Chapter 4. "We're not alone."
It came back slowly. My consciousness, I mean. Though I had awaken, I didn't move. Tuning my hearing sense, I listened for anything, anything at all. A faint breathing floated to my ears.
'That would be Lifyia.' I thought. Other than that, it was silent. Deathly silent. Slowly, I opened my eyes and balanced my senses. Everything was as it was before. Except for the elephant-thing, the second one, was lying dead, about ten feet in front of me, and arrow buried to the fletching in it's side. I stood up, surveying the gruesome scene before me.
"This is going to take a long time to clean up." I thought aloud. Lowering my gaze, I turned to slightly more important matters. Lifyia. Giving her a quick exam, I figured she was fine, except for some bruising, cuts, and several Hydralisk spines stuck in her arms. She was still out cold. Gingerly, I picked her up, and carried her to the Shelter.
One hour later...
"Huh? Uh, where am I?"
"The Shelter."
"Oh. What happened out there? After I got knocked out, I mean?"
" Not much. I killed the last Zerg, and went to find you. I got ambushed by another large Zerg, and was thrown to the tree next to yours."
"Ah. Well, we're both alive. How are the Protoss?"
"Gone. They left sometime before I woke up."
"Freak, now we're alone."
"Yes." I said, the arrow forgotten.
Meanwhile...
Aboard the Terran Dominion Flagship Norad III.
"General Duke, we have, to your orders, followed the Zerg to this remote planet, which is not in the registry. What are your orders?" The voice of an ensign floated through the intercom.
"Scan the planet, Ensign, search for life signs or that of civilization. Adjutant, search the registry again."
"General," the ever-calm voice of the Adjutant came in, "there is no knowledge of this planet in any registry."
"Hmm, Ok, Adjutant, return to your previous duties."
"Yes sir."
"General, scans reveal Zerg life forms roaming the planet, some Protoss, and remains of a civilization, probably destroyed by the Zerg. Ruined cities and such. The designs of the few standing buildings are not of any known civilization. What are your orders?"
"Continue the scan, and do it more thoroughly. Contact me when you have finished. Oh, and Ensign, I want this down to perfection. If there is a single non-Zerg or non-Protoss life form, I want to know about it."
"Yes sir."
Five Minuets later...
'Oh crap, General Duke will not be happy...' Ensign LaMore thought as a small explosion rocked the ship.
"Ensign LaMore, what was that?"
The only response the General got was silence. "Ensign, report, NOW!"
"...Yargh, that hurt you little devil..." LaMore stopped when he realized that he was on the ship-wide intercom.
"Ensign, are you okay?"
"Yes General Duke, but you aren't going to be happy. We just lost our sensors. Weather the explosion had anything to do with it I'm not sure, I'm checking it out now. Let's see... wait, I think I found the source. Some wiring short-circuited, and I read several signs of Vesphene gas in the area. That would explain it, I'll see if I can..." The ensign got no farther, for another explosion rocked the ship, only this one was worse.
"All crews, status report!"
"Sir, that was no gas leak. We just got hit by a weapon blast. Give me a minuet, I think I can fix the sensors."
Other status reports came in. Everything was still in working order, except for a fourth of their engines were missing.
"General, that was a planet based cannon. Our in-depth scans show several areas that our sensors can't penetrate. What are your orders?"
"All crews on yellow alert. Ensign, call for several drop ships, each filled with ten Marines, five Firebats, a Ghost, a Medic, a Siege Tank, two Goliaths, three SCV's, and one with a lot of resources. I also want a Wraith squadron with them."
"Understood."
General Duke leaned back in his command chair, pondering on his next course of action.
30 Minuets later...
"One problem I have with aliens: when you kill them, they always leave a mess behind." I thought aloud as I heaved most of a hydralisk to an ever-growing pile of Zerg carcasses. It was a shame to have to mar the natural beauty of the mountain forest with things as hideously ugly as the Zerg. Well, it sure beat smelling them. 'I wonder if they ever discovered hygiene?...Nah, they smell to bad.' I thought silently this time.
"Wait a minuet, what is this?" I exclaimed as I examined an ultralisk carcass. ([the character, not the author] found some records in the shelter computer core. Surprisingly, they contained lots of information about the Zerg in them.) Of all things, it was an arrow with a design on it. That of a maple leaf. None of the arrows in the shelter had any design. Them it came back to me. This was the ultralisk that had an arrow buried to the fletching in its side. "So this means..." I immediately left the revolting task and hurried to the shelter.
"Lifyia," I called, "Look at what I found!" I ran in as excited as a child getting a piece of candy, if not more.
"Ok, what's all the excitement about?" Lifyia inquired as I entered the main hall.
"An arrow, with a maple leaf design on it! This means that we're not alone!"