Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I do not in any way own Starcraft it is owned entirely by Blizzard, and I only own my own plot, characters, and anything else I have created for the sole purpose of this story. Therefore please no lawyers, I do not have the money to give them. Thank You.
A Heroes Last Stand
A Starcraft Short Story
Brought to you by,
William R. Woods
Brief Pre-Chapter Note:
Before we get into the story itself I will like to warn the readers that this chapter maybe a bit boring due it being mainly an introduction and background chapter. Even then I hope everyone enjoys this chapter nonetheless. Now on with the show!
Chapter BGM is United We Stand – Divided We Fall by Two Steps From Hell
Chapter 01: Enter the Thunder Child
The Leviathan Class Battlecruiser had been the primary capital ship of choice for the Terran Confederacy for many years through the Guild Wars and even used during the First Great War. However thanks to lessons learned in the Guild Wars saw the introduction of the newer and far superior Behemoth Class Battlecruiser. By the end of the Guild Wars saw the various remaining Leviathan Class ships slowly retired from service. Even then more then a few members of the class would still see service in out-of-the-way Fringe Worlds, and used for other uses. One such example would be the CSS Merrimac which was used as a Prison Hulk for several years around the orbit of the Fringe World of Mar Sara. However as the Great War continued to rage on the Conferdacy would bring back several Leviathan Class ships back from retirement to bolster their forces from not only the alien invasion of Zerg and the Protoss, but the various rebel groups getting ever more power as the war continued on. These aging ships however didn't make much of a difference against the Confederacy's enemies and once the Confederacy's capital of Tarsonis fell saw one of the final nails in the coffin of the Leviathan Class Battlecruisers...
-o- Taken from the Leviathan Class Entry in the Digi-Tome All The Sectors Space Ships: Volume Six
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Captain's Stateroom
IS Thunder Child
Avernus System
October 24, 2500AD
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
In the richly appointed room that served as the Captain's Stateroom onboard the newly independent Battlecruiser Thunder Child its commander waded through the large pile of paperwork that came from being in command of the ship and the forces surrounding the large warship. The man who sat in the wing-back officer chair behind the large looming desk that dominated much of the room with its presence was a young yet had a look of an older man who had the look of a seasoned veteran about him. His short brown hair had started to grow a bit long in the back and had been neatly gathered into a small ponytail, while his green eyes where dim and haunted due to what the man had seen in the previous months. The dark rings that surrounded his eyes spoke of little sleep, and the nightmares that came when he did manage to get to sleep. He was dressed in a simple light blue and white uniform that was ruffled and dirty yet at the same time. It made the young man quite dashing, and gave the impression of a hardened solider ready for battle.
This man one Commander William O'Neill had originally been a bright eyed and eager-to-please young man when all of this started in the Sara System several months before when he had been chosen to succeed Myles Hammond as the Magistrate of Mar Sara a few months before the start of what would later be called the Great War. While he had been a little young compared to the elderly and experienced Hammond he was a favorite along many Mara Sarans not only because of his parents, who had put a lot of effort in making the lives of the Mara Sarans better, but also because of his short career in the Mara Sara Militia and later his time as Marshall of Mar Sara City.
Now he was commander of the second force of the Raynor's Raiders, sometimes jokingly called the Raider Second Fleet by many in the combined Raider Fleet. Unlike the first force under command of Captain James Raynor, his force was made up entirely of combat ships. He even had a second capital ship in the form of the Blizzard Class Light Cruiser Goshawk, though it wasn't as powerful as the refitted Leviathan Class Battlecruiser Thunder Child that served as his flagship. The rest of his small fleet consisted of the Archer Class Missile Frigates Blackjack, Wild Card, Crossfire, and Jackpot, as well as the Hydra Class Destroyer Battlecry. While the first force was far larger then his own in both ships and manpower his force was a bit more powerful. Also all of these ships had all been damaged either during the Battle of Tarsonis, or later during the Raider's operation at the Dylarian Shipyards.
William had taken the damaged ships and the Thunder Child to the shadow port of Avernus Station to get repaired while the First Fleet had went off to start raiding the Dominion supply lines. In the months that followed their arrival in the Avernus System they had several more recruits joined the Raiders, mainly former Confederate units or Anti-Confederate Rebels who didn't agree with the Dominion. While they of course had some problems trying to make sure the two groups worked together at first, the problems have finally started to be solved between the once enemies. Now they currently where only waiting on either William to decide to do something or receive news of the first force which had mysteriously disappeared a few months before hand. At the moment William had decided to give Raynor and the Hyperion another few days before he started to move against the Dominion on his own for with the repairs and modifications done to the ships he wouldn't be able to keep his men here for much longer.
Sighing, the young Commander leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes before looking down at the paperwork still sprawled across his desk. Shaking his head, he turned his attention to the muted large vidscreen that took up a wall of the stateroom to see that it was still tuned to UNN. The new rising star of the news agency Donny Vermillion was once more spouting patriotic talk on the recently established Terran Dominion while denouncing the various anti-Dominion hold outs like the Raiders. William scowled over at the screen. He really wanted to take his side arm and shoot the screen but knowing he would once more get in trouble with his engineering crew if they had to replace it again. Maybe even refusing to do even that. Like many on the ship he had been watching UNN to see about any news on Raynor and his men. Since if he had been captured it would be splattered all across the news. However as he watched the screen he saw that Vermillion was reporting about something different and had started showing images of a beat up pair of ships. One clearly was a Behemoth Class Battlecruiser, while the other looked to be a similar-looking but damaged Mammoth Class Carrier. The Mammoth Class, William knew, was basically a lightly armed troop transport version of the Behemoth Class. Both shared the same shape and size, though the Mammoth sported hanger bays running along both sides of the ship's main body for shuttles and dropships to easily disembark. However, William didn't think about this. Instead his hand went to the desk's built in vidscreen controls to start turning up the volume when he saw that the markings on both ships where for Alpha Squadron, which had suddenly disappeared about the same time as the Raider's First Fleet.
"...just joining us. The Dominion's elite Alpha Squadron returned to Korhal late yesterday after nearly several weeks limping back to the Capital. They had returned from a mission that had been personally assigned by the Emperor to track the Zerg Swarm to their main base and destroy it. Alpha Squadron managed to partly fulfill its mission and tracked the Swarm to the former Confederate Fringe World of Char. There the Squadron managed to destroy much of the Zerg's primary hive on the planet which some military advisers have reported that this will put back the Zerg for several months maybe even years. There you have it folks, the evil Zerg menace is no-longer a major threat to the glorious Dominion thanks to the brave actions of our fearless military. For UNN this Donny Vermillion," the figure of the newsman reported in a dry and humorless tone, before being replaced by the UNN Logo Screen and the UNN Jingle. William blinked at the report before leaning back in his chair to think about it. He was thankful that it didn't mention anything about Raynor and his men, but at the same time he wondered about this mission of Alpha Squadron's because he didn't believe anything about hunting down the Zerg's main support base. He also didn't believe the bit about the Zerg being put back months or years, for he had fought the Zerg numerous times and knew that they recovered very fast due to their hive-mind-like nature. The only way Alpha Squadron could have done what the report described was destroy whatever the center of the hive-mind happened to be. He doubted they did that due to his experiences with both the Squadron's commander Edmund Duke and the squadron itself.
Frowning, the young Commander turned away from the vidscreen with a shake of his head and started to eye the paper work still laying spread about on his desk. He then sighed before getting back to work on the various forms, requests and other paperwork. He could have sworn got larger since he turned to watch the vidscreen and its news report. He continued to work on the troublesome paperwork for another few minutes when he looked up at the sudden beeping coming from the desk's built in comm unit. With a frown he once again turned his attention away from the form he was signing before hitting a switch on the unit to answer the call.
"This is Commander O'Neill, go ahead," he called out with a curious look on his face wondering what was going on now, for as far as he knew the tensions between the anti-confederate groups and the former confederates in the group had all been resolved for the moment.
"Commander this is Lieutenant Carter on the bridge. We are receiving a communication from Captain Raynor and the Hyperion," came the young voice of his second in command Lieutenant Jessica Carter. The Lieutenant had originally been the ship's third officer and chief tactical officer when it had been under Confederate Control. She had been one of the main ring leaders of the mutiny that had taken over the ship. Later when the former Raynor's Rangers along with several refugees had managed to wave the ship down for transport out of the system she had been temporally in command of the ship since she was the senior surviving officer. When O'Neill had caught up with the Rangers with some of his own followers he had taken command from the relieved and overstressed Lieutenant. After everything was over he had made Lieutenant Carter his second-in-command and sort-of flag captain.
"Its about damn time! Is it encrypted? I don't want the damn Dominion getting anything from this," he asked with a wide grin on his face relieved that his friend and his men where indeed alive after-all.
"Yes sir. It's on the new Gamma Channel, and is fully encrypted thanks to the efforts of Mister Hermes," she answered with a smile in her voice. The Lieutenant had mentioned Oliver "Hermes" Samson who had once been the Sons of Korhal's primary hacker and all-around encryption expert for a long while. He had left the former Rebel group with the Commander in his anger over the Sons of Korhal using the Psi Emitters on Tarsonis where some of his remaining family had lived. Now thanks to his efforts the new Raynor's Raiders had the ability to talk to one another without any one able to listen in.
"Very well. Lieutenant, transfer it to my station here," William ordered as he entered a few more commands into his comm unit. Just as he finished a pair of stick like instruments rose from the comm unit before locking in place. They started to hum as they activated and a holographic screen appeared between them. This screen started to erupt in white noise and interference before it suddenly cleared up showing the haggard face of Captain James "Jim" Raynor, a former Marshall of Mar Sara. As it did William took a brief moment to inspect his friend's face to see his eyes ever more shadowed and noticed the dark rings around his eyes had gotten larger than the last time William had seen his friend.
"Jim," he said with a nod of his head towards the holo-screen and the man displayed on it. He leaned back in his seat and smiled at his friend.
"Will," the other man responded with a small smile on his haggard and weary face.
"So, Jim… Where have you been in the last few months? I was about ready to declare your lot missing in action, presumed killed," he asked with a frown, eying his friend. He was in turn surprised to see him closing his eyes in pain over something.
"It is a long story Will, but the short version is that I am only left with to the Hyperion and about sixty or so effective troops not including the crew of the Hyperion which isn't very large in the first place. The good news in this however is that I managed to pick up some further troops elsewhere though it is just over a dozen men or so," Raynor reported tiredly with a sad tone as he rubbed his eyes. William nearly choked in surprise on his end of the connection. Raynor had a dozen ships at his command. Six of those ships, including the Hyperion had been warships, one of which was a light cruiser, and the others where destroyers and smaller frigates. The remaining ships were carriers or transport ships re-purposed to carry troops. He had also around three hundred troops being carried onboard those ships as well not including another two hundred or so crew. It had been a powerful small army and Raynor had lost it all.
"What the hell happened Jim? How in the world did you lose that many troops?" William asked nearly exploding in anger at this announcement. Jim simply sighed mournfully and leaned back in his own seat tilting his head a bit thinking before shaking his head with another sigh.
"Like I said, its a long story, Will, and its something I don't want to tell without some alcohol at hand. So can you please just drop it for now? I promise I will tell it to you over a bottle of old Number Eight when we see each other personally. However, that is not why I called you, for I may need your help on something big," he said with a saddened sigh before suddenly getting some sort of energy from somewhere and leaning toward the pick-up with a beaming smile that just looked wrong on his haggard face.
"Very well then, but I do expect that story. Now what is this you need my help with Jimmy? It better be good," he responded, eying the holographic face of his friend, wondering what in the world he could have gotten into now.
"Its simple William, how would you like to take part in an operation that could end the threat of the Zerg once and for all if not put them back for years?" the former Marshall asked almost in a whisper. William blinked in surprise at this before leaning away from the pick-up wondering what was going on here. He briefly recalled his earlier thoughts of Alpha Squadron's mission to take down the Zerg's Main Base and the Dominion's claim of putting back the Zerg for months even years.
Finally, after several moments of thought, he said, "It sounds interesting, Jim how the hell are we going to do that? Like you, I have fought those damn aliens several times now and I know that it is almost impossible to deliver that sort of victory against the Zerg. They rebuild their forces far too quickly for something like that."
After another few moments to collect his thoughts Raynor replied, "It is actually simple for you see, while I was on this earlier mission I ended up in an alliance with the Protoss. The last two weeks I have been fighting the Zerg here on the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. The Zerg have totally invaded the place and the creature that serves as the Swarm's leader has also arrived on planet. The Protoss have a plan to take out this leader but they need all the forces they have to do it," Once again O'Neill was shocked, but he soon nodded, once again remembering those same thoughts about Alpha Squadron's mission: that it was impossible to do what they said they did without taking out the Swarm's leader, the center of their hivemind.
A moment passed while the Commander thought over this news before asking, "Okay you need the help of the Second along with myself in this operation of yours, then?"
"Yeah, I know you probably don't have the troop compliment I did in the First but having another Capital ship with us would be pretty handy even though the Thunder Child is an old Leviathan Class," the former Marshall and rebel Captain said with a nod in response to the Commander's question. However he was in turn surprised at the large grin that appeared on the Commander's face.
"Things have changed in the months since you disappeared Jim. The Second is a bit larger then you think it is. While I really don't have the troops you did in the First I have more then I had before. And don't worry about the Child,she is also a bit different then before," he replied with a mad cackle and a bit of eagerness to test his new force against a dedicated enemy like the Zerg. Jim Raynor only blinked in surprise at that before shrugging his broad shoulders.
"And you aren't going to tell me anything about these changes, are you?" Raynor asked with a small shake of his head.
"Nope. Once we meet up again we can exchange stories on what has been happening since we last saw each other," the Commander mentioned with a laugh to the other man who only smiled at this before nodding in agreement.
"I will have my last bottle of Number Eight waiting then. Anyways I have transferred the rendezvous coordinates to your bridge and I will see when you get here," Jim responded after another moment before the holo-screen darkened as Raynor signed off. William stared at the screen for a moment in thought before nodding and getting up from his desk. As he did so he pushed the button on his communication unit that lowered the holo-screen before touching another button.
"Bridge, this this is the Commander. Have you received the data package from the Hyperion?" he asked into the small built-in microphone on the comm-unit.
"Yes, Commander. We have received the data on a separate channel and are awaiting orders," came the eager voice of Lieutenant Carter from the tiny speaker. The Commander nodded before taking a deep breath and too another moment to think about this. Finally he took the plunge and pressed the button once more.
"Very well Lieutenant. Have the fleet prepare to move out to those coordinates. I will be on the bridge shortly to brief everyone on what is going on and the new mission we have," he ordered. With that done, the Second Fleet of Raynor's Raiders was now committed to this mission.
"Understood, sir. Coordinates are now locked in. We are now moving out," the lieutenant replied with an eager tone. The Commander nodded before removing his hand from the comm unit and started toward the bridge. As he left the stateroom the engines of the seven ships of the tiny fleet ignited and started to push the ships towards a rendezvous with destiny.
-o-Chapter End-o-
Post Chapter Notes:
Well folks I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter even though it was kind of boring, no action, no killing stuff, etc. But even then this is an important chapter it introduces the story's major character Commander William O'Neill who is actually the unnamed Magistrate and Sons of Korhal Commander that is the player character in the First Episode of the First Starcraft Game. He is the surprise main character I mentioned in last chapter who would be in command of the Thunder Child.
Speaking of command by the way, many will wonder why is O'Neill not the overall commander of the Raiders thanks to his superior "rank" over Raynor. Well for one its canon that Raynor becomes commander of the Raiders. Second I figured that since Raynor started his little rebellion O'Neill decided to hand over command to him for he was following behind Raynor. I hope that makes some kind of sense to everyone and that I don't have reviews asking this question anyways.
Moving on according to the Queen of Blades novel the Dominion Fleet at Char consisted of the Behemoth Class Battlecruiser Norad III under the personal command of General Duke, followed by the Science Ship Amerigo, the Mammoth Class Carrier Trillium, another unnamed Mammoth Class Carrier, and finally a simple cargo hauler. We know what happens to Amerigo thanks to the events in the game itself and the Queen of Blades novel again, but the other ships end up being destroyed by the Protoss when they arrive at Char thanks to having Zerg invading the ships. Only the Norad III and another ship managed to survive enough to jump away from the planet. For the purpose of this story that other ship is the unnamed Mammoth Class carrier.
Also for the general timeline of events I am going with that the Norad III and its companion ship stayed in the Char System another week or so since in later Zerg and Protoss missions Alpha Squadron is still on planet. The opening Zerg Missions on Char could be explained by the Queen of Blades novel once more, when during the arrival of the Raiders at Char they find out that Alpha Squadron had lost much of its troops. The later Protoss missions could be explained that Alpha stayed on Char for another week or two taking over an old mining facility constructed by the Confederacy which accounts for the Protoss missions. Later the squadron leaves Char behind and starts limping away from the planet only managing to return to Korhal a few weeks later hence the news report. Though they left some troops behind basically the troops Tassadar and his Zealots encounter during the "Into the Darkness" Mission. These troops are those mentioned by Raynor during this chapter.
Anyways that is about it for this chapter I am going to try to throw together the next chapter as soon as I can hopefully before the week is out. Also before I leave you all I would like to mention the next chapter is going to be the arrival at Aiur and a general chapter once more. Though to spice things up there maybe a small battle or two in hand during the chapter. Though don't hold your breath.
Till next time folks Ciao!
EDITED 3/22/12