A Matter of Loyalty

by Ulquiorra9000

As the Zerg launch their new assault on humanity, an Umojan mercenary army is called upon to defend Mengsk's realm from the alien threat. Not all of the mercenaries share the same ideas of loyalty, however.

1. Chapter 0: Prologue

A MATTER OF LOYALTY

Prologue: Peace is Fragile

Halcyon, Koprulu Sector,

October 8, 2504

Halcyon used to be a world of green, blue, and white, a rich farm world among the fringe colonies. Now, it was red from flame and blood and black with smoke.

The very earth seemed to come to life as thousands of monstrous creatures scampered across the ruined landscape, ignoring the exploding shells and machine gun fire from the desperate human defenders. Only one city remained standing, and even it would fall if the invaders could get any closer. Constant booms from artillery and siege tanks echoed in the air like thunder, and the flashes of gun muzzles were like artificial lightning. No matter what the Dominion defense force had to offer, however, the Zerg invaders would not be deterred.

"Colonel Whitworth! We can't hold out!" a marine officer, a Major, barked into his comm. His visor was already smeared with the grime of Zerg guts, his Gauss rifle's magazine almost empty from killing so many of the creatures. "The forward trenches are being overrun! I repeat, the forward trenches are being overrun!"

"Fall back and fortify! Give as much ground as needed if it means the Zerg can't advance!" the Colonel of the defense force ordered. "We can stop these sons of bitches! Get your men back and keep up the fire!"

"Copy that, Colonel!" the Major nodded, then switched his marine suit's comm to a general channel to his men. "Fall back to the secondary trench line! Cover all entrances and don't let the Zerg in! Fall back to the tertiary lines if you must, but I want an iron wall of defense!"

The Major stood in his battered and battle-grimed red suit of armor, right in the middle of a ten-foot deep trench carved into the earth. It was only one of many long trenches dug in front of the city, and its walls were reinforced with neosteel plates and enhanced with mounted gun turrets. Marines, snipers, heavily-armored marauder troops, and a few squadrons of the hellion light combat vehicle kept the trenches safe, at least for now.

"Get down, sir!" a marine howled, pouncing on the Major and forcing the both of them to the floor of the trench. Overhead, a pack of mutalisks swooped past, their mouths ejecting a cluster of barbed glaives, the organic projectiles thudding at random across the walls and floor of the trench. The Major heard the glaives bounce off the metal walls with loud clanks, and just as the other marine started to get back up, one of the glaives ricocheted off a wall and pierced the marine's helmet visor. The man made a gurgling scream, flailing his arms as he fell back with a burst of blood flowing out of his helmet.

Damned fliers! The Major cursed, shakily getting back to his feet as the glaives bounced away. His vital signs showed that his heart was racing and that he was in danger of hyperventilating. Damn all the Zerg! Who thought they'd be back so soon? It look like peace really is fragile, especially when your enemy is a horde of slobbering beasts from outer space!

Elsewhere, the Dominion defense force fell back in the trenches, marines locking and loading their Gauss rifle magazines for action. As they fell back, countless reptilian zerglings raced through the trenches like dogs pursuing the scent of blood, the creatures' powerful hind legs propelling them at a hopping gait. The marines scrambled backwards as fast as they could, filling the air with thousands of bullets. The bullets bit into the zerglings' thick hide, sending a few of the creatures toppling to the trench floor in bloody messes. The marines started to round a corner, but the zerglings quickly gained on them and pounced for the kill. Marines screamed as the voracious zerglings descended upon them, their sickle-limbs punching through the gaps in the marines' armor plating, their toothy jaws tearing into flesh.

"Damn it, where is our support?" one marine cursed. His HUD outlined countless approaching zerglings, highlighting each one in red.

A nearby marine ejected his spent magazine, the barrel of his rifle smoking as he slammed a new magazine in and cycled the first round into the chamber. "Who knows? Maybe they're dead. Maybe we're the support."

"Maybe. I – aaaaaargh!" the first marine howled as a zergling scampered along the wall of the trench, evading fire and pouncing on the hapless marine. The creature stood on the dead marine's chest and hissed a warning at the other humans, daring them to make a move. Yelling their defiance, the marines focused their fire on the zergling and tore it to countless shreds, painting the metal trench wall with its blood.

Far from defeated, the rest of the zerglings continued to scamper through the trench, their numbers only slightly thinned out. The marines had no choice but to keep falling back through the trenches, rounding corners and covering each other with suppressing fire. No matter their best efforts, they found themselves metaphorically being pushed to the wall.

"This is colonel Whitworth! The colony is lost," the man's voice announced grimly to every man on the front line. "Get to the medivacs ASAP. Civilians are being boarded into transport ships."

"Well, ain't that just great?" a marine growled. His Gauss rifle burst tore into the leg of a zergling, making the creature stumble and fall. "Where are the medivacs, anyway?"

"They're in a large open area down this way! Follow me!" the marine in charge of the group barked, motioning down a particular stretch of trench. "But a big wide area means the Zerg can surround us. Watch yourselves, men!"

Encouraged by the idea of getting the hell out of here, the marines hustled down the trenches and didn't let even one zergling get close. Although the fierce battle still raged all around above and in the trenches, the marines clung to the hope that they would live to see tomorrow. Several more zerglings collapsed in bloody messes from gunfire, but the earth started to tremble and quake from a new threat. Suddenly, the floor of the trench buckled and collapsed as a number of huge creatures emerged like sea monsters breaking the ocean surface.

"What the hell are those?" a marine squawked at the sight. The new creatures had flat, armored bodies like cockroaches, and six insectoid limbs grew from each creature's carapace. Their heads were slightly recessed in their bodies like a turtle head, their mouths wide and toothy, dripping acid-green saliva. Three glowing eyes gave the monsters an impeccable aura of alien terror, and the zerglings seemed to be encouraged be this new arrival.

Then, the roach-like creatures opened their jaws wide and literally spat at the marines. Gushes of sizzling green saliva washed over the marines' armor and the neosteel trench walls, corroding whatever they touched. Smoke rose in coils from the point of contact, the smell of burned flesh strong in the air. The few surviving marines fired back, pouring their bullets all over the roach creatures. However, the roaches merely ducked their heads and let the bullets bounce off their armor, and the zerglings behind them were perfectly safe.

"We can't die now! The medivacs are close!" the squad leader protested. He glanced behind himself and saw the huge, open area where a dozen medivacs were accepting troops in their spacious cargo bays. The hum and hiss of engines filled the air.

The roaches stuck out their heads to spit again, but then a squad of troopers shouldered their way in from a left branch in the trench and raised their gun-arms. The marine squad commander realized what he was dealing with: these marauder troopers had thick armor modeled after that of the firebat, and their grenade launchers could make short work of even the toughest foes.

"Nail these roach bastards!" the marine squad commander shouted, motioning with two fingers at the approaching monsters. The roaches started to spit their saliva everywhere, dissolving chunks of the trench walls and making the armor plates start to collapse.

"Hey! Bug-boy!" the biggest marauder taunted a nearby roach. The monster raised its three-eyed head and rasped in bloodlust at the sight of the human. As a response, the marauder raised his arm and prepared a Punisher grenade to fire. "It sucks to be you!"

The grenade popped right out of the marauder's arm-gun and exploded on the roach's head, the fireball shuddering the trench walls with the sheer kinetic force. The creature shrieked and squirmed, but another grenade blew its head clean off and the beast's body slumped to the ground. The surviving roaches formed a line and lowered their heads, then started to crawl forward like a living wall.

The marauders flung their grenades at the living wall, but none of their grenades could fully breach the creatures' armored backs. Instead, the marauders blew the remaining zerglings sky-high with their grenade shots, but the rest of the zerglings had hidden safely behind the wall of roaches. Those zerglings pounced over the roaches and descended upon the marauders, tearing into them with claws and teeth.

"Get back! There's nothing we can do for them," the marine commander told his men sternly as the marauder troopers fell. The marines fell back yet again, drawing closer to the waiting medivacs. The roaches and zerglings pursued, but the determined marines started to gain ground. The medivacs drew nearer and nearer...

And then hundreds of zerglings suddenly poured down the trench wall, filling the corridor with their massed bodies, all rushing toward the marines. A few of them fell as the marines opened fire, but that didn't even slow down the horde. The zerglings did pause, however, as a sudden whine of engines sounded from up above.

"We're goin' in!" an excited, reckless voice shouted gleefully on the comm, and the marines stared in awe as a number of light, four-wheeled vehicles raced down the sides of the trenches and positioned themselves between the ragged marines and the Zerg horde. Flamethrower turrets on the vehicles turned and aimed right at the Zerg, and then the air burned bright orange and red as streams of fire issued from the flame guns and blocked off the trench.

A marine lowered his rifle, staring in awe. "That's the hellion, a raid vehicle! Brand-spanking new!"

An older marine's helmet visor reflected the intense light of the hellions' combined fire. "Yeah, kid, that's right. I never thought I'd respect a go-kart with a flamethrower, but damn, they give the Zerg hell."

The zerglings tried to swarm over the hellions and smash into the cockpits, but the vehicles' combined flames created an intense wall of fire that repeatedly burned the zerglings every time they got close. Even better, the confines of the trench prevented the zerglings from swarming around to hit the hellions' flank, and the wall of fire soon piled the trench with the zerglings' bodies as the hellions crept closer.

Something was amiss. "Where did the roach-things go?" a marine wondered, seeing only zerglings in the trench. Then, his question was answered as the hellions were thrown into the air by something coming out of the trench floor right under them. The roaches burst out of the floor and threw the hellions into the air, rending them helpless. The vehicles spun their flamethrowers in circles, but the hot flames couldn't reach the Zerg. The roaches spat their saliva into the air and slashed the hellions to pieces with their acid. On top of that, a monstrous new presence thudded down the trench, and a dreaded ultralisk stomped its way past the zerglings and toward the terrified marines. Its twin, gigantic scythe-arms waved in the air.

"Don't stand there and watch! Let's move! Go, go!" the marine commander shouted, motioning rapidly toward the medivacs. "Do you all wanna die?"

Some of the medivacs started to take off, their troop bays filled to capacity. More and more of them started to lift off as the ragged marines scrambled toward them, but one of the medivacs stayed behind and kept its bay ramp lowered for entry. The ultralisk bellowed and raced closer to the marines, its legs moving its body faster than one would expect. Cheering in victory, the marines dashed up the medivac's boarding ramp and watched as the ramp rose and started to seal the bay shut. The medivac's engines roared and the craft lurched, taking to the sky at last.

Then, a sudden lurch buffeted the marines in the medivac, and the alarms started going off as the craft suddenly plummeted, its left engine screaming in protest. The medivac crashed back to the trench floor, its bay door slamming open to reveal the ultralisk standing right there, its left blade pierced deep into the medivac's left engine. The titanic monster howled and thrust its other scythe-blade into the medivac, punching through the troop bay's ceiling and into the bay area. The marines scrambled back out of the medivac and to open ground, but the zerglings were waiting for them. Within seconds, every last marine succumbed and the zerglings swarmed over the medivac, tearing it apart piece by piece.

*o*o*o*o*

Battlecruiser Hercules, Halcyon orbit,

October 8, 2504

Two men watched the Halcyon battle unfold on a screen in a Dominion battlecruiser's bridge. One of the men, a tall blond with a Dominion officer uniform, stood back from the screen and raised his eyebrows. "Well, what do you make of that, Mr. Daniels? Is this convincing enough for you?"

The other man turned to the officer and nodded, a pleased smile cracking his face. His short brown hair matched the color of his eyes, and his heavy armor vest clanked as he stood to his full height. "The Zerg are back, all right, no further need to convince me."

"Yes, and my emperor Mengsk will no doubt use the full strength of his army to repel this new threat," the officer said proudly. His aura of pride faltered somewhat, and urgency crept into his tone. "Most likely, Mengsk will draw back his man forces to defend the core worlds and leave the fringe worlds like Halcyon here to fend for themselves. That migration will leave us some openings to Zerg attacks, should the Zerg choose to pursue us that far."

"This is happening all over. I've seen the news, the UNN reports," the other man pointed out. "Even the Umojans and Kel-Morians are getting hit. My native Umojan Protectorate is under siege, too. But you want my help?"

The Dominion officer's expression went stern. "This is about the true humanity, the Dominion!" he thundered. "You are Xavier Daniels, the head of the renowned Hellhounds mercenary gang. Though by what I hear, you're more like a private army. An army that Mengsk will want by his side."

Xavier Daniels drew a cigarette from his jeans pocket and lit it, blowing the smoke toward the bridge's ceiling. "Yeah, and come to think of it, the Minister of the Umojan Protectorate is paying me a fair amount to keep his corner of the galaxy safe."

The officer's eyes narrowed, a cunning expression crossing his face. "But that's not enough for you, is it?"

"Whatever could you mean by that?" Xavier asked, but he already knew the answer.

"Your mercenary army is wasted protecting that pitiful Protectorate," the officer declared, thumping a fist on a computer terminal. His blue eyes flashed. "By definition, your loyalty goes to whoever pays you the most. Mengsk is powerful and wealthy, unlike your Minister Jorgensen. We can give you much! Money! Technology! Models of the newest vehicles to enter Mengsk's army, like the Viking transformation craft and the Banshee tactical-strike aircraft! You can start to matter, Xavier, become a hero! Fight for the Dominion, and everyone wins. Jorgensen can defend himself without you."

Xavier puffed on his cigar again. "I'll think 'bout it, but you've got a fine point." A fierce grin flashed across his face. "You make a pretty nice offer. Money, tech, glory... well, you're right about one thing. A mercenary goes to whoever pays the most. It's a matter of loyalty... to money."

*o*o*o*o*

A/N: The rest of this story will take place during the events of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, but will focus on events and characters unique to this story. Also, the back-story of how the Umojan Protectorate discovered the Thor project will be re-imagined here.