Chapter Three: Zero Hour
Jim walked through the town, Tychus by his side. After clearing out the dig site, they returned to where the Rebel Base had been situated. The Dominion marines had been stripped of their armor and placed in holding cells. Raynor planned to leave several of his troops behind in Mar Sara, to hold off the inevitable Dominion counter-attack. He was leaving Drake in charge of them, a position Jim knew he could handle beautifully.
For the first time, Jim began to feel good about this mission. He had severely weakened Mengsk's hold on a planet, kept Mengsk from an alien artifact he wanted, and would soon be able to sell that artifact for credits, allowing him to gain more power. He felt like his rebellion could really start to pick up momentum now. He smiled at the people as they waved at him from their dingy shelters.
Tychus and Jim went to the local bar, celebrating their victory over a few good drinks. Tychus was still in his combat suit, refusing to take it off. Jim didn't really ask him about it; it was probably just Tychus being Tychus. Jim shared stories about the Brood Wars with Tychus, who had been in the freezer the whole time. It must have been a lot to take in, all of this happening while he was gone, but Tychus took it all in stride.
Tychus pointed up to a skull on the wall of a hydralisk. The local bartender had found the skull and mounted it on the wall, stringing old Christmas lights through its eyes and mouth. "What's it like, Jimmy. Fightin' them Zerg?"
Jim stayed silent a moment, memories of the Zerg flowing through his mind. "All of the scrapes we were in back in the day; all the narrow escapes. None of it compares to how terrible they are, Tychus," Jim said, taking a drink, then continuing, "You don't know what real fear is until you have a thousand of these sons of bitches barreling down on you."
Tychus grunted. Jim knew he couldn't really understand. Just looking at the skull on the wall gave Jim the shivers. The Zerg were more terrible than anyone could have predicted. Jim just wondered when they would strike again; when they would end their ominous silence.
After a few hours, Tychus turned to Jim and asked, "So what are we gonna do now, little Jimmy?" he asked.
"I have transport coming to pick us up. All we gotta do is sit tight," Jim replied.
"Don't sound too hard," Tychus said. "I figure we earned ourselves a little R&R…"
There was suddenly a loud beeping, an alarm. Jim pulled out a small hand-held hologram projector, which shortly burst to life, showing a hologram of the Adjunct. "Commander, I'm picking up a large concentration of Zerg bio-signatures landing near the old dig site," she said.
At the mention of Zerg, there was dead silence. Panic struck the crowd in a wave, silencing them all. Jim's eyes were wide, and then he turned to Tychus. The artifact. The Zerg had landed near the dig site. They were after the artifact. "I shoulda known it," Jim growled, "Damnit Tychus!..."
"I swear man," Tychus interrupted, "I didn't know nothing about no Zerg."
The Adjunct continued, "Given their current course, the Zerg will overrun this current location, within the hour."
That sparked absolute panic. The other patrons of the bar jumped to their feet, some of them screaming, others just silently running out to warn their neighbors, or gather up some supplies. Jim stood up, immediately alerting two of his marines that he noticed were in the bar. "Get the word out. I want every man able to operate a Marine suit suited up, and then evacuate every man, woman, and child to the installation. I want the artifact up there as well," he ordered the two men. They saluted and ran off.
Tychus flexed his muscles. Jim could tell he was excited. "We gonna smash them Zerg, Jimmy?" he asked.
Jim shook his head. Tychus didn't understand. "We don't have the troops. There's too many Zerg. We gotta hold out long enough for extraction," Jim said. He looked up at the hydralisk skull, "We're gonna have a real fight on our hands here."
Tychus just shrugged again. "I've been in plenty of hold-outs before," he said.
"Not against the Zerg you ain't," Jim said, turning and walking out of the bar. The entire town resembled a stirred anthill, people running every which way, people screaming. Night was falling, but it couldn't hide an ominous glow that was rising in the distance, and the dark shapes that were falling from the sky.
He made his way to the nearest barracks where he had stored his armor. He quickly got suited up and ran out of the barracks. He was glad to see that the activity was dying down, the civilians running towards the installation. He patched into the Adjunct from his armor.
"Adjunct, relay the following orders to my troops. All forces need to get to the installation immediately. I want bunkers set up at the entrances, and a few missle turrets around the perimeter. Our extraction will be here soon, we just gotta hold out," Jim told her. He heard beeping that confirmed that his orders had been patched to his troops. Nodding his head in satisfaction, he made his way to the installation himself, yelling at civilians to get their asses to higher ground.
Once he got there, he saw with satisfaction that the bunkers were being constructed. The installation used to be a large factory that produced vulture bikes. It had been destroyed in the events of the Great War, but the Dominion had repaired the foundation and used it as a landing zone for incoming ships. It was placed on a small island overlooking a vast canyon. Two natural bridges were the only way to cross the canyon and reach the installation, and it was on these bridges that Jim had the bunkers constructed. There was then a larger walkway that spanned the outer edge of the foundation, and the center was elevated. There was a single ramp leading to the high ground, and Jim had his men construct two more bunkers.
The SCVs were busy working on the bunkers, and Jim nodded at them. The SCVs were mobile exoskeletons that, although difficult to handle, could weld minerals and metal seamlessly together. That, combined with advanced computer navigation, allowed the rapid creation of simple structures like bunkers and missile turrets. Without that, they would all be dead when the Zerg arrived.
"Alright, I want men manned in those bunkers. The rest of you, set up behind the bunker line. I want a patrol of marines supporting the missile turrets as well," he said. The marines around him saluted, and then went off to fulfill his orders. The turrets had been set up around the walkway, with a few more stationed on the higher section. A few unsuited men stood around the turrets, ready to reload the missile tubes when they ran low, and a single guy was in the center, ready to fire off the anti-air projectiles at anything that came into their territory.
As they scrambled to positions, there was a beeping on Jim's internal suit computer. Heat scanners were picking up a group of Zerg as they ran through the streets of the town.
"Here they come!" a marine yelled, having received the same signal. Jim watched as the heat signatures got closer. The Zerg ran into buildings, ripping apart walls and furniture, searching for signs of life. One of them turned the corner and saw the defensive line set up.
The zergling creature was about three feet tall and four feet long. It had large wings sprouting out of its back, although it couldn't fly. It had huge, webbed feet with wicked-looking talons, and its jaws were lined with razor-sharp teeth. Its eyes were a glowing orange, and its eyes flared when it saw the marines, waiting for it.
Immediately the creature let out a cry and charged at them. Another six of the creatures came around the corner and followed without a second thought. Waiting for them to get closer, the marines at the front line held their fire just long enough, and then opened up hell on the zerglings. The six zerglings didn't have a chance as the gauss rifle shots tore through their armored hides, bringing them down in sprays of purple ichor that acted as the zergling blood.
"Well, they seem to go down pretty easy," Tychus said, but Raynor just shook his head.
"That was only a scouting party. Now that they know we're here, they'll start to attack in force," Jim said.
After another five minutes, Jim was proven correct. A wave of new heat signatures appeared on their radars, and nearly forty zerglings poured down the streets towards their position. Jim loaded his gauss rifle, and then opened fire on the advancing wave. The first volley of shots took down the first half of the zerglings, but it wasn't enough for all of them. The zerglings in the back easily navigated around their fallen comrades and reached the defensive line.
Once in range, the zerglings leaped at the bunker in a frenzy. Their powerful claws tore holes into the bunker's armor, and their vicious teeth snapped through the opening. The marines inside of the bunker shot the zerglings through the newly formed holes. One of the zerglings leaped over the bunker and landed on top of a marine. It raised its claw to impale into his face, but Jim shot the zergling just in time, its dark-purple blood splattering over the downed marine.
Within seconds, the zerglings were dead, their bodies still spraying their disgusting ichor, a few still twitching mechanically. A few of the marines on the line appeared shaken, obviously never having seen a Zerg attack before. Those that had fought Zerg before buckled down. They knew more waves were coming, and it was only going to get worse.
Jim helped the downed marine to his feet, and then turned to some of his boys. "Get some SCVs repairing those bunkers," he said. Before a minute had passed an SCV pushed its way through the crowd, and began welding the holes in the bunker shut. Before long, it looked as good as new. If not for the bodies lying all around it, you might think that nothing had happened.
Jim silently walked down the line, encouraging his fellow marines. Tychus was standing near the front, examining one of the dead zerglings. Suddenly, a marine came up behind Jim. "Sir, we picked up a transmission just now," he said, and then patched it into Jim's armor. After a moment, the transmission began.
"To anyone hearing this message, we're pinned down near the Backwater Installation. Please assist," it said. Jim frowned. Apparently not all of his troops had made it back in time. Jim looked at the coordinates. They weren't far from their current location. At the same time, Jim didn't feel comfortable breaking a few of his troops away to help them, fearing that it would weaken the line. But he'd be damned if he let them die.
Jim began to open his mouth to issue orders, but then a voice behind him said, "I'll go." Jim turned, and he saw that the marine that had given him the transmission had been Drake. Drake looked back at him, his visor lifted, a serious expression on his face. Jim looked at him a moment, and then nodded. "Alright, we'll give you a small bit of marines. The Zerg presence isn't too heavy right now, you should be able to rescue them and get back here. But make sure you hurry, you won't survive if you get caught in an incoming attack wave," Jim instructed him.
Drake nodded, and then he motioned at eight nearby marines to accompany him. They walked past the defensive line. A few of the marines nodded grimly at them. Drake picked his way past the dead zerglings, and leading the way he and his troops made their way to the trapped team's coordinates.
Drake turned and looked at the defensive line one last time, and then led his troops onward. He had great respect for Jim as a leader, and he was glad to be able to serve under him. His marines followed him, carefully scanning the surroundings. Drake did as well, but he didn't slow down as he did it, careful to keep the marines moving at a steady trot.
Suddenly the heavy stomps of their metal boots on rocky ground was replaced by the sound of a gentle squishing sound, as if they were stepping in mud. Drake looked down, and saw that the ground was covered in purple slime. The slime rippled and moved, as if it were alive and had the consistency of frozen pudding. "What the hell is it?" one of the marines behind him asked, obviously never having seen the Zerg before.
"It's called creep. The Zerg spread it throughout their territory," Drake said. The marine didn't seem comforted by the idea of being in Zerg territory. Drake ignored it and continued trotting ahead, and the others followed.
It was unusually quiet as they marched through the abandoned countryside. There were no Zerg in sight. The wind was silent. Nobody talked or even breathed very loud. Drake hoped they would reach them soon.
Suddenly there was a rumbling sound, coming from seemingly all around them. One of the marines stopped in confusion, a big mistake.
The ground underneath the marine burst open, a deadly Zerg creature bursting out underneath him. Drake recognized it as a hydralisk. It looked like a large snake that stood up on its tail. Its jaws were huge and filled with razor teeth. Two huge claws on the side of the creature reached up, and two large flaps along its back with wicked looking spines sprouting out of its back. The hydralisk's claws stabbed into the screaming marine, easily piercing the marine's armor. He didn't even have a chance to raise his gauss rifle.
"Kill it!" Drake shouted, raising his gauss rifle and firing. The Hydralisk continued to stab the screaming marine repeatedly, even with the gauss rifle shots shooting through it, and even as it collapsed to the ground twitching. Suddenly another hydralisk burst out of the ground underneath one of the other marines, knocking him to the ground, and three zerglings burst their way out of the ground, sending bits of dirt flying everywhere and letting loose terrible screams.
"Oh shit!" one of the marines screamed, whipping around to fire at a zergling just as it pounced on top of him. The zergling's jaws locked around the marine's arms, ripping them off in a bloody mess. One of the other marines fired at the zergling with his gauss rifle, killing it, but was immediately attacked from behind by the surviving hydralisk.
Drake slammed his rifle against the skull of a zergling as it leaped for him, knocking it to the ground; and then shooting it before it could get back up. They hydralisk pushed its skin-flaps back against its body, and then shot them out in a weird flapping motion. The flap sent a volley of spines that imbedded themselves through the armor of another marine, who went down screaming. Drake immediately shot down the hydralisk before it could release another deadly volley.
Then it was all over. The dead Zerg were still twitching, ichor shooting from their wounds. Drake turned and surveyed the surviving marines. They were all shaken, all with blood-splattered armor. After looking at them, Drake got his bearings using the Adjunct in his armor, and then nodded in the direction they had been going before, not trusting himself to speak. Without a word, the group continued moving.
They continued walking along the creep, jumping whenever they heard a sound. At one point they heard a large group of zerglings in the distance, but luckily they didn't come close. They suddenly came to a large cliff wall, reaching up before them, and Drake stopped, confused. Their coordinates said that they were right around here.
"Hey! Over here!" a voice called. Drake turned, and saw a small group of marines nestled in the rocks along the cliff wall. The marines got out from behind cover and came down to meet them.
"We thought we were goners," one of them said.
"We're not back to base yet," Drake said. The marines were carrying a load of supplies, but Drake made them set it down. He didn't want them to be slowed, and we wanted every marine to have a free gun hand.
"Come on, let's get back to base," Drake said, motioning at the marines.
Jim watched the distance, wondering about his friend, Drake. The Zerg didn't give him much time to think, however. Only a few minutes after they left, another wave of zerglings pushed at their position, followed by another. They had been arriving like clockwork every several minutes. So far they had been held back without too much trouble, but Jim wondered when they were going to throw their full strength at their line.
He slowly patrolled back and forth between the two bridges, making sure every troop was well supplied on ammo. He ordered the men to push the bodies of the dead zerglings off the bridge and into the canyon below. He didn't want those bodies to get in the way of their shooting. He also ordered the bodies of the few marines who had died pushed over the cliff as well. As much as they deserved a proper burial, they didn't have time, and Jim didn't want the bodies demoralizing the troops.
As he watched a cascade of bodies falling into the deep ravine, he suddenly heard a beeping in his internal computer. Looking at the notification, he saw several bio-signs moving towards them. Very quickly. And over cliffs.
"Multiple air boogies detected," Tychus said next to him, grinning. "ETA: Right the hell now!" As he finished speaking Jim saw the mutalisks fly over next hill. They looked like large worms, curled into a J-hook shape, with two large wings that flapped in a steady, smooth motion. The mutalisks opened their mouth, located at the end of their tail, and unleashed a volley of green projectiles.
Jim knew that the projectiles were called glaive worms, and were literally living creatures that exploded whenever they hit something in a corrosive splash of green acid. Even worse, they could aim themselves in the air, so they never missed, and they could even hop between targets before they died.
The first volley of glaive worms splashed against the marines on the front line. One of the marines screamed; the unfortunate bastard had his visor up, and the glaive worm landed right on his face. One of the other glaive worms crashed into one of the bunkers, the glaive worm burning a hole right in the middle, and its explosive acid injuring the marines within.
The marines opened fire. The mutalisks rolled in the air to dodge them. One of the mutalisks couldn't dodge all of the shots, and its wings were instantly shredded. Screeching, it flapped its wings frantically to no avail as it fell into the ravine. The other mutalisks flew past them, and then banked around to do another run.
"Missile turrets! Shoot them down!" Jim shouted. One of the missile turrets spun to face the mutalisks. After a moment, it fired a pair of anti-air missiles. The advanced targeting computer in the missile turret made it impossible for the mutalisks to dodge, and in a frightful explosion the mutalisks exploded into red giblets. The last two abandoned their bombing run and flew out of the turret's range, and then flew away.
Jim watched them go. He ordered the injured to be cared for, and the bunkers repaired. But right as he issued the order, he saw another wave of zerglings advancing towards them. "Ah hell," he muttered, raising up his gauss rifle.
"Keep 'em comin', Jimmy. I can do this all day," Tychus shouted. He hoisted up his giant gatling gun and began to fire upon the advancing horde. The zerglings in the front collapsed under the combined fire of the marines, but as usual the zerglings in the back leaped over the bodies and continued the charge.
Jim suddenly saw another Zerg creature push its way up to the bunker. It looked something like a crab standing on two feet, with a giant spiked shell that covered its entire body. A face poked out of the front, but even that was covered by armored jaws with vicious looking teeth. Jim had never seen it before, but the Zerg were always evolving.
"Adjunct, what the hell is that thing?" he asked.
There was a short delay, and then, "It is a Zerg creature, commander, first seen about a year ago. Called the roach, it is extremely armored and can shoot streams of dangerous acid. Caution is advised."
"No shit," Raynor retorted, and then began to shoot at it. The shots bounced off the armor harmlessly, the roach barely seemed to notice. It turned to face the bunker. It withdrew its head inside, and then suddenly snapped its head forward, the jaws opening wide. A glistening stream of acid erupted from between its jaws and sprayed onto the bunker. The acid easily melted through the outer layer in a sickening sizzling sound.
The zerglings rushed past the roach, and one of them leaped in through the new hole in the side. The marines inside screamed and shot at it, but the zergling easily tore into them in such tight quarters. The zerglings fell in another barrage of fire, leaving only a few injured zerglings and the roach. The roach pulled its head back, preparing to fire again.
Suddenly the roach screeched inhumanly, and fell forward to the ground. Drake came out of cover, leading a multitude of marines with him. The marines seemed happy to be back, but frowned when they saw the obvious signs of devastation. They quickly crossed the bridge, and Drake walked up to Raynor.
"I'm back, Raynor. It's an absolute hell out there. Goddamned miracle we made it back," Drake said. Jim saw that his armor was covered in blood, a lot of it Zerg blood.
"Good job rescuing them, Drake. Almost thought you wouldn't make it back," Jim said. He motioned at the returning troops to take defensive formations. Several marines cleared out the bunker of the dead bodies, but couldn't do anything for the bloodstains and the smell. An SCV quickly advanced to repair it.
Drake surveyed the troops around them. Some of the marines were dutifully checking their ammo, while others were scanning the horizon for the next wave. Some just stared on blankly as the bodies were pushed into the ravine; comrades they had fought beside not even given the time for a decent burial. Only Tychus seemed to be enjoying himself, but even he looked a little worried. "Are we going to make it, Jim?" Drake asked suddenly.
Jim turned back to him. "Hell yeah we are. I've got the Hyperion coming for us, and it'll be here by dawn. Just hold your formations, and pretty soon we're all be telling stories about this over some nice, hard drinks," Jim said, loudly enough for all the marines nearby to hear. Drake watched as the marines who heard it perked up, suddenly more alert, more responsible. Jim had that effect on people, inspiring them. He was a natural leader.
"By the way, how'd a yella belly like you kill that Zerg, that… roach, thing?" Tychus asked Drake. Drake turned to look at him. Drake and Tychus did not get along very well. Drake had heard about how Tychus had been willing to abandon Drake and his men to attack the Dominion outpost the other day, and Tychus found Drake's sullen and withdrawn manner 'boring', and showed the mark of a 'coward'.
Despite their mutual loathing, Drake turned to answer. "I noticed that when it fires the acid, little plates push up on its back, probably to take in air as a part of a chemical reaction. I fired a shot in there, and it seemed to work," Drake said.
Tychus scratched his head. "Seems a bit complicated. I think I'll just stick with shootin' 'em," he said. Drake shrugged, grabbed a clip of ammo, and walked to the front line.
"Commander Raynor! We have Zerg incoming!" one of the marines yelled.
"There's more coming from over here!" another marine yelled.
"Shit! They're attacking from both sides!" Jim yelled.
"Mutalisks!" Drake yelled, seeing their shapes flying above the advancing hordes.
The advancing swarm made even Tychus pause. Before there had been about forty, maybe fifty zerglings. There looked like there were hundreds now, mixed in with groups of hydralisks and roaches. At least two dozen mutalisks swarmed in the skies above, shrieking as they flew near.
"Shoot them!" it was impossible to tell who shouted out the command, but immediately everyone began to shoot. Gauss rifle shots flew in all directions. Tychus let loose a battle cry as he began to shoot. Drake yelled as well, firing shots at the oncoming swarm. Missiles from the turrets fired at the oncoming mutalisks, but only took down a few.
Within seconds explosive glaive worms fell down on top of the line of marines, and the mutalisks flew away, banking around for another run. The bodies of the zerglings were pushed off of the bridges and into the ravine. Luckily the narrow walkways prevented the Zerg from rushing in all at once, and several of them were even pushed into the ravine by their comrades, too anxious to get to the front. Once the hydralisks came in range, deadly spines flew through the air and imbedded into the marines unlucky enough to be caught in the way.
Jim ran to the front of the line, using the butt of his rifle to cave in the skull of a zergling that leaped towards him. He fired his rifle at another zergling that tried to climb on top of the bunker. A roach came near, and it headbutted a nearby marine off the side of the cliff. Jim turned around and shot at it, one of the shots was lucky enough to get under its armor and into its fragile skin underneath, injuring it. The injured roach screeched in pain, and was immediately shoved off the cliff by another roach.
There was an explosion of acid nearby as the mutalisks swarmed above again, screeching loudly. The missile turret continued to lock onto them and fire whenever they came into range, and other marines aimed and shot at them whenever possible.
"You want some of this!" Tychus shouted, shooting his gatling gun and cutting through their numbers. But for every one killed, more came to take its place.
And then, suddenly, it was over. The last of the horde of Zerg was lying dead. Their bodies were strewn about the bridges, and many of them were lying on the front lines. The bunkers were trashed, the marines inside of them dead. The only sound was from the injured marines, crying out as acid chewed through their armor, or deadly spines ripped at their skin. Medics ran about, looking at anyone who still had a chance.
Jim looked up to the sky. The night was slowly retreating, and the sun was slowly emerging. But the sky still seemed wrong, filled with distant smoke and a purple haze, and the shapes of distant figures falling from the sky. Suddenly the Adjunct patched a transmission through to him.
"Commander. This is Matt Horner. Just hold on, cavalry's on its way," the transmission said. Jim just about smiled, but then the smile froze as he saw something on the horizon. A gigantic flock of mutalisks was flying their way, and in their shadow Jim saw an even larger swarm of Zerg.
"Take your time Matt… No rush!" Jim sent back, desperation pitching his voice slightly higher. The marines looked around, terrified at the massacre that was about to reach them.
"Alright, pull back! Back to higher ground!" Jim shouted. Immediately the marines pulled back, running up the narrow ramp to the higher ground as fast as they could. Jim and Tychus stayed to the rear, picking off the first few zerglings that were running ahead of the rest. At the top of the ramp were two more bunkers, allowing only a narrow walkway between them. Marines manned the bunker, and the rest of them took positions along the sides. After they were all up, Jim and Tychus went to the high ground as well.
The civilians came out, and screamed and clutched their loved ones as the mutalisks came near. The zerglings came over the bridge, smashing through the make-shift barricades and the remains of the bunkers. The hydralisks slithered alongside them, and the roaches waddled in the center. The marines opened fire, and the hydralisks and roaches returned fire. The zerglings barreled their way up the ramp, only to be mowed down by the waves of gauss rifle shots. But it was going to be temporary. Ammo was running low; most of it had been left behind. The glaive worms rained from above, the only missile turret on the high ground being destroyed by a volley of glaive worms. Marines screamed as spikes embedded in them, and glaive worms exploded against their armor. One marine even threw his weapon down and ran towards the edge of the cliff, preferring to die that way than at the teeth of the Zerg.
Jim fired his gauss rifle at every Zerg that was in his sight, but there seemed to be an unlimited number, swarming. He looked up as he heard a noise, and then saw salvation.
The Hyperion was a gigantic behemoth-class battlecruiser. It was about the size of a decent Mar Sara town. Streams of laser fire suddenly burst out of its lower turrets, raining fiery death on the swarms below. The zerglings burned up in a crisp under the intense laser fire; even the heavily-armored roach burned. The mutalisks above were being shot down by the anti-air batteries; their glaive worms exploding nearly harmlessly against the outside hull.
There was a sudden whooshing noise, and a giant burst on concentrated energy flew into the horde below. The shot was molten red and difficult to look at, and as it went through the air it sucked the oxygen to it, making it difficult to breathe for a moment as it passed by. When it hit the ground, there was an earth-shattering crash, chunks of earth flying all over. The Zerg directly in its path were instantly vaporized, and the ones merely on the outskirts were blown apart.
Jim received a transmission from the ship. "Calvary has arrived. Anyone still alive down there?" it said, obviously Matt Horner's voice.
"Good to see you, Matt. Welcome to the party," Jim said, breaking out in a smile.
The marines yelled in joy and elation as the Hyperion drifted lower to the ground. It was too large to land directly onto the platform, but it released several drop ships which came to the surface. The Zerg were still coming despite the Hyperion's presence, however. The anti-air turrets fired at the Mutalisks, killing them. Several marines, including Jim, Tychus, and Drake, stayed back to take shots at any Zerg that escaped the barrage from the Hyperion. The civilians were crowded into the dropships, with no allowances made for personal space.
Jim turned and looked at the artifact they had collected. He was tempted to leave it behind, but a feeling deep in his gut told him that would be a bad idea. He ordered it loaded up as well. After everything was ready, Jim backed up into the last remaining dropship, still firing at the oncoming zerglings. The moment they were inside, the hatch closed and it took off, leaving the zerglings helplessly behind.
"So… how do you like the Zerg, Tychus?" Jim asked.
"Why, I can't believe you were having all this kinds of fun while I was away. Makes a man jealous, old buddy," Tychus replied, lighting up a cigar.
"Well, we're not quite out of the woods yet," Jim said. After a few minutes, the dropships were docked back into the Hyperion. Jim got out of his armor. It wouldn't do him any good if the ship went down. Tychus, however, still stayed within the confines of his battle armor.
Jim marched out of the dropship and down the hallways of the Hyperion. Crew members were running all over the place, but he didn't pay any heed to them. The ship rocked violently, probably from mutalisks shooting the hull, but Jim ignored that too. Tychus looked around the ship with envious eyes. Although it was a battle ship, it still seemed nicely decorated, and was obviously well-armed.
"Damn Jimmy. You been holdin' out on me," he said. Jim also ignored that.
The doors to the bridge opened up before Jim and Tychus, and Jim nodded at Matt Horner, who was near the front of the bridge. Matt was about the height of Jim with very neatly cut hair and calm, brown eyes. He seemed about the opposite of Jim. Whereas Jim was a rouge with a slightly disheveled look, Matt was the clear picture of a man who did things by-the-book.
"Cutting it a little close there, Matt," Jim said.
"Never left you hanging before, sir," Matt retorted.
"Fair enough," Jim said, lighting up a cigar, "Just get us the hell out of here."
Matt smiled, and then turned to his crew. "All batteries, concentrate to forward firepower," he said. A smart move. They were about to enter warp drive, and any mutalisks in their way could leave huge dents, even holes in the ship's hull. Hopefully the forward fire would drive the mutalisks away from the front.
"Spin up drives two and six," Matt called to his crew, "All hands brace for warp on my mark." There was a slight pause, and Matt looked at his watch. "Mark!" he called out.
Tychus reached out and grabbed a nearby handhold, as did Raynor. He hated entering warp, although it was necessary to traverse the vast distances in space. For a moment, everything was still, and then there was a sensation like a sudden lurch forward. Everything felt like it was spinning around, yet moving forward and stretching at the same time. G-force smashed into Raynor, nearly throwing him backwards. A giant thumping noise filled their ears, feeling like it was pounding on the inside of his skull.
In less than a second, however, it was over. The shaking stopped, and Raynor could tell by the sudden humming of the gradational field generators that they were now in space. He let out a heavy sigh of relief. He let go of his handhold and came up behind Matt. "What the hell happened?" he asked, "we ain't seen the Zerg in years. Why attack Mar Sara now?"
Matt gave him a silent look, and then tapped on a viewscreen on a console nearby. "It's not just Mar Sara…" he said. As the screen flickered to life, Jim's eyes widened at the horror. Various news reports were flooding in from everywhere.
"….Zerg swarm unleashed a full-scale attack…" a newscaster said.
"Devastation as trillions of Zerg…."
"…casualties in the billions…"
The screen switched to a woman newscaster, as fire burned in the background. The fire suddenly expanded, then exploded, ending the screen in static.
"Sweet mother of mercy," Tychus whispered, coming up behind them.
Chaos. Devastation. Jim recognized his old friend Mike Liberty giving a report. His eyes glazed over, barely able to accept the horror of it all. Suddenly one voice brought him out of his trance.
"New, exclusive video footage confirms. The Queen of Blades is in fact leading the swarm." On the screen it showed a dark silhouette, vaguely the shape of a human woman, but with giant misshaped wings, walking across a desecrated landscape. The form turned her head and looked at the screen. Her eyes were two pits of burning fire, seeming to look past the screen, and straight into Jim's eyes.
Jim sat down heavily, putting his head in his hands. The ghosts of his past. They were returning.
The screen burst into static, and Matt looked over at Jim. "We always knew she'd be back… but what's she after?" he wondered aloud.
Jim might have laughed, if the circumstances were different. But he knew better. He stared at the ground for a long moment, and then, without looking up, replied, "She's come to finish the job."