The Armies of Heaven and Hell

"One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic"

-Stalin

"Gentlemen! Today the armies of Heaven and Hell themselves bear down upon us in this valley of glory and death!" the Captain's voice boomed loudly throughout the camp. His men didn't need to use their radios to hear him, his voice was loud enough to reach out to them all. All around the small outpost, Marines rose their visors to better hear their commanding officers words.

"As we stand defiant against this tide of destruction I will not lie to you and say we will make it home! We have been abandoned here by Command! The Command that we were recruited to defend! The Command that our comrades have put down their lives for! The Command that sent us to this valley! They have abandoned us to the Reaper!" Frowns were etched on every Marine's face as they listened in. Some even looked to one of the their comrades for confirmation on what he just said. This was heresy they were hearing but they all knew how true it was.

"Gentlemen, I care not what you did before entering the Corps! Whether you were an average citizen or a convict! Whether you were rich or poor! Whether you were a father or no! Today we stand together as brothers who were thrown together in the fires of war! Watch the backs of the men beside you and they will watch yours! When we arrive at the Viking guarded gates of Valhalla, we will stand proud! We shall walk through those gates and even the Norse gods will bow down with praise!" The ground begun to shake violently and dust clouds rose high into the sky at both ends of the valley. Stacked crates fell to the ground and spent shell casings rattled on the ground. No one knew if either side even knew the Marines were there, they just knew that they were coming with full force.

"Prepare for glory gentlemen! We will leave such a scar in their armies that they will tell our story to scare their children into behaving!" Many smiles were seen on the Marines' faces when that was side. It rose their hopes, the little bit it could. "Today there is no Dominion! There is no Kel-Morian Combine, nor Umojan Protectorate! There is no Korhal, nor is there a Tarsonis! Today! There is only the Zerg, the Protoss and us brave Marines who dare to challenge destiny! Ready yourselves for battle gentlemen!"

There was no roar of approval; no catchy sayings. They would leave that for the holovids. The silent hissing of visors sliding down over faces and the clacking of bolts cycling ammo into the chamber were the only response as the men of the Third readied themselves for certain doom. The Captain's visor slid down last. The visor was tinted gray instead of the usual yellow and a red wolf head was painted on it. The Captain's right pauldron was scarred from Zergling blades that tried to pierce it in one of his earlier battles.

The Captain walked to the side facing the Protoss charge. The shiny metal of the alien armor was now visible as it felt like there was an earthquake beneath him and his men. The Captain felt part of his conscious being pushed aside and a cold entity replaced it.

Brave words for a being about to meet his doom. It's a shame that our two governments force us to fight each other. It would have been a honor to fight by the side of a Terran such as yourself.

The Captain felt the other entity leave as soon as it quit speaking and he frowned at what it had side. One of the Protoss, he didn't know which one, nor did he want to know had just spoken to him. It had not insulted him or had been yelling some religious non-sense.

The Captain just shrugged it off and leveled his C-14 Gauss Rifle at the charging aliens. It didn't matter. War was war and this was no different.

"Captain. Zerg are within range." The voice over the radio was calm, as if the speaker had already accepted what must be done. The Captain smirked as he responded slowly and clearly,

"Fire."

As one, in a boom louder than a Yamato blast, the Marines opened fire and large pieces of metal flew out to meet the two different attackers. The sandbags in front of the Marines were lit up by the muzzle flashes and the rifles bucked gently as the arms of the armor took most of the recoil. The Impaler rounds bounced off of the Protoss shields but they didn't last long under sustained fire. In a couple seconds, the shields began to fail and Protoss fell to the ground before igniting in their signature blue flame.

On the side facing the Zerg, the result was more instant. Zerglings collapsed instantly under the large rounds while Hydralisks lasted only a couple seconds longer. However, for every one Zerg killed, four more replaced it and there were many, many more.

It was the same on the side facing the Protoss. For every one that fell to the rifles, two more replaced it. It was an endless wave of alien beings that charged through the valley like a flood but the Marines of the Third stood defiantly behind the simple sandbag defenses and fired into the flood.

There was little chatter on the comms as the Marines fought on. The little that was said were just warnings to comrades about a Hydralisk or a Zealot. Magazines clattered to the ground with puffs of dirt raising around them and shell casings clattered against both the ground and the casings that were already there. Multiple cries than rang out on the comms,

"We got Mutas over here!"

"Shit! Scouts incoming!"

The shiny Protoss craft strafed the ground with their blasters and the cries of dying Marines filled the air as the Scouts peeled off. The Zerg Mutas strafed as well and more screams filled the air. Before the Marines knew it, however, both species's fighters were locked in a dogfight above the small outpost. Missiles lit up the sky and the Muta Glaive projectiles bounced off of the blue shielding.

The Marines ignored the battling aircraft and began to focus on the ground forces once more. The Protoss were close to the defenses and the Captain frowned as he fired. They were getting way too close. Looking to his right, the Captain saw one of his men activate the bayonet under the barrel and stab through a Zealot's shield and into it's head, blue blood running from the wound. The small victory was short lived as when the dead Zealot ignited, another one was already there. Using it's Psi Blades, the eight foot alien cut off the end of the Marine's rifle. The bayonet clattered uselessly to the ground and the Marine looked at the rifle briefly before he tossed it aside.

The armored right hand of the Marine went behind his lower back and quickly reappeared with a five foot knife in his grip. The Marine saw the Zealot's eyes widen slightly at the act and the trained fighter acted. Driving his hand forward, he thrust the blade at the Zealot's midsection. The alien dodged quicker than would seem possible and quickly countered with a slice at the Human's wrist. Bringing his arm to his chest, the Marine narrowly avoided the slash that would have decapitated his hand. Using all the power in his legs, the Marine propelled himself over the sandbags and into the Zealot. The surprised alien hit the ground with a hard thud and a cloud of dust.

Holding down the thing's right arm, the Marine stabbed his knife into where the bicep should be and he could see the thing's back arch a bit and his head raise as if he was yelling in pain. Out of the corner of his eyes, the Marine saw it's other arm coming round to strike back. Acting quickly, the Marine used his right arm to knock the blade off course before the Terran quickly drew the Gauss Pistol on his thigh and pressed it against the alien's head. Never hesitating, the Marine pulled the trigger and a smaller version of the Impaler round was driven through the scaly skin of the alien with enough force to blast out the back and lodge itself in the ground.

Looking towards the knife, the Marine saw a three-toed Protoss foot step into the dirt and the Terran rolled onto his back to avoid the energized blade that came down right where he was. The Zealot that the Marine had just killed burst into flames before the blade touched it, blinding the Marine. The Terran than heard the loud bursts of a Gauss Rifle and looked at the Zealot to see it's shields glowing brightly as it faced the bigger threat. It was mistaken to look away as the Marine on his back raised his pistol once more and fired. The round bounced off of the shield harmlessly so the Marine fired again. Just as the gun fired, the shield failed from the sustained assault of the other Marine's rifle and the small, pistol Impaler round punched through the aliens neck, leaving a mist of blue blood on the other side of it's head.

Lowering his pistol, the Marine squirmed as he tried to get back to his feet but shortly gave up as he realized he was stuck on his back. That was rule number one in basic. Never get on your back. A second later, another Marine stepped up and lowered a helping hand. Accepting it, the blue-blood covered Marine was pulled to his feet and the one that helped him up returned to firing his rifle at the still-charging Protoss.

"We need to fall back to the center!" the rifle-wielding Marine yelled. The other nodded and they turned and sprinted over the sandbags and to the center of the outpost, the Protoss naturally giving chase. Soon, a circular sandbag wall came into view and the two Marines saw that the Zerg had already made it close to the wall. Looking behind themselves, they saw that the Protoss Zealots were gaining ground fast. Leaping over the sandbags, the two Marines ducked down and readied themselves. The pistol-wielding Marine felt someone staring at him and looked over to see the Wolf visor of the Captain looking directly at him. The Marine registered a small nod from the Captain before the man stood and fired at the charging Protoss.

He was the backbone of their hope. To see him fighting alongside them, as one of them in this time of despair drove the Marines to fight harder than they ever had before. There was no retreating and neither could they surrender. A Hydralisk spine broke through one of the Marine's visors and the man stood still. Slowly his weapon lowered before it just fell from his hand and clattered to the ground. Than, just as slowly, the Marine fell backwards onto the ground.

Another Marine's arm was cut off by a Psi Blade as he tried to stab the Zealot with his bayonet. The man's scream pierced the air as blood ran free from the partially cauterized stump. The scream was cut short as the Zealot plunged his other blade through the Marine's chest armor and into his heart and lungs. When the blade came out, the Marine fell forward, his body draping over the sandbags. His blood quickly stained the sandbags red as it ran freely through them. The Zealot was shortly cut down by the combined fire of three nearby Marines.

One-by-one, the defense fell. Soon, Protoss and Zerg ground forces began to engage each other more than the Terrans. The humans were still a target, however, as Impaler rounds ripped through the ranks of both species. Only five out of the original thirty-six remained. They stood back-to-back and two had drew out their pistols as their rifles had run dry. The Captain was still among the, rifle bucking gently in his hands as it roared at the two hostile species. He smiled softly as his men had done what he had asked. They had fought harder than ever before with some taking either a Zealot or a Zerg in hand to hand combat. The Captain had also witnessed as they watched each others backs like it was their own. One of the Marines had died trying to drag a wounded comrade back to the center. They were no longer Marines in the Captain's book. No, they were heroes.

A Hydralisk spine pierced the Captain's left forearm. Grunting in pain, the Captain looked down at it briefly as he fired his Gauss Rifle one-handed. A spine than pierced his right pauldron and embedded itself into his shoulder, causing the man to howl in even more pain as he dropped his rifle to the ground. Before he could try anything, another needle pierced into his chest and entered his heart. The spine itself was enough to kill him but the combined amounts of acid finished the job as the Captain exhaled his final breath and slowly fell forward. When he hit the ground, the spines in his torso were driven through his body and out his back, further finishing the job.

It was only a matter of minutes before the rest of the Marines fell to the onslaught of the two armies that bared down upon them. With the Marines out of the way, the armies than began solely focusing on each other as the battle between Heaven and Hell continued to engulf the valley.