked up as he entered. The rest shrank back from him, intimidated by the giant machine towering over them, but Kelas'fa wasn't fazed. It was not their first time metting face to face. "What do you want, immortal?"

"Why are you calling a withdrawal at this time?"

"You will address me as high templar. We have come to the conclusion that the zerg we encountered was a small scout squad stationed on this planet. The main force, probably spaceborne, will be making their way here to eradicate us. Let them come and find nothing. We will retreat, give them this barren planet and unite with a larger fleet."

"You would give up this planet, after our comrades have sacrificed much for it?"

There were at least twenty protosses severely injured during the attack. Unlike Has'nik, they would not be transferred to a dragoon or immortal body. They would remain crippled, useless and shunned for the rest of their lives.

Suddenly he didn't hate his cocoon as much anymore.

"Crippled one," one of them began, but was quickly silenced by Kelas'fa.

"We will not let their efforts be in vain," the lead templar said slowly, "which is why we will withdraw and preserve our lives." He bowed his head. "It was my mistake to set up a permanent base here. I am correcting that decision now. Your protest thus surprises me. Were you not the one who suggested abandoning this planet in the first place?"

"That was before Ta-"

"Is it any different now, immortal? You are the last person I'd expected to object to this."

He stared hard at the floating body of Has'nik in the fluid tank. Their eyes met for a long moment. The two could read the other's mind clearly, being so close to each other. Kelas'fa was not deliberately spiting him, nor was he trying to cover up his mistakes. He earnestly believed that he was doing the right thing, and that Has'nik was wrong.

The immortal broke the eye contact and turned away. It would take a long time to make Kelas'fa see things his way, and he had run out of patience. He stormed out of the door, wanting to get away.

For the first time in his life, he wished he wasn't connected to them.