Starcraft: A New Beginning
By: Joe Reichel AKA SecondsLeft
Chapter 1:Awakening
Where am I? Darkness is all around me. The cold feeling of night haunting my every step. Rain flows down from the clouds in endless streams. I am running. Running from something that chases me. My breath is heavy and my muscles are tense. I fall to the pavement scraping my knees and elbows knocking the wind out of me. I glance around and spot a figure running towards me. My instincts tell me to run, but my body won't budge. The figure enters the moonlight and is visible to the world. The thing, if that's what one might call it, stands about 7 feet high with a long grotesque head that seems to melt into its body. The creature's hands are long pointed spikes that can cut through me in seconds. I finally get strength back to my body, jump up, and run as fast as my feet can take me. I hear the creature's long thick tail hit a puddle as it chases me. Just as I get a good lead, my footing gives out and I fall yet again to the hard pavement. This time my head hits hard, and I am knocked unconscious.
I wake up. "Where am I," I ask myself. I look around a dark room, sweat drips off my face. I finally realize where I am. I am in my bedroom in my house in Boston, Massachusetts. I conclude it was a bad dream and everything is fine. Nothing is chasing me. I glance over at my alarm clock. The digits read 5:48, too early to get up and too late to go back to bed. I decide to get up and have a drink of water.
On the way to the kitchen, I look out of my sliding glass door and notice that rain is coming down hard and winds are blowing my delicate shrubbery around like helpless birds in a tornado. I remind myself to go out when it's lighter and look at the damage. I stumble into the kitchen and walk over to the sink and grab a cup off the sink and fill it up with water from the faucet. I gulp down the water and glance out the window overlooking my front yard. I look around and notice somebody's dog sitting outside on my lawn looking straight at me, oblivious to the weather. I look at the dog's features trying to tell which neighbor is dumb enough to let their dog out in a storm like this. I glance at the dog and notice that its features are odd. The animal has no fur and seems to have large front legs. Then the dog starts to stand up and walk across the street. Then I know that this is no ordinary animal, this thing looks like a large dog with huge claws in the front acting as feet. The thing's back also has a carapace like body. I drop my glass and stumble backwards. The thing looks just like one of the animals from my nightmare. As I regain my balance, I look out the window again and the creature is gone.
I forget about the whole thing figuring that I was just seeing things. I get dressed and the storm outside subsides. I walk out to my garage to go to work pondering why I ever chose the job. I don't have the coolest job. I watch the security TVs at Wal-Mart and sometimes some action happens and I get to act as real security and stop a shoplifter. I always wanted to go into the army, but my parents were against it. So many people are have died in the harsh wars being fought in Asia. Here in the United States, everything is peaceful. Crime is at an all-time low, and prisons are no longer overcrowded.
My car starts only after the fifth time trying and smoke pours out the back as I pull up the garage door using the handle in the back. I jump into my car and back out off to work. My attempt to go to work is cut short as my car smashes into an object blocking my driveway. I get out of my car and look to see what I hit. I walk around back and look at the backside of the car and I finally notice what I hit. It was the dog thing that I saw earlier this morning. I stumble backwards in disbelief and trip over my sprinkler hose. I fall down on the concrete and for the first time I notice the wreckage around me. All my neighbor's houses are totaled and my own house is missing half a roof. I didn't notice any of this because of the storm. As I look around in an open-mouth glance my cell phone rings. I take it out of my pocket and answer it.
"Hello," I say.
"Hey this is John from boot camp, do you remember me?" the voice asks. I remember his name remotely. He was one of my bunkmates when I went to boot camp. I never finished because my parents pulled me out and said I had a heart problem. My heart was perfectly fine but the army doesn't want any risks, so three days before graduation I was pulled out.
"I remember you, have you seen what is going on?"
"Yeah, I am over at the base, and we have been hit hard."
"What are these things and what have they done?"
"They appeared with the storm and wiped out half our defenses before we even knew it."
"So they are deadly?"
"Very, and they know our weaknesses."
"I am coming over to the base, I don't want to stay around here much longer."
"Be careful, I'll meet you at the front gate." As I click the phone off I hear growls coming from the house across the street. I run over and get into my car and hit the gas. As I drive away I see the dog things behind me trying to follow me. My car outruns them but I know the worst is yet to come. I drive down the highway looking at the wreckage. Cars piled up all over the place, half eaten bodies litter the street and buildings have gaping holes on them. I drive to the front gate of the Military base. The sign that used to read Jacobs Installation now lies in ruins collapsed onto the guardhouse. I drive through the broken gate and see a marine in full battle armor standing waiting for me. I drive up to him and roll my window down.
"Hiya sir, could you show me to the nearest gas station?" I joke.
"You haven't changed, your still the same jackass when I last saw you," John replies.
"Get in the car and you can show me the way to the stronghold." As John tries to stick his hulking battle suit into the car I look around at the base. Bodies both human and alien things are littered everywhere. I make note that there are many more human bodies then alien things bodies. Most of the soldiers weren't even ready for the onslaught that occurred. Half of them didn't even have battle armor on. Battle armor is a standard issue titanium alloy suit that will protect a human from most small arms and can withstand all the elements of the earth. I guess that the creatures can easily punch through the suit like a butter knife slicing softened butter. As John finally gets situated, I gun the engine and speed off using his directions to get to HQ.
As we near the HQ, I notice that the buildings are becoming less and less damaged the closer we move to the middle of the base and towards HQ. Also, I see many Marines working in battle armor moving rubble, piling the dead, making barricades, and constructing defenses.
"So this is the first line of defense?" I ask John.
"Yea, we decided that if they try to push us again we will hit them here first and have stages of defenses to weaken them before they reach the last line of defense," he responds.
"Good plan except for one thing."
"And what's that?"
"If they hit you from behind the front line, then your men will be cut off."
"And how would they do that?" All of a sudden a massive mound of dirt arises in front of the vehicle I am in. The mound of dirt is pushed several feet into the air and at the top of it came many of the creatures I have seen laying dead around the compound emerge.
"My God, run go get help," John yells. I kick the door open and jump out of the car while John hops out and un-slings his battle rifle. As I run the other direction I hear from behind me the sound of the gauss rifle firing at the enemy.
Just like boot, Just like boot. I try to calm myself but it is no use. I run up to a marine. He looks at me and then hears the rifle and looks over my shoulder. He understands, I can see by his reactions so I step out of his way.
"Lets go kill us some Zerg," the marine said. As he runs over to battle with some others, I think about what he said. Did he call them Zerg? I wonder why he would call them that. I push those questions aside and focus on what is happening at the moment.
I look around for something to fight the so-called "Zerg". Over by a pile of metal scrap I see a Desert Eagle .50 Caliber. Strong weapon if you get close to the enemy. I take it and plan to use it if I can't find anything else. I see a C-10 Canister rifle lying on a box of supplies, these rifles are used by telepathic Ghost units (a stealth unit used for infiltration). I take it and find that it is loaded with about 20 rounds. I know little about the inner workings of a C-10 but know that it can be used for long-range operations.
I walk up to the battle area and climb up on a pile of wooden crates. I take a crouch position and take a look at the battle siege that is happening right in front of me. It looks as though about 50 marines have gathered around in a circle defense and have isolated the creatures. They kill them as the enemy pops up to attack. I also see many dead marines around the base of the hole. I don't know if any of those are John but I hope they aren't.
As I am watching the battle, I notice something that makes my stomach turn upside down. Behind the marine formation another mound starts to crop up. I scream at the marines but they can't hear my warning. Three of the Zerg creatures pop out and charge the unsuspecting marines. I shoulder my rifle and take aim at the first of the three. My rifle recoils as the first round strikes a creature in the middle of its torso. As the recoil dampening system kicks in, I take aim at the second one. Many of the marines already notice the attack but three marines have already died from the first wave of Zerg. I quickly dispense of a second one and then a third. The marines work with me and kill off the remaining creatures.
It seemed like as soon as the battle had started it was over. Any Zerg survivors fled back into the sinkhole they created and disappeared. For extra measures,
the marines that weren't wounded or dead from the skirmish used fragmentation grenades from their Vultures to turn the sinkhole into a fire pit to kill off any stragglers. A vulture is a hover bike that has a gun in the front for projecting grenades. Many marines choose this as sort of a cavalry method to use on the enemy. A vulture is good against light armored units and one of those grenades can kill three marines. I come down from my perch and walk around looking at the wreckage. A couple marines come up to me and give me a pat on the back while others just stare in disgust. Many of the enlisted marines don't tend to like any civilians. Their motto is that if your not one of them then you can't fight beside them. I spot John in the crowd of men and walk over to him. He immediately congratulates me on my work.
"Good job getting help and then helping save marine's lives with your sniper work. I never thought you would still have the urge to fight, but I guess I was wrong," John says.
"Well your know what they say, never judge a book by its cover," I remind him.
"Hey lets go get a beer at HQ, we will let the privates clean up. I will put Beers in charge."
"Beers is here?"
"Yeah, he's a Sergeant still and a badass one at that."
"Where is he?"
"Over there." I head over to a tent near the first line of defense. I tell John to meet me in the mess hall in ten minutes. I wonder if Beers still remembers me. He was my closest friend in Boot and he was a cool guy. He's also 6'6" and 260 pounds of pure, rock hard muscle. I walk into the tent and in the middle a table with 3 men standing around it. I can immediately tell which one is Beers. He stood three inches higher than every other guy. I walk over and he turns around and when he sees me he hugs me like a bear would hug a pillow.
"How are you Sonny?" he bellows.
"I'm doing good Beers, how's everything going around here," I ask him. Beers has his battle suit on so I can't see his face but I can tell every emotion pouring out of him.
"I lost my kid and my wife," he responds sadly. The smile drops off my face and I stare at the floor.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know," I tell him sincerely.
"It's okay, I'll kill those little alien bastards and get my revenge."
"What is the plan around here? Why do the men call them Zerg and how do we kill them?"
"Well, we call them Zerg because a guy from Charlie Company said that when he got close to one it sounded as though it was saying Zerg. And we have names for the individual species also. The dog looking kind are called Zerglings. The big upright snake looking things are called Hydralisk for a hydra, get it?"
"Yea, how many species are there?"
"Well we have encountered the two I mentioned plus a flying thing we call a Mutalisk, and a big beast thing we call an Ultralisk. We aren't sure about other species but we know there are more. The only way to kill these things is with bullets and bombs. We tried to hit them with Aerial toxins but they were unaffected," he explains.
"How big is this base we got here?" I ask.
"Well we got six Battalions."
"Six Wow, that's quite a bit! Is that Infantry only or the whole division?"
"Only the Infantry."
"What Else do we got to work with?"
"1 Company of Vultures, 1 Battalion of Siege Tanks (tanks that are also a means of artillery), and 27 Wraith Fighter/Bomber aircraft."
"Not bad, any means of contacting the outside world?"
"Not yet, we have no satellites to guide us and the longest comm. we got is short wave infantry radios for communication among platoons."
"So what is your plan on this operation?"
"Well the Colonel is clueless and needs someone who could come up with some fresh ideas, that's why we called you."
"Why me, I don't know anything about these things?"
"In Boot, you were always behind our victories in every challenged we came upon."
"I don't think I am up for it."
"Trust me you will be fine. Just think about it, it will come in time."
"Okay I will. I got to get going I'll talk to you when I come up with something." As I walk out of the tent, I think back to the days in Boot when I would always solve the platoon's problems. I walk to the mess hall thinking of ways to fight the Zerg using my training in Boot. When I meet up with John, he is sitting with some marines and gives me a wave when I walk into the mess hall. When I sit down, John continues his discussion with the marines. I put my head down on the table and rest my eyes trying to think about strategies to use. When John finishes his conversation and the marines leave, he nudges me and I pick my head up.
"You okay?" he asks.
"Yea, just thinking about what Beers said and how I can contribute to the cause," I reply.
"I'll show you to your room and you can take a nap. How does that sound?"
"Sounds great." John shows me to a room. When we get there, I notice the room is a nice bedroom meant to be used for a captain or some higher-ranking officer. He leaves me and I lay down thinking about this day and how this has all happened, and wonder how I got caught up in the midst of things so quickly. As I lay down, I slowly drift off into a dream world and fall asleep.
End of Chapter 1