Author's Note: Well. What to say. First off of course I do not own anything written down here except some names and a few plot devices. Starcraft is the property of Blizzard Entertainment. That said, let me give anyone who reads this a little history on this one chapter. First of all this one chapter is all there is of this story right now. I wrote this chapter a loooooong time ago back in 2002 or 2003. I can't really remember. Back then I knew next to nothing about the Starcraft universe. I still barely know anything now but let me just say that the weapons I had the characters use in the original version of this chapter were M4 Carbines and M9 Berettas. And oh yeah, no power armor either O_O. Why? Because I didn't know what anything was called. Impaler was a word I had never heard. Back then I was just pumped after beating my N64 version (I didn't know Starcraft was a CPU game before it came to N64...do not judge me...I didn't have the internet) of Starcraft and wanted to write something...ANYTHING to get all of the cool shit I had rolling around in my head out. I wanted to write a 200 page book and read it back like someone else wrote it. Obviously that didn't happen. This chapter is all that made it through my chronic procrastination. Well! Nearly seven years later I have dusted off the word file and made a few changes to fit the actual universe of the game. However, this story will not focus on any of the game characters. It takes place over one thousand years after the brood war so I think that makes pretty much all the game characters, save some of the protoss, dead. Mostly everything still goes down in the Koprulu sector though, with some added planets and brand new factions. For those who enjoy reading fiction about main characters PLEASE DON'T LOOK ELSEWHERE you'll learn to like my OCs ;_; lol...everyone needs to read this story and come to the conclusion that it is badass. I demand it! Well, honest opinions would be appreciated. That means please drop a review. PLEASE DROP A REVIEW...and we will all be rewarded with more chapters ^_^.
StarCraft
Recollection
Chapter One: Reasonable Desertion
Interview 01: Gavin Mathews
"I remember when it happened. I remember where I was…who I was with…I remember…how they died." A disturbed voice flowed from a highly tense man covered in dirty clothes and a ragged dark brown overcoat.
A small broken down one-room apartment surrounded this unnerved man. He sat alone in the center of the building on its only piece of furniture, an old wooden chair that creaked under his weight. Gray dust and small rocks sprinkled down from the holy ceiling onto the man's short brown hair. Despair seemed to cry out from behind his eyes but his face made no impression upon the emotion. Only a cold lifeless glare remained stuck to his skin.
"You reporters and your…curiosity." The man sneered. "Cats aren't the only things a questioning nature can kill." His eyes centered on the small cylinder lens capturing his image. "You really want to know what happened back then? When the world was destroyed…reborn…" His eyes trailed off to the side, gazing outside the jagged stone hole in the wall. "…And then divided."
He unwillingly looked back into his past life as his mind forcefully flashed gruesome images of hundreds of men and women being ripped to shreds by an onslaught of automatic rifle fire. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, staring down at the insect infested floor and then slowly, as water built up behind his eyes, he grimaced as an even more terrifying recollection flashed before his face. Thousands of brown colored insect creatures crawled, stomped, and slithered their way through a large city tearing mercilessly through crowds of terrified humans.
"You know the Zerg…they…they're a ruthless pack of bugs." The man's lips formed a slight smile and he chuckled weakly. "But I'll be damned if they aren't the most unified race I've ever seen. More unified than us anyway…" His emotionless demeanor returned as his eyes gazed out into his memories. "Where should I start? At the beginning?" Feint pictures of the small blue planet Earth hovered in front of his eyes. Then, an enormous blue beam punched a hole through the mass of rock and water causing the planet to implode from the inside out. "No…the beginning's too boring. Just a lot of big ships and nothingness…and besides, I wasn't even born back then."
The echo of a loud car horn bounced off the walls of the small one room apartment. The cylinder lens turned from the broken man to the world outside the apartment. People walked and drove by to and from their daily lives. Birds fluttered and glided along the calm wind. No one noticed the desolate world that lay only a few feet away. Separated only by a small window.
"I'm…I was…a soldier, a marine in the G.C.D.F (Galden Colonial Defense Force). We went to war with them…and with the ones who destroyed humanity's birthplace. There were thousands of battles, alliances, betrayals, and victories. But…more than anything else there was death and destruction. This of course comes with any war except, as I'm sure anyone knows…wars sprung up around Koprulu as quickly as the battles we fought in them. There was too much bloodshed…but I didn't see it all. I had my share of battles. Lived through four of the hundreds of wars we've had. There was one point in time that sticks in my mind. I can still recall everything that happened, every word and emotion…even now fourteen years later."
"Hello." A voice flowed in over that of the soldier's as he continued to recall his past life. "This unfortunate man sitting in front of me is Gavin Mathews, former Marine of the G.C.M, a military branch within the G.C.D.F., the Galden Colonial Marine corps. Twelfth Battalion, Tiger Company, Third Platoon: Black Sparrows. Fourteen years ago his unit was assigned to Fort Rambard, a makeshift outpost on the colony planet Genseea that had been recently attacked by a small group of hydralisks that briefly lost their psionic link with a hive overlord. The ferocious beasts towering over ten feet in height crash landed from space into a forest near Hoak, a small town within Genseea. Forty civilians lost their lives to the Zerg that day. After the creatures moved on to Rambard, the Colonial Marines stationed there made short work of the four hydralisks."
Gavin's voice slowly flowed back in over the reporter's. "We had heard of the Zerg yeah. But we had never gone up against them before. No one on our colony had even seen one except for in combat training videos and news reports. Knowing that so few of them were able to ravage an entire town made us feel as if we really accomplished something after we defeated them." His grief stricken stare rose slightly but never centered on the camera lens. "There was one among us who told us how screwed we were. She…wasn't one of us. She was a criminal who snuck her way into one of our ships and stowed away to Genseea. Her name was, Anna Martin and she was an ex-marine who deserted her unit after many battles with the Zerg." Gavin took a deep breath and finally lifted his gaze to the camera, staring out at whoever would be watching the recording. "We had managed to hide ourselves away in an unknown and unfavored region of space. There was no sign of Zerg or Protoss activity for light years. I think it was me who drew that convoy of bugs into our small piece of the galaxy. My despair driven destiny that pulled those four hydralisks down onto our planet. And it was just my luck…the Zerg overlord reestablished psionic contact and control over the four marooned minions. It saw what they saw just before they died. And what they saw as we mercilessly emptied our rifle mags into their armored flesh…was our hidden underground mineral deposits."
Recorded accounts of the events leading to the battle of Genseea. April 5th 3856
Candal; a large bustling city that never slept near the slopes of the Darnius mountain range, shined brightly during the night. Ever since Earth's destruction at the hands of the Protoss, for a short period of time the human race came together in an effort to better itself and the new modern wonders of the second colonial age were born. However, in the early years of man's first space colonization, the threats of the Zerg and Protoss were nonexistent. The only enemy that presented itself to man, was man. The few thirty-two thousand survivors colonized the first new worlds, and their descendants left these colonies for brighter horizons. Unfortunately once people established these colonies so far away from their brothers and sisters, separatist nations sprung up like wildfire and the colonial civil wars began. These wars gave birth to the technologically advanced war machines used to defend humans from the alien aggressors they face today. The cities however mostly remained the same. New steel, better buildings, faster cars with near limitless fuel supplies, these were the modern luxury advancements. Beyond that most of everything remained the same. Cars still drove across the ground and humanity itself was far from enlightened.
Deep within Candal City, a small bar that was a favorite for on leave soldiers looking to unwind boomed with activity. Several men and women drank and laughed together, spilling intoxicating liquids onto wooden tables and floorboards. Gavin Mathews sat on a stool at the bar counter ignoring the small world contained within the four walls of the building surrounding him. His eyes were locked on the small glass in front of him that contained a simple portion of whiskey. He was so absorbed in absolutely nothing that he didn't notice the red haired man standing behind him.
"Gavin what are you doin'!" The red head shouted.
Gavin's stare and attention remained glued to his drink. "What do you want, Max?"
"Buddy, buddy…why the hell are you drinking so lightly?" He slapped Gavin's back with his right hand. "We're heroes! Where's your big mugs of beer and your crowd of hot women?"
Gavin's distaste with the bar's current atmosphere could be read on his face. "All's we did was blast a few drones with the seventy cal."
"Yeah but how many people on this planet can say that?" Max countered.
"Not the forty people those things killed that's for damn sure." Gavin twisted his glass to the left and right.
Max scoffed at the statement. "They were just a bunch of hicks from a backwater town, who cares?"
"I'd think you would since if they hadn't been slaughtered then no one would care about the mighty Colonial Marines who defeated the four monstrous Zerg aliens." Gavin answered.
"Hmm…" Max thought for a moment. "Good point." Several soft female giggles pulled the glory addicted marine's gaze to one of the tables across the floor a few feet away from the bar counter. He grabbed Gavin's shoulder and shook his friend while giving the women a toothy grin. "Come on man! Can you not be the emotionally wounded soldier for just one night?"
Gavin hesitated a few moments after a short sigh then carelessly downed the shot of whiskey and stood up from his seat. "Ok, Max. Lets go get you a bed mate for the night so I can get back to my meaningless night."
Max patted Gavin's arm after putting his own arm around his shoulders. "Now that's more like it!"
Anna Martin, she walked into the downtown crossroads bar just before walking into the lives of Gavin and Max. Her long black hair extended down to the small of her back and hung out in small bangs over her forehead. Her green eyes scanned the small drinking establishment and immediately locked on to the two drunk Marines with even more drunk women sitting on their laps. Both soldiers ceased their loud laughter as Anna stepped over to their table.
"You." Anna's eyes centered on Gavin. "You were the one who shot the Zerg hydralisks in front of Fort Rambard?"
"Correction." Max spoke before Gavin's thoughts could process. "We were the ones who shot the Zerg hydralisks in front of Fort Rambard."
Anna gave Max an annoyed glare then returned her gaze to Gavin. "You saw them up close?"
Gavin struggled to keep himself and the woman sitting on him balanced in the chair he sat on. "Well yeah I guess…if you can call forty feet up on top of a steel wall up close."
A sigh escaped Anna before she turned, about to leave the bar. "Thanks for nothing."
Gavin attempted to stand but his intoxicated mind blocked the memory of the woman siting on him and he nearly stumbled over her as his body rose. "Hey, wait!"
Anna stopped and turned around. "What?"
Gavin tripped over his feet and came to an abrupt halt in front of Anna. "What? You don't want to know anything else about the battle?"
A smile crept onto Anna's face as she held in a chuckle. "Battle? All's you did was blast a few drones with a seventy cal." Her sarcastic grin slowly formed into a warm smile before she turned and left the bar, leaving the soldiers with their celebration.
April 7th 3856
Galen forest, a lush dense nest of trees with over thirty different species of plants and fifty different animal species trying to recover from the small devastation the Zerg had caused. Anna Martin carefully made her way through the steaming crash site searching for something only she could find. It was not fire or heat from the humidity of the forest that caused steam to rise from the rotting ground. It was the live mutating flesh born from the cocoon capsules the Zerg traveled in. Anna steadied herself on a small incline above one of the craters the flesh pulsed in and slowly placed her finger over the grayish-brown substance. A small portion of the flesh oozed out from the crater and wrapped around her finger attempting to merge into her pores. Anna tilted her head to the side and watched as the small exertion of strength the flesh generated was too much for it to handle. The Zerg substance dried out and died along with the rest of the flesh nestled inside the crater.
"That's the first time I've seen the ground die." Max commented.
Anna let out a small gasp as she glanced back and Gavin's sobered form appeared beside her. "What are you doing here?"
"We followed you." Gavin answered while taking a knee. He stared out at the dead flesh with a questioning glare then turned his eyes to Anna. "It's a part of them, isn't it?"
Anna let go of her surprise and her calm demeanor returned. "It's what they use to colonize planets. It takes a long time for Zerg to adapt to different atmospheres and environments since their species can speed up its evolutionary process. This flesh saps up the nutrients they need and disperses it into their eggs and buildings."
"Who are you?" Gavin's eyes remained locked on Anna who kept her stare on the crater.
"I'm…no one." Anna replied.
"No one? Well you're a very educated no one." Max folded his arms.
"Hoak was a mining town wasn't it?" Anna changed the subject.
"Yeah, those rednecks cropped up some minerals for us. So what?" Max added.
Gavin let his gaze drift back to the crater as disturbing assumptions began to slowly creep into his mind. "I think I know where she's going with this, Max."
"You have to take me back with you. Right now." Anna demanded.
"Take you back where?" Max asked.
"To Rambard." Anna's answer was cold and silent.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Max stepped over to the slender woman dressed in black. "What the hell are you talking about? We're not taking you back to the base. Even If I wasn't still on leave I wouldn't take you there."
Anna's emotionless eyes rested on Gavin. The marine stared into the woman's black pupils. There was no hint of anything as to her intentions. He only saw the same thing he saw in his own eyes every time he looked into a mirror. Nothing.
"We can be there by the end of the day if we take my car." Gavin stood to his feet.
An explosion of shock and confusion spread out across Max's face. "What? What the hell? Gavin what are you doing!"
"Let's go, Max." Gavin started towards Hoak.
XXXX
"We made it back to Rambard a bit earlier than I had guessed." Gavin gazed at the dirt floor of the apartment. A deep long sigh escaped him. "That's when everything went to hell."
XXXX
"Gavin? What are you doing back so soon? Your leave isn't up for another month." One of the commanding officers of Rambard stared up at Gavin, Max, and Anna. "And who is that?"
"Her?" Max glanced at Anna. "She's no one." He gave the mysterious woman a sarcastic glare.
Gavin let out an annoyed sigh. "We're back, Major, because this woman has given us some interesting information about the Zerg and the hydralisks that attacked Hoak."
"Really?" The Major glanced over Anna before rising from his desk. "Well she can talk to me later. In reality it's good you two are here. I was just about to send out a recall order to all the Sparrows."
"What? Why?" Max wondered.
The metal floor began to tremble beneath the soldiers' feet. The three men and woman all stepped outside the Major's office. They followed several other marines to one of the many balconies outside the fort and four massive battlecruisers rocketing over the planet came into their line of sight. The battlecruisers, escorted by hundreds of Viking fighters began a slow decent onto Rambard's landing strips.
Max gave Gavin a worried glance as he pointlessly tried to count the landing fighters. "For some reason, I don't know why, but it feels like this is all your fault."
"My fault? How is all this my fault?" Gavin protested.
"You and your depressing lifestyle." Max accused.
Gavin let out another annoyed sigh before turning to Anna. "Now what?"
Anna gazed out at the colonial force and for the first time let her worried emotions be read on her face. Her latent feminine nature glistened behind the water building up in her eyes as her gaze rose to Gavin's. "Well…" A small giggle escaped her. "It looks like I've got a lot of explaining to do."
Commodore Renald Ramden, commander of the Red Hawk battlecruiser group made his way through Ft. Rambard with his three commanding officers, Captains Jack Burner, Richard Gumm, and Benson Porter. The rest of the Commodore's entourage consisted of his full staff and a few members of his captains' staff. They made their way to, Major Bernard Tam, commander of Ft Rambard, and the G.C.M. battalion stationed there.
"Major Tam." Renald brought his stride to a halt in front of the major's desk.
"Ah, Commodore. What brings you here?" Bernard realized his question was pointless but somehow managed to hold on to a small sliver of hope that the recent attack hadn't already reached B.C.D.F. (The Benevolent Colonial Defense Federation)* command.
"You know why we're here, Major." Renald shot back coolly.
Damn. Bernard thought. "Of course…well as you can see we're handling things just fine here."
"Yes…" Renald nodded with his hand under his chin. "You've done a fine job, Major."
"So I ask again, why…" Bernard began.
The Commodore raised his hand silencing the Major. "We're here because we need to be. Your operation here though small has managed to pull in a lot of commerce over the years. You've stayed under the federation radar for quite a while by making sure that ore gets where it's supposed to go."
Bernard leaned back in his seat as his lips formed a smug grin. "But now the shipments have been halted and that was just the little nudge you were waiting for to come roaring down here and take over."
Renald chuckled and shrugged off the accusation. "No, no, no, Major you've got it all wrong." He pulled out the chair in front of Bernard's desk and took a seat, letting his long blue personally tailored overcoat flutter around the maple wood furniture. "What would I want with a little mining operation? No, I didn't come here to steal your money pot."
"Then what do you want?" Bernard wondered.
Anna Martin stood beside Gavin Mathews and Max Derandul taking in the conversation between the two commanders. "Me…" She stared down at the floor avoiding Gavin and Max's questioning gazes. "He came for me."
Renald smiled at the defeated woman standing next to the two marines who both turned and stared at her. "Anna Martin." His hand slapped down a moderately packed file with an old military photo of Anna Martin stapled to the front page.
Bernard glanced over the contents of the file then set it back down on his desk, leaning back in his seat. "Sergeants Mathews and Derandul, please step outside."
Gavin took another glance at Anna then reluctantly followed his friend outside of Major Bernard Tam's office. Normally he would have put up some kind of fight to find out what was going on but he knew that when Major Tam addressed him by his rank instead of his name that arguing would only threaten his next paycheck.
"So what the hell do you think is going on?" Max asked, leaning against the wall outside of Bernard's office.
"How should I know?" Gavin shot back.
The two waited outside for over three hours, their curiosity not allowing them to leave the hallway. Just when their frustration began to reach its breaking point, Commodore Ramden stepped through the sliding door of Bernard's office followed by his battlecruiser commanders and staff. Shock flashed across Gavin's eyes as he saw Anna slowly following the B.C.D.F with binder restraints fastened around her wrists. Her empty stare slowly rose from the floor to Gavin's confused and questioning gaze.
We don't have much time. Anna's voice echoed inside Gavin's mind. "What…?" Gavin turned to Anna with even more confusion spreading around his face.
Anna's stare remained cold and unreadable as she gazed out at Gavin. Find me… Her stare hovered over Max for a few seconds then returned to the floor and the large assortment of battlecruiser commanders and staff disappeared around the hallway corner.
"So…" Max glanced up at Gavin while leaning against the wall outside of Bernard's office with his arms folded. "What now?"
Gavin turned to Max and hesitated before speaking. "Did…did she?"
"Talk to me without actually talking? Yeah she did." Max replied.
"What did she say to you?" Gavin wondered.
"Follow him." Max said steadily.
"Come on." Gavin started down the hall.
"Where are we going?" Max kicked himself off the wall and started after Gavin.
Gavin kept his gaze in front of him and his eyes began to fill with a sense of purpose and determination. "We're going to go find her."
XXXX
Anna kept her eyes glued to the floor as the Commodore flipped loudly through each page of her file. Renald's eyes briefly scanned each page of the large document. "So did you think you would never see us again, Anna?"
"You didn't come here because of the Zerg attack…four hydralisks couldn't possibly draw out the best of the B.C.D.F." Anna's eyes finally centered on Renald.
A confident smirk covered Renald's face as his eyes met Anna's eyes. "We always knew you were here. I knew what you were about to do back on Crynosis and I knew where you were going when you deserted the unit."
Anna couldn't keep her confusion from being read on her face. "Then…why?"
Renald sighed and removed his gaze from Anna for a handful of seconds then stared into her eyes once more. "Because I knew what the high command was planning to do before you did." He rose from his seat inside the office he confiscated for his interrogation and faced the brown wooden door entrance. "You're not the only potential the federation missed or overlooked…" He faced the confused woman. "But you are the first overlooked ghost potential that without the proper training and experimentation…has still managed to produce a psionic brainwave output of over three thousand.*"
"I'm not going back, Renald. I won't let them turn me into some guinea pig or tool for some sad attempt at controlling the Zerg." Anna snapped.
"I wish I could agree with you…I didn't want this to happen. That's why I let you go and helped cover your tracks." Renald took a few steps towards Anna. "But I can't stop what's coming."
XXXX
"Excuse me, Mr. Mathews but…how do you know what went on between Anna Martin and Commodore Renald Ramden?" The reporter asked.
Gavin chuckled at the question. "Because she told me."
XXXX
"Excuse me, Mr. Mathews but...just how the fuck do you expect us to get to that psycho chick when she has the federation's finest for guards!" Max whispered as he followed Gavin towards the Ft. Rambard holding cells.
"Hey. We're both Sergeants. We can do whatever the hell we want." Gavin assured his nervous friend. He hesitated as the steel double doors leading to the holding cell section of the base came into view. "As long as the federation guards aren't standing right in front of her cell."
Unfortunately for the two marines all of the available guards the federation could spare were on steady patrol through the holding cell area and four were keeping close watch over Anna Martin. A large maze of assorted cells decorated each corner of every hallway, Ft Rambard's prison had never suffered an escaped prisoner in its fifty years of service. Federation soldiers marched an intimidating stride in pairs of twos through the long dark and dismal halls of the prison.
"Shit…" Gavin cursed under his breath.
"Now what?" Max asked.
"Well…it's not like we have to sneak around through our own prison." Gavin pointed out.
"Yeah it's obvious that's not the problem. But how are we gonna get into Anna's cell?" Max wondered.
"We'll figure that out when we get there." Gavin stepped forward through the double doors.
XXXX
"Look, step out of your world of duty and orders for a moment and listen to me. We don't have much time left!" Anna shouted at the guards standing in front of her cell.
"I don't take orders from deserters." One of the guards said coldly.
"We're all gonna die if you don't change that noble trait of yours!" Anna snapped.
"What the hell are you talkin' about?" Another one of the guards asked.
"The Zerg are on their way here right now! They could be here any day now!" Anna warned.
The guards laughed loudly. "Yeah right. That isn't even original." One of them teased.
"What now? You expect us to go running to our commander screaming, the Zerg are coming the Zerg are coming! So you can put whatever pathetic escape plan you have into motion? Forget it." Another guard joked.
"Besides, if there was any truth to your bullshit you would have told, Commodore Ramden." The fourth guard concluded.
"I did tell him and he just brushed it off as nothing…" Anna whispered.
"And that's exactly what we're gonna do. So sit tight and shut up!" The first guard ordered.
"Hey now that's no way to talk to a lady." Max's smooth voice flowed into the ending argument. "Even if she is a weirdo…"
Anna's eyes brightened at the sound of Max's voice. "I never thought I'd be glad to see you."
"Don't worry about it sweetheart, all the ladies are glad to see me." Max responded coolly.
"Who the hell are you guys?" One of the guards asked.
Gavin stepped in front of the center of the cell and faced the guards while trying to put his N.C.O. (Non Commissioned Officer) training to good use. He straightened himself up and stood with a military pose that demanded respect. "Sergeants Gavin Mathews and Max Derandul."
The guards flinched then immediately stood at parade rest holding their standard issue AGR 14 8mm gauss assault rifles* against their shoulders with their right hands and putting their left hands behind their backs. "Sergeants." They all said in unison.
Gavin used all of the military bearing he had left to stop a relieved smirk from forming on his face. This just might be easier than I originally thought. "Stand aside privates, we have business with the prisoner."
One of the guards nervously blocked Gavin's path. "S-sorry sergeant…my apologies but we have standing orders from the commodore not to allow anyone inside this cell."
"Do you now?" Max said casually. "Well if I recall correctly all privates have standing orders to obey the lawful orders of their superior officers." He glanced at Gavin with a cocky grin. "Two sergeants wanting to see a prisoner they brought in seems pretty lawful to me. How bout you, sergeant?"
Gavin returned his friend's glance then gave the four guards a cold glare. "Pop smoke and get the fuck out of our way!"
The terrified soldiers jumped then quickly moved out of the way of Gavin and Max. Anna smiled as the cell bars slid to the right and Gavin stepped in.
"Well we found you. Now how pray tell, do you expect us to get you out of here?" Gavin's question was answered by a loud ground shaking explosion that erupted in some far section of Ft. Rambard.
Terror erupted onto Anna's face and her fear filled eyes turned to Gavin's eyes. "We're too late…they're here!"
Gavin didn't think of himself as a highly intelligent man. His education ended when he got his G.E.D. after dropping out of the tenth grade. Despite this it wasn't hard for him to figure out what the recent events had lead up to. He knew that the Zerg had landed on Geensea and that they were attacking Rambard and probably Hoak for their mineral deposits. He knew that all hell was about to break loose and that he should be reporting to his post and helping organize the few Tiger Company soldiers still at the base. However for some reason his entire life as a soldier suddenly seemed more meaningless than he had thought it was. His rank meant nothing to him, his duty meant nothing to him, only his friends mattered. Gavin had several opportunities to leave the military though he never took any of them. He was always one of the first to sign the re-enlistment papers when they were passed out. However now he didn't see a simple way out of the marines that lead to a life of nightly drunken hangovers. Now he saw a way into a new life with more meaning than defending a government that instead of wanting to defeat their most devastating enemy, would rather destroy countless lives in a vain effort to control it. Right then, at that moment, Gavin Mathews felt as if he would do anything to help Anna Martin, a woman he had only met a few days ago and knew nothing of. Somehow he knew that helping her would help change things for the better.
If we don't get killed in the process. Gavin thought to himself before making the most important decision of his life. His right hand unsnapped the strap holding his slugthrower in its holster and then wrapped his hand around the weapon, pulling it free of its restraint. He turned and caught a glimpse of Max's shocked gaze before aiming the handgun at the four guards, who were shouting orders for the two sergeants to leave the cell.
"Gavin! What the fuck are you doing!" Max shouted.
"I don't know Max…but it feels right." Gavin stepped forward, glaring at the guards. "Step back!"
Max had mixed feelings about what was taking place. On one hand he had his job, his duty, and more than likely his life at stake. On the other hand he had the life and trust of his best friend at stake. Not to mention his honor, should he choose to follow the path that seemed the most sensible to him. "Oh man…"
A second slugthrower, aimed at the four bewildered guards, hovered forward past Gavin's head and Max's form appeared beside him. "You heard the man…" His left hand pulled back the chamber of the weapon then released it, sliding a spike bullet into the barrel. "Step the fuck back!"
Gavin glanced at his friend. "You don't have to do this, Max. You can still…"
Max waved away his friend's concerns. "Shut up man. If you didn't want to get me into trouble then you shouldn't have gottin' into trouble yourself." He smirked as Gavin smiled at his comment. "And besides…" He glanced at Anna. "She told me to follow you right? When a pretty lady tells me to do something I usually listen." He gave Anna another wryly grin. "And I usually get a nice reward afterward."
Anna Martin didn't think of herself as the girlish feminine type. She hadn't worn a dress since her mother forced her to for her high school senior prom. She never made stuffy excuses like the need to "freshen up" when going to the bathroom. And she never, ever giggled uncontrollably at lame male attempts at getting in her pants.
"I…" However as she felt the tingling sensation of blood and embarrassment in her cheeks she conceded that somehow this marine she knew nothing of broke down her mental barrier. She giggled for a moment then covered her mouth with her right hand and gave the cocky soldier an annoyed glare before uncovering her mouth. "Let's just get out of here!"
...
*The Benevolent Colonial Defense Federation: With each new habitable planet discovered and colonized, new military organizations were formed. Colonists from the newly found planet Crynosis spread through uncharted territories within the Koprulu Sector. Galden was the first planet the Crynosis colonists discovered and after two generations, established their own military traditions. However, Galden and the many other newly discovered worlds within the Crynosis system were still under the authority of the Crynosis government. In response to the many different military factions that sprung up throughout the system, the Crynosian government established The Benevolent Colonial Defense Federation. Each military force within the Crynosian system is a member of the federation, which receives orders directly from the elected council on Crynosis. Commodore Renald Ramden is a part of the military established on Crynosis before the federation's conception. The Crynosis military is often the only part of the federation referred to as the B.C.D.F. as the other branches prefer their own personal planetary designations.
*psionic brainwave output of over three thousand: I am a big fan of power levels and while I do not know if there is an official measurement for psionic abilities in the Starcraft universe (feel free to let me know) I decided to throw one in here.
*standard issue AGR 14 8mm gauss assault rifles: Although the AGR 14 is a standard issue ghost weapon in the Starcraft universe by the time Starcraft: Ghost starts, I figured that after a thousand years the entire military would hijack the effective weapon. I am still going to use the impaler as the standard CMC armor weapon.