Hello. Brian reporting. Just saying that I'm writing a Fanfic on Starcraft, before you jump into a Zerg lair. I'm just glad that we all can experiencethis for ourselves. The blood draining from your brain as you fly deftly, void of gravity or any other element and slaughter your opponents one by
one. Thank goodness for children.

Disclaimer: Blizzard entertainment made the game Starcraft and all the characters in that game belong to them. No one except them has the immediate rights to the game. However, since I am not doing this for any profit, this should suit them just fine.

Chapter 1: Bartering

The Terrans were slowly retreating, engaged in a mighty battle with the Zerg. Up at the front lines, the Firebats were literally toasting the insectoid creatures, while the Marines in the back line covered the Firebats, and tried to keep the Mutilisks and Guardians at bay. Every so often, a team of Zerglings would attack one of the front line Firebats, knock him out and drag him off. Or they would just kill him. The field turned from green to patches of deep brown and splotches of purple with all the blood and gore streaming the large green grass blades.

"AHH! HELP!!"

One of the Firebats had been knocked over by the Zerglings and was being ferociously attacked. Before anyone could act, Commander Raynor screamed, "LEAVE HIM! THEY'RE STILL COMING!!"
As the Firebat was pulled off by the Zerglings towards the Command Center the Zerg had infested, one of the Marines ran forward in a blind fury and screamed, "MITCH!!! NOOOOOO!!!"

"Private! Get back here!"

The marine ignored him and still charged forward, sticking the muzzle of his gun into one of the Zergling's mouths and firing off a few rounds. "BROTHER!!"

Raynor's words could no longer be heard by the young Marine as he kept charging forward toward his unconscious brother. But he, too was knocked over and out by several Zerglings and dragged off. After a while, the Firebats were overwhelmed and started running the other direction. The Marines followed, and the Zerglings uncharacteristically ran off.

"SHIT!" Raynor punched his fist through a locker at the base. "Where did we go wrong? We planned out all the strategy MONTHS before! We got 100,000 troops lined up! We had tanks, Wraiths, Battlecruisers! Even those Psy emitters that drive them crazy! But, no... fifty of our men were lost! We should have been able to eradicate them!! What next?"

"Raynor!"

Raynor looked over just in time to see the magistrate. "Oh goddammit," Raynor thought to himself as he face faulted. "What now?!"

"Raynor. I'd like to apologize."

"What?" Raynor couldn't believe what he just heard. "What for?"

"I saw one fatal flaw in the plan, and I adjusted it without notifying you. Also..."

"Uh-oh."

"We just received a transmission from Karrigan. Follow me."

"Karrigan? Wasn't she taken over by the Zerg?"

"Yes. This way." The magistrate led Raynor to a large view screen with a screensaver of an anime character in a bikini with a cottontail and two bunny ears. The girl was flexing her body and moving around the screen in a lot of sexy ways.

"One moment." The Magistrate pushed a button, and the anime character was replaced by a large transmission module with Karrigan on it.

In the background could be seen about thirty-seven live, but unconscious, Terran figures. They were roped up in crude rope-like tentacles that seemed to rise up from the metal tile floor.

"Hello, Magistrate," Kerrigan began to say. "As you can see, we, the Zerg, have captured some of your soldiers, and we are holding them as hostage."

There was an annoying guttural sound to her voice. Raynor said, "How does she speak like that?!"

"Shh!"

"We have made a list of demands that you must follow to ensure their complete safety. Number one: 1,000,000 minnerals and 1,000,000 vespene gas."

"GODDAMMIT! THERE'S NOT EVEN THAT MUCH ON THIS ENTIRE PLANET, AND SHE
WANTS US TO -"

"Silence, Commander. There's more."

"Number two: An entire planet to ourselves."

"..." Raynor was too shocked to say anything.

"..." The magistrate felt just about the same way.

"Lastly: We want unconditional surrender of the planet Earth. You have 72 hours to comply before we terminate the hostages. Kerrigan out." The video screen went blank.

After a few moments of silence, they heard a raspy voice coming from behind. "Excuse me, Sir."

The magistrate and Raynor turned around in time to see a Specialist assigned as a Ghost in the doorway.

The Ghost saluted and said, "Lieutenant Jones, Ghost Specialist. I couldn't help overhearing the situation. I believe I can slip through their range of detection to save those officers."

"One man," the magistrate said, raising his voice, "plans on doing that? How?"

"Well, look at this map I found of a normal Zerg defensive barrier." Jones produced a blueprint of a Zerg defense grid. "Here they have several different kinds of living explosives. They are best described as Isotopes because they have different compounds for their life systems. You could very well say that they are not in the least land mines, but burrowed sub-Zerg lifeforms very much like they produce when they Infest our Command Centers."

"Yes. We know. What does this have to do with you?"

"I have developed a harder psychic control over the minds of humans than I have of the Zerg, but I do believe that I can make them think that I am not actually there. Even with the Overlords hoverin' over everything..."

"Impossible!" Raynor jumped up to his feet. "I will not stand by and watch any one of my own kind go on a suicide mission! What makes you think that and entire army is outclassed by YOU?!? If you are so incredibly good at this, why didn't you think of it while we were up there?!?"

"Several reasons," Jones began. "Firstly, you had already put together a plan."

Raynor and the Magistrate looked at each other. Raynor sat down.

"Secondly, I cannot concentrate so as to reach my full potential when there are so many gunshots firing off behind me. Third, I did not know that they would drag the privates into the base. It was unforeseeable. Fourth-"

The magistrate interrupted the Lieutenant. "That will be enough. But before we set to work on a good plan, would you mind signing this contract? It says after the mission, if you survive, you will help me erase my memory of this entire event."

So, after sorting everything out, making a plan, performing a cat scan on the Ghost (the cat now has a serious headache), brought up to full health by a medic, and resting for five hours so as to be in top condition (Raynor and the magistrate played Hearts with some cadets during that time), the Ghost set off on his mission.

The magistrate said, "Godspeed, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir." The Ghost closed his eyes. Suddenly, he disappeared from sight.

Raynor looked around. "He's gone!"

Jones finally arrived at the Zerg base, and hid himself behind a tree. He glanced over and looked to where the Spore Colonies and the so-called Isotopes were. A few feet in front of him, he noticed small inconspicuous mounts in the ground. Obviously, there were several hundred Zerg units burrowed there to make an ambush. A few meters behind the Spore Colonies, but not in the range of their detection were six of the overbearing Zerg units known as Overlords. The Overlords were going on patrol in an semi-circle around the base. They were spaced about fifteen meters apart, just enough to let a cloaked individual run by if they were fast enough. In the center was an Infested Command Center next to a large Zerg Lair.

Jones set himself to get by the Spore Colony detectors. He slowly and silently crept up (he was still cloaked) and used his special psychic power to add another layer of invisibility to his first one. He slunk silently over to the Spore Colony's location, making sure not to touch it, and silently hovered over the Isotopes to just the outside of the Spore Colony's range of detection. He landed on the ground with a soft "squish," and hoped that the Zerg did not notice him. He looked around, but did not see any sign that he had been detected. He looked forward a ways and tried to time the motion of the Overlords as they scanned the general area. He could tell that these weren't the kinds with the new antennae on their heads. He spotted an opportunity, and leaped forward, still cloaked, making himself float just above the purplish ooze. It was a gamble, but he was almost there.

One of the Overlords saw something move quickly on the edge of the corner of his eye. Instead of alerting anyone else, just in case it was nothing, he floated over to see if there was really anyone or anything there. He looked, but only saw a little baby larva trying to crawl up the side of an Evolution Chamber and falling down. He disregarded it and went on.

"Whew. That was close. Better be more careful from now on." Jones looked around to see whether there was any more danger as of yet. He saw nothing. He re-applied the super-cloaking technique and floated carefully to the next area.

Jones was finally at the Infested Command Center. He looked through one of the open doors. He looked around and saw several slimy, oozing tentacles on the floor. He guessed that they acted as sensors or explosives. He looked around to make sure that no Zerg units were anywhere close by. When he saw none, he continued floating though the strait until he met a four-way intersection. He tried to focus his mind into finding out where the Cadets were, but failed in doing so.

"I guess I'll just have to wing it." He chose the one on the left.

As he was hovering down the corridor, he turned a corner and saw two small Zerglings there. They weren't even fully grown, but their sudden presence startled him, and made him accidentally uncloak. The Zerglings saw him and leaped at him with a loud hissing sound.

It was very fortunate that Jones had been paying attention at those Zergling Unarmed Defense classes. He threw his gun, muzzle first, at the Zergling on his left, which knocked it off balance, thus disorienting it. He then took the Zergling on the right and smashed it face first into his fist, which, combined with the metal suit made quite the difference. The Zergling was instantly knocked out. He turned around to face the other Zergling and saw that it was already in mid-air leaping at him. He "barrel-rolled" underneath it, grabbing his C-10 Blaster Rifle, took aim, and fired at the spot he though the creature's heart would be.

Blood was everywhere. As soon as the shot made contact, the Zergling collapsed on to it's side and begin to slowly twitch. Jones heard the beats of tens if not hundreds of Zerg creatures hurrying in his direction. He focused as HARD as he could back on the super-cloak. He momentarily closed his eyes and prayed to god that he didn't die right then and there. He opened his eyes and pressed his back against the wall. When the Zerg came around, they inspected the body of the dead Zergling. Some of them began to feast on the cadaver.

"What's going on here?!"

Kerrigan just arrived on the scene and it seemed very apparent that she was in no way in a good mood. "Oh, damn," she said as soon as she saw the carcass of the dead Zergling and the unconscious one. "We have ourselves an intruder." She pointed to the unconscious Zergling. "Take this to the Terran's Infirmary Sector. And guard your stations carefully. Go now! FOR THE SWARM!"

The rest of the Zergs seemed to understand, hissed in concurrence and ran off in separate directions. One of them began to drag off the Zergling's body. Kerrigan began to pass by Jones, and in an act of momentary loss of thought, he stuck his foot out, disguising it as a tentacle on the ground. Kerrigan tripped, emitting a surprised hiss as she slammed to the ground. She got up and looked down in the place she had tripped.

"Bloody tentacles." she said. She swung her leg back and kicked at it like a football. Jones made a realistic rendition of the tentacle spinning like a miniature satelite and disappearing into the next hall.

Kerrigan began to walk away, but something seemed to come into focus in her mind. That tentacle had felt pretty immaterial when she kicked it. In fact, it felt like nothing... literally. Her first impulse was to go back and look at the tentacle, but thought of a better plan, and kept walking.

Jones stood there for about a minute in silence and made sure the coast was clear. "Whoa. I have to be on better guard from now on," he thought to himself. He went back along the way he came.



Stay tuned to see the next chapter, which at this time is unknown. If you put me on you author alert you may be able to see the next chapter right when it comes out.