Part Four: When Worlds Collide
"We're coming out of warp space at this time," a voice buzzed in Schezar's ear. "Dropships are waiting in Hangar Four. Please return to your assigned positions."
The ex-Confed was aboard a battlecruiser named the White Lance. He knew where to go; yet he was in no rush to get things started. Instead, he turned his communicator to a private channel.
"Mike, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear," was the answer. "Alan, I'm assuming."
"Yea," Schezar answered. "Have you talked with that ghost?"
"He's more or less agreed," the tank driver responded. "He ain't pleased with it, but a few bribes can change anyone's opinion."
Alan didn't bother to ask Mike what he had done. Instead, he ignored him completely.
At that point, Schezar had reached the Hangar bay. He spotted his newly modified Goliath nearby a dropship with the identification unit being B- 7645. He boarded his Goliath and made his way into the shuttle. A few tanks, Goliaths, and other machinery pieces were already aboard the ship, but he ignored the other pilots/drivers.
Four minutes later, he was outside the dropship, on Yhrad's surface. He immediately was reminded of Mar Sara before it was destroyed by the Protoss.
Damn Protoss, he thought to himself. No good comes out of aliens. Every alien species is nothin' but trouble. He looked to his right where a few SCVs were hurriedly constructing a Command Center so that the higher- ranking officials could survey the battle from there. Fortunately for them, they had found a few nearby mineral patches that could be used for constructing bunkers in case of an attack. Though attacks weren't anticipated, it was impossible to guess exactly what would happen.
His role in the attack was a rather large one. Schezar had been given command of infantry ground units, except the ghosts, but his plan was already laid out. He and a few others would cover the tanks while the rest of the marines and Goliaths destroyed the greater amount of the standing forces. If there were any after the nukes dropped.
His communicator buzzed and he opened up the channel. "Hello?"
"Greetings, Lieutenant Schezar. This is General Gage. Prepare all of your troops for attack. We will commence shortly."
"As ordered," Schezar responded.
~
Aboard the Hyperion, Mengsk was planning how his campaign to overthrown the Confederacy would work when one of the technicians informed him of an incoming transmission.
Mengsk moved over to his communications device and turned it on. "This is Mengsk."
"Jim Raynor," the answer was. "You guys had bailed me out, then you asked if my crew and I could infiltrate the Jacobs Installation. We did that, and we downloaded some of the weapons schematics. Seems like most of this stuff is just gonna be basic improvements to guns and armor, but there is a very interesting device here that is called the Psi Emitter."
"Psi Emitter.?" Mengsk was thoroughly puzzled. He asked one of the technicians to show him the downloaded schematics and was obliged. "I see. Quite a small package."
"We've been analyzing the data and it seems to direct Zerg activity. If it's activated by the right people, then it attracts all Zerg minions within 100,000 klicks to its locations, or something like that."
Mengsk raised his eyebrows. Quite the impressive piece. "Thank you, Captain Raynor. I'll talk to you in person later."
As he shut off the channel, Mengsk felt a smile creep over his features. Attracts all Zerg units, eh? Why fight a long, bloody battle when the Zerg could do it for you?
~
"Nuclear missiles have been launched, repeat: Nuclear missiles have been launched!"
Alan, who was quite relaxed within his Goliath, suddenly jerked upwards. Once the nukes hit, the attack would commence.
Ten seconds of silence were followed by a blinding flash of light and a loud rumble. The plateau in the distance was now the site of a very large mushroom cloud.
"All units, approach the Zerg territory. Outer structures and units have been left untouched! Move in!"
Schezar, who was at the front of an assembled force of Goliaths, marched forward and motioned for the others to do the same.
Up in the distance, he could see the siege tanks unfolding themselves into siege mode, bracing themselves to the ground because of the overpowering recoil. Volleys of cannon fire tore apart the structures and minions. That was when the ground beneath the tanks seemingly opened up.
The tanks had apparently parked themselves on top of a large burrowed force of cracklings. The tanks, unable to fire on targets that attacked so close, were helpless.
Enter the infantry.
Schezar and his force made their ways over and tore apart the cracklings under a heavy wave of rifle and machine gun fire. The lings popped like wet bags.
In the next volley of tank fire, a group of Mutalisks were suddenly awakened. Setting the tanks goliaths as their targets, they descended down upon them, firing their symbiotic weapon. The wurm attack melted and burnt through circuits, and a few goliaths toppled over. But similar to the structures, the Mutas fell underneath volleys of missile fire, quickly leaving no other standing forces at the Cerebrate.
There was a buzz on Schezar's communicator, and he opened up the channel. "Yeah?"
"This is Gage. Order your men to hold their fire. McGregor and his Ghost force are making their way over. We've swept the entire area with our comsat station, and no Zerg forces remain. Your mission has been accomplished."
"Orders received, we're moving out." Schezar relayed the orders to his men and the tanks pulled out of the area as well and headed back to base.
~
It was later that night, and the men and women were back at the mobile base, celebrating their recent victory. With the Cerebrate captured, they could nurse the Brood back to its full fighting capacity and unleash it whenever necessary.
Schezar and Dekyron were lounging around, waiting for McGregor to return. Usurping command over Gage would not be difficult-despite Gage's military mind, he did not seem to be the type of person who was very good at defending himself.
"So what are we gonna do with the Brood after we capture it?" Dekyron asked Schezar. "I know you've got plans-what are they?"
Alan looked over at the tank driver. "I've got my ideas. But I've been wondering.what are you going to do with it? Do you have any ambitions?"
Mike snickered. "Plenty. You know, most people who came on this mission are here because the Confederacy screwed them somehow. You for example. How long were you waiting for a promotion to.was it captain?"
"Far too long." Alan gave a fake smile as Gage walked by. In anticipation, Alan reached into his pocket and absentmindedly checked his silenced pistols for bullets.
"When the hell is this McGregor character going to get here, anyways?" Schezar half-growled at Mike.
"Speak of the devil," Dekyron sighed as a younger man made his way over to the two and sat down.
"Mike." McGregor nodded to the artillery master. "And I'm assuming that you're Alan."
"You're assuming correctly."
McGregor smirked. "I'm sure you can guess that that was no assumption. Being a ghost.I don't have a choice but to know that sort of thing."
"You know, it's kinda funny," Alan said. "People would give anything to be telepathic-and yet the people who are would love to renounce it."
The ghost nodded. "I know only too well."
The three sighed and sat back. "When are we gonna do this thing?" Dekyron asked.
"Whenever," Schezar said with a sigh. "I'll do it. I've gotta report to Gage anyways."
"Good luck."
~
Knock knock.
Gage looked up from his desk and up to the door. "Come in."
The door opened wide to admit Schezar, the infantry commander. Now why was he here? Oh yes, I asked him to report.
"Well, Alan, sit down," the general said, and he waved his hand to the empty seat. The goliath pilot proceeded to do just that. "Well, that was quite the show you and your men put on out there."
"Indeed it was," the other replied. "It was mostly Dekyron and his forces that hit the hive cluster the hardest."
Gage smiled. I never thought of Schezar as the kind to avoid credit when it was due. "Your role out there was an important one. Uncovered siege tanks can never pull off a full attack without some backup. Your role at the beginning was mostly to support the tanks. You knew that beforehand."
Alan sighed. That much was true. "Many of those under my command were confederate, trained, interestingly.I always find it funny how many have been betrayed. It's amazing that the Confederacy has managed to stay in charge all this time."
The general nodded. "You'll find that to be true with most governments."
"Or leaders in general," Schezar said ominously. Alan reached into his pocket and pulled out something.
This time, the only sound outside the office was that of a small struggle, then a person slumping onto the desk. Schezar walked confidently out of the office and made his way back to his peers.
"Gage is neutralized," Schezar said and slumped back to chair. "They won't have a clue how it happened."
"Why, did you throw the silenced pistol somewhere else?" Dekyron asked.
"I didn't even use it," Schezar smirked. "I used a Hydralisk spine that I had found lodged in my Goliath to stab him. They'll think that a Zerg killed him."
McGregor smiled. "Quite resourceful."
"Quite," Dekyron echoed.
"Mafton's brood has already started my mission for revenge.and they haven't even started the revival process."
Schezar leaned back, thinking. This was going to be quite the success.
Sorry for the lack of updates. I just haven't gotten the time to do this and I wasn't entirely sure how this chapter would go. Next chapter: things start to get interesting. Mengsk overthrows the Confederacy, and Schezar finds a new ally.
"We're coming out of warp space at this time," a voice buzzed in Schezar's ear. "Dropships are waiting in Hangar Four. Please return to your assigned positions."
The ex-Confed was aboard a battlecruiser named the White Lance. He knew where to go; yet he was in no rush to get things started. Instead, he turned his communicator to a private channel.
"Mike, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear," was the answer. "Alan, I'm assuming."
"Yea," Schezar answered. "Have you talked with that ghost?"
"He's more or less agreed," the tank driver responded. "He ain't pleased with it, but a few bribes can change anyone's opinion."
Alan didn't bother to ask Mike what he had done. Instead, he ignored him completely.
At that point, Schezar had reached the Hangar bay. He spotted his newly modified Goliath nearby a dropship with the identification unit being B- 7645. He boarded his Goliath and made his way into the shuttle. A few tanks, Goliaths, and other machinery pieces were already aboard the ship, but he ignored the other pilots/drivers.
Four minutes later, he was outside the dropship, on Yhrad's surface. He immediately was reminded of Mar Sara before it was destroyed by the Protoss.
Damn Protoss, he thought to himself. No good comes out of aliens. Every alien species is nothin' but trouble. He looked to his right where a few SCVs were hurriedly constructing a Command Center so that the higher- ranking officials could survey the battle from there. Fortunately for them, they had found a few nearby mineral patches that could be used for constructing bunkers in case of an attack. Though attacks weren't anticipated, it was impossible to guess exactly what would happen.
His role in the attack was a rather large one. Schezar had been given command of infantry ground units, except the ghosts, but his plan was already laid out. He and a few others would cover the tanks while the rest of the marines and Goliaths destroyed the greater amount of the standing forces. If there were any after the nukes dropped.
His communicator buzzed and he opened up the channel. "Hello?"
"Greetings, Lieutenant Schezar. This is General Gage. Prepare all of your troops for attack. We will commence shortly."
"As ordered," Schezar responded.
~
Aboard the Hyperion, Mengsk was planning how his campaign to overthrown the Confederacy would work when one of the technicians informed him of an incoming transmission.
Mengsk moved over to his communications device and turned it on. "This is Mengsk."
"Jim Raynor," the answer was. "You guys had bailed me out, then you asked if my crew and I could infiltrate the Jacobs Installation. We did that, and we downloaded some of the weapons schematics. Seems like most of this stuff is just gonna be basic improvements to guns and armor, but there is a very interesting device here that is called the Psi Emitter."
"Psi Emitter.?" Mengsk was thoroughly puzzled. He asked one of the technicians to show him the downloaded schematics and was obliged. "I see. Quite a small package."
"We've been analyzing the data and it seems to direct Zerg activity. If it's activated by the right people, then it attracts all Zerg minions within 100,000 klicks to its locations, or something like that."
Mengsk raised his eyebrows. Quite the impressive piece. "Thank you, Captain Raynor. I'll talk to you in person later."
As he shut off the channel, Mengsk felt a smile creep over his features. Attracts all Zerg units, eh? Why fight a long, bloody battle when the Zerg could do it for you?
~
"Nuclear missiles have been launched, repeat: Nuclear missiles have been launched!"
Alan, who was quite relaxed within his Goliath, suddenly jerked upwards. Once the nukes hit, the attack would commence.
Ten seconds of silence were followed by a blinding flash of light and a loud rumble. The plateau in the distance was now the site of a very large mushroom cloud.
"All units, approach the Zerg territory. Outer structures and units have been left untouched! Move in!"
Schezar, who was at the front of an assembled force of Goliaths, marched forward and motioned for the others to do the same.
Up in the distance, he could see the siege tanks unfolding themselves into siege mode, bracing themselves to the ground because of the overpowering recoil. Volleys of cannon fire tore apart the structures and minions. That was when the ground beneath the tanks seemingly opened up.
The tanks had apparently parked themselves on top of a large burrowed force of cracklings. The tanks, unable to fire on targets that attacked so close, were helpless.
Enter the infantry.
Schezar and his force made their ways over and tore apart the cracklings under a heavy wave of rifle and machine gun fire. The lings popped like wet bags.
In the next volley of tank fire, a group of Mutalisks were suddenly awakened. Setting the tanks goliaths as their targets, they descended down upon them, firing their symbiotic weapon. The wurm attack melted and burnt through circuits, and a few goliaths toppled over. But similar to the structures, the Mutas fell underneath volleys of missile fire, quickly leaving no other standing forces at the Cerebrate.
There was a buzz on Schezar's communicator, and he opened up the channel. "Yeah?"
"This is Gage. Order your men to hold their fire. McGregor and his Ghost force are making their way over. We've swept the entire area with our comsat station, and no Zerg forces remain. Your mission has been accomplished."
"Orders received, we're moving out." Schezar relayed the orders to his men and the tanks pulled out of the area as well and headed back to base.
~
It was later that night, and the men and women were back at the mobile base, celebrating their recent victory. With the Cerebrate captured, they could nurse the Brood back to its full fighting capacity and unleash it whenever necessary.
Schezar and Dekyron were lounging around, waiting for McGregor to return. Usurping command over Gage would not be difficult-despite Gage's military mind, he did not seem to be the type of person who was very good at defending himself.
"So what are we gonna do with the Brood after we capture it?" Dekyron asked Schezar. "I know you've got plans-what are they?"
Alan looked over at the tank driver. "I've got my ideas. But I've been wondering.what are you going to do with it? Do you have any ambitions?"
Mike snickered. "Plenty. You know, most people who came on this mission are here because the Confederacy screwed them somehow. You for example. How long were you waiting for a promotion to.was it captain?"
"Far too long." Alan gave a fake smile as Gage walked by. In anticipation, Alan reached into his pocket and absentmindedly checked his silenced pistols for bullets.
"When the hell is this McGregor character going to get here, anyways?" Schezar half-growled at Mike.
"Speak of the devil," Dekyron sighed as a younger man made his way over to the two and sat down.
"Mike." McGregor nodded to the artillery master. "And I'm assuming that you're Alan."
"You're assuming correctly."
McGregor smirked. "I'm sure you can guess that that was no assumption. Being a ghost.I don't have a choice but to know that sort of thing."
"You know, it's kinda funny," Alan said. "People would give anything to be telepathic-and yet the people who are would love to renounce it."
The ghost nodded. "I know only too well."
The three sighed and sat back. "When are we gonna do this thing?" Dekyron asked.
"Whenever," Schezar said with a sigh. "I'll do it. I've gotta report to Gage anyways."
"Good luck."
~
Knock knock.
Gage looked up from his desk and up to the door. "Come in."
The door opened wide to admit Schezar, the infantry commander. Now why was he here? Oh yes, I asked him to report.
"Well, Alan, sit down," the general said, and he waved his hand to the empty seat. The goliath pilot proceeded to do just that. "Well, that was quite the show you and your men put on out there."
"Indeed it was," the other replied. "It was mostly Dekyron and his forces that hit the hive cluster the hardest."
Gage smiled. I never thought of Schezar as the kind to avoid credit when it was due. "Your role out there was an important one. Uncovered siege tanks can never pull off a full attack without some backup. Your role at the beginning was mostly to support the tanks. You knew that beforehand."
Alan sighed. That much was true. "Many of those under my command were confederate, trained, interestingly.I always find it funny how many have been betrayed. It's amazing that the Confederacy has managed to stay in charge all this time."
The general nodded. "You'll find that to be true with most governments."
"Or leaders in general," Schezar said ominously. Alan reached into his pocket and pulled out something.
This time, the only sound outside the office was that of a small struggle, then a person slumping onto the desk. Schezar walked confidently out of the office and made his way back to his peers.
"Gage is neutralized," Schezar said and slumped back to chair. "They won't have a clue how it happened."
"Why, did you throw the silenced pistol somewhere else?" Dekyron asked.
"I didn't even use it," Schezar smirked. "I used a Hydralisk spine that I had found lodged in my Goliath to stab him. They'll think that a Zerg killed him."
McGregor smiled. "Quite resourceful."
"Quite," Dekyron echoed.
"Mafton's brood has already started my mission for revenge.and they haven't even started the revival process."
Schezar leaned back, thinking. This was going to be quite the success.
Sorry for the lack of updates. I just haven't gotten the time to do this and I wasn't entirely sure how this chapter would go. Next chapter: things start to get interesting. Mengsk overthrows the Confederacy, and Schezar finds a new ally.