(A/N: Captain Nalgol isn't mine.)
Dekyron, who had been sitting in the control watching the battle, had been accompanied by countless others who had been keen in seeing how the fight would play out. Currently, however, the battle had ended and the artillery master was checking damage on the battlecruisers to see how much repair would be needed.
"Hmm...the Streamer, Ambush, and Obliterator have minor damage...Bottleneck appears to be dead..." he pulled up a target scan on the Grey Garrison, a heavily modified battlecruiser that was also their flagship, then the two battlecruisers flanking it, Black Reign and Karmine, only to realize that they weren't battlecruisers at all.
Taken by surprise, he began to run a diagnositc on the two battleships. While they were both armed with Yamato guns, the similarities seemed to end there. While the bridge of a cruiser was in the front like a wide buffer, the Karmine and Black Reign's bridges were high and in the back. In the front was two sweeping curves, one on either side, that were heavily armed with capital turret batteries--multiple cannons, unlike a battlecruiser's one. There was a small canyon like area between the two curves. In between the capital turrets were smaller turrets, most likely to engage one-man ships and infantry.
Whatever they're offering, we'd better accept it, Dekyron thought to himself. Dekyron continued to check the profiles of the other ships, and found that only one other was different than the cruisers, but it was also different than Karmine and Reign. While similar to those two, it was smaller, and had less armaments, but instead, according to quick analysis, had a large amount of components, technical pieces, and a spare generator. Not even twenty capital turrets would need a spare generator...what does this craft need them for? Dekyron checked the identity of it and it was apparently dubbed the Arsonist. By this point, the Omega fleet was just descending the atmosphere, only to halt a few kilometers over the base. He keyed an open channel. "Uh, Alan, I think we'd better listen to what they have to say."
~
Reikson and his fleet was float patiently above the base for their answer, but were not idle like many other squadrons would have been. The Arsonist's internal comsat sweeper was giving the entire fleet a very good idea of how the entire outpost was laid out. It was packed tightly together so that a smaller defense would be adequate. To the north was the Zerg colony, and the sweeps revealed a few Terran forces situated within, and peacefully being accepted--or ignored--by the Zerg in the area.
When finally the outpost hailed the Grey Garrison, Reikson had a clear view of the base and 10 miles around it. "Identify yourself," a somewhat harsh voice demanded.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Gregory Reikson of Omega Squadron. May I ask who I am speaking with?"
"This is acting-commander Alan Schezar. Where is the commander of your fleet?"
Even as Schezar asked the questoin, Reikson felt rage flow through him. "We are a small branch of Epsilon Squadron, as we received orders through them. Given the fact they were stationed on Tarsonis, and we haven't heard anything from them since the invasion, we assumed they were decimated in the attack. Likewise, what has happened with the General?"
"As far as we can tell, the Zerg killed him. What are you here for?"
"We tracked you down using the White Lance," Reikson informed him.
"I see. I'm assuming you'd like permission to land," Schezar said.
No, really, Reikson thought. "That would be appreciated."
"We're transmitting coordinates to you know," Schezar told him. "I've heard from the control room that you have some interesting ships up there. Perhaps we can talk about those designs and their purposes."
Reikson, had at this point, stopped listening, and was signalling the fleet to land at the given site. Reikson shut off the communicator and sat back in the command chair.
~
Not keen on meeting some relatively unknown people--whose reputation for snuffing out rebellion was unprecedented--Schezar was not happy about meeting Reikson in person without his goliath, but McGregor, who was much more keen when it came to politics, decided that meeting aboard his mech would not be the best way to meet potential allies. So instead, Schezar met up with Omega Squadron armed only with his pistol, but had McGregor beside him and two other guards with him.
Which certainly wouldn't be enough to stop them if they truly wanted him to be dead. But if they did want that, they could have done so a few times already.
It hardly mattered anyway, when he saw Reikson and a few of the other officers descending the ramps. There were two marines on each side flanking them.
"Greetings, Commander," Alan said. I hate all this formal talk, but if I really need to do it then I can.
"You too, Schezar." Reikson wasn't the standard image of the portly commander one thought of when picturing one. Instead, Reikson looked to be about 28 years old and standing at just below six feet. He was smiling gravelly as he approached Alan. "We originally came to Yhrad to negotiate with you, and it seems that along the way we ran into some company. Perhaps you can enlighten us on why those Protoss ships were coming this way?"
Alan considered telling Reikson that they were pacifying and manipulating the Zerg with ancient forbidden Protoss magic, but decided that there was no real way the Protoss could have even tracked them down. Unless they were drawn by the Khalis crystals that the ghosts were relaying their powers through. Alan decided to go with the half-truth path.
"We must have something that they want," Schezar said, "unless it was a standard scouting group."
One of the men standing to Reikson's side spoke up. "A scout force does not comprise of six carriers. You know just as well as we do if they wanted to scout out areas, they would have deployed observers--in vast space, it is impossible to tell where they are."
"That is enough, Captain Nalgol," Reikson said as he rose a hand. "Seemingly, the captain does have a point. Granted, it was not a full invasion force, it was a group that was prepared to go up against and underprepared force that could not effectively deal with Protoss units."
"You're suggesting that we cannot deal with Protoss air forces," Alan said."
"You truly cannot believe that you can deal with a full Protoss invasion. How much further has Mafton's brood nursed itself back to recovery?"
"Advanced air strains suck as Guardians are beginning to reappear."
"Sir, if I may," Nalgol requested.
"Go ahead," Reikson told him.
"I believe that the Protoss were originally planning on coming from the far side of the planet. Sensor data shows a blind spot about twenty kilometers from here, ranging all the way to the nearest ocean. Without being seen, the Protoss force could have struck against the Zerg brood without enough standing forces present to deal with it."
"The captain brings up a good point," Reikson agreed. "It may be best to leave something such as an explorer vessel in that area as an early warning system."
"Well, I guess we'll leave you with the strategy," Schezar said. "I'll supply you with the men and resources." Schezar cast a diminutive glace at the fleet. "And, of course, I'd like to ask you about those battleships you have with you."
"All in good time," Reikson said. "In the meantime, I believe we should get something to eat."
With a chuckle from all parties involved, the tension decreased tremendously. "Certainly," McGregor said.
~
Because of the newcomers, the dining hall that night was much more crowded than normal. Fortunately for the base, the Legion had brought with them plenty of packaged foods. The chefs certainly had their work cut out for them, but in the end would make a good first day of being allies.
Schezar, McGregor, Reikson, and one of Reikson's aides, Major Petheon, had all sat at one of the tables in the middle to specify what would happen next. Schezar was going to let McGregor do most of the talking, as the ghosts political understanding was much greater than his own. What Schezar did understand was war and battle techniques, and he was greatly interested by the mystery battleships that the Legion had brought with them.
Schezar waited as McGregor discussed the prelimaries, but butted in when Petheon asked them about their technology.
"We're also interested in those battle designs that you have with you," Schezar said. "Care to share why you have the different ships?"
Reikson looked pleasantly surprised by the question, and quite obliged to answer. "Well, I'm assuming you've already got a basic idea of what they're capable of. The Karmine and Black Reign are two prototypes of battleship we are dubbing the Karmine-Class Cruiser, or quite easily the Karmine. They're quite effective at dealing with capital ships, but unlike a battlecruiser is equally as useful against one-man ships and other snub-fighters."
Reikson paused somewhat. "I'm sure you've done similar scans of the Arsonist and are wondering why a ship of that size needs two generators. Quite simply, it doesn't. Captain Nalgol, who you had spoken to before, developed it. You'll notice that while it is well armed, its nowhere near as powerful as one of the Karmines. This is because it is more of a support unit. The generator powers two things, one of which is a portable comsat station. With it we had your entire base revealed to us while we made our descent.
"Nalgol called it the Extortion Cruiser, or the Extorter shorthand, for a different reason. You see, majority of that generator is dedicated to transmitting a very wide-range and very uniqie frequency. I could get into the logistics of it, but I myself don't fully understand how it works. What it does is it somehow makes a ship's warp drive go haywire and pulls them out of warpspace."
McGregor's jaw dropped as the endless list of possibilities hit both he and Schezar. With the Extorter, they could simply sit in commonly used space lanes and completely decimate any of Mengk's convoys...or at least plunder it for themselves.
Schezar noticed McGregor get up and leave suddenly, but had no idea what the reasoning was. Schezar decided to ignore him and continued his discussion with the Legion leaders.
~
McGregor didn't know when he felt it, but he know what he felt. He also knew where it originated from. Every single one of the members of the Death's Head Legion was hiding something deep in the back of their minds, and given by the general emotion that was concealing it, McGregor knew only one thing for sure--once Mengsk was out of the way, Omega Squadron would turn on them.
And already there was nothing that any of them could do...
To be continued...
