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Convoy

Agria, Terran Dominion

June 19, 998.M41

Stella Waters was a good girl. Mommy had always told her that she should be respectful of her elders, and although Stella didn't know who the "respectful" or the "elders" were, she knew that Mommy wanted her to be nice to people.

The strange people with the shiny things were probably respectfuls, Stella decided. She felt a little scared, but Stella walked underneath the people standing in the back of the big Three-Oh-Niner, where they normally put the grain, and asked the shiny respectful, "Excuse me, sir, but what's your name?"

The man was really shiny on the inside, and he had a white shirt with red bits on his tummy. He held that shirt really tight when he turned over to look at her and he said something, but it sounded real slow and Stella couldn't get it. He kept holding that shirt, and Stella wasn't sure why he liked to hold the red bits on his shirt so much, but she figured that it was probably because it was all he had from his home.

Stella felt her eyes watering as she thought about home, and Mommy and Daddy and big Uncle Richardson in their metal suits. "Don't cry don't cry," she whispered to herself, ashamed at being so bad in front of this respectful.

The man's face softened, and he took his hands away from his shirt, and pulled her over to him. The feeling of being hugged reminded Stella of Mommy and Daddy all over again, and she cried into one of the gold things on his shirt. She could feel him crying, too, and so she figured that crying was OK if one of the respectfuls was doing it too.


"Status."

"Three: quarter stocks."

"Four: emergency rounds."

Not for the first time, Corporal Thorosis of the Imperial Hawks cursed Two's malfunctioning plasma weapon. I need a weapon that requires no ammunition – but after a fearful glance at the Mordian Guardsmen, the Marine decided that he would simply meet the enemy in melee if his bolt stock ran dry. Anything beat a lasgun!

No ammunition – so substitute with local stocks. The Corporal had seen the techno-magic at the human encampment, of groundcar-sized armories that made the bullets that the turrets had shot! The local humans had weapons, certainly, and could make the bullets for those guns. Considering the situation, the Marine made up his mind.

"Squad, acquire locally-produced weapons," the Corporal ordered. His team would likely be forced to swear many oaths of penance for handling such heretical machines, but Thorosis decided that he would willingly undergo such punishments to spare his men and complete his mission.


Near Thunderhawk crash site

Agria, Terran Dominion

June 19, M98.41

Originally ordered west, Thing was now crawling its way eastward. Had it enough brainpower for emotions or logic, it would have bemoaned the sudden shift in orders, or bitched about the living conditions.

Since Thing was a Zerg infestor, Thing thought none of that. Instead, Thing's attention was captured by the two new Things in front of it. They looked to be dead, but Thing never let a little problem like death get in the way of new Things.

With a quick carapace-shuffle, Thing poised itself above the two bloody, CMC-armored corpses on the ground. Extending its main claws forward, Thing grabbed and jabbed with the experience of a consummate professional.

After only a few moments of work, the new Things were safely inside Thing's third stomach. Piping nutrients in to feed the growing new Things, Thing resumed its slow advance towards Lark's Crossing.


Yreth decided that it needed proper shades to hide its plays. The local humans had seen through the Cerebrate's latest bluff, massacring the diversionary Zergling rush to the convoy's left while shredding the Hydralisk-stuffed Overlords assaulting from over the treetops. The humans' strange exploding shells were death incarnate to the slow air carriers, the red-hot fragments bursting air sacs and sending the Overlords to a pointy death as they were speared by the trees.

Still, the Cerebrate remained unruffled. It might have lost the latest trick, but there hadn't been too many chips in that last pot. Besides, it had several trump cards ready, and Yreth knew that its winning hand hadn't been played yet.

With the slowly-crawling infestors finally in position, Yreth willed the slow beasts into action. In conjunction with ground and air forms, the burrowing monsters would reach the convoy before unleashing their infested Marine cargo. With the reanimated and infested humans causing trouble, Yreth would negate the Terrans' range advantage and let Zerglings reach the convoy unharmed. Pulling newly-hatched Mutalisks from their eggs atop precarious Spires, the Cerebrate sent another air assault to harry the convoy. After all, the other players' wild cards were all together in one trick, and if Yreth could trump their hand, then the Cerebrate would take a very rich pot.

Your move, the Cerebrate casually thought at the clustered humans.

Very well, a mental voice responded.


Convoy

Near Lark's Crossing, Agria, Terran Dominion

June 19, M98.41

Corporal Thorosis was the happiest that he had been in days. His confusion over the strange Warp jump, the new planet, and the primitive-yet-advanced humans was finally swept away in glorious melee! Space Marines were experienced in ranged combat, but every Marine yearned for the rush of close-quarters fighting, the skree of crossed chainswords offset by the pounding of armored boots and screaming of close-packed men.

The Marine quickly calmed himself, his self-control returning as he remembered his Chaplain's warnings: such thoughts lead to Chaos! Nevertheless, Thorosis found a faint smile on his face as he swung his chainsword down to ground-pound a Zergling. His two remaining battle-brothers fought side-by-side with him, chanting the Litany of Purpose:

"Without the Dark, there can be no Light!"

"We have purpose!"

The cracks of lasbolts echoed over the Marines' heads as the remaining Mordian Guardsmen fired volleys into the masses of rushing Zerglings. Several Guardsmen had already fallen from Hydralisk spines, the mortally wounded ones quickly bandaged and tossed into the back of the harvester to die.

"Without the Lie, there can be no Truth!"

"We have purpose!"

The muted brakata-brakata-brakata of the turret aboard the Model 309 Harvester echoed as the automated weapon swept across the Zerg forms in a simple pattern. Hydralisks twisted and juddered as the fist-sized shells struck them, the volume of fire making up for its inaccuracy.

"Without the War, there can be no Victory!"

"We have purpose!"

The four Terran Marines in the convoy turned to face south as ordered by Captain Robertson, who continued to oversee the evacuation from Lark's Crossing. Impalers opening up, the colonists tried to shoot down a flight of Mutalisks rushing towards the harvester.

"Without the Death, there can be no sacrifice!"

"We have purpose!"

Although the Impaler bullets sent Mutalisks crashing to the ground, the colonists' panicked fire was unable to kill the entire flight. Two Mutalisks survived to attack the convoy, one firing a glaive wurm at a colonist while the other flyer dove towards the harvester.

"Without the Hope there can be no Future!"

"We have purpose!"

The glaive wurm struck the nearest Terran Marine, the colonist too inexperienced to jump aside. His leg shredded by the impact, the armored figure dropped to the ground.

"Without the Loyalty there can be no Chapter!"

"We have purpose!"

The other diving Mutalisk hit the harvester directly, crushing the turret welded on top and stopping the machine cold. Rear doors flying open, the panicking colonists spilled out, running for the Starport that was just in sight. A crippled Mordian Guardsmen, one hand holding a red-stained white bandage over his shredded guts, dragged a small girl from the wrecked machine.

"Without the Emperor, there is nothing!"

"And we would have no purpose!"

The Litany of Purpose was supposed to be quietly chanted in a chapel, but Corporal Thorosis knew that he and his men needed the reassurance those words provided. His chainsword bisecting another leaping Zergling, the Marine spared a look behind him to see the colonists desperately sprinting for the safety of the Starport.


Stella Waters could hear yelling and screaming again outside the Three-Oh-Niner. The big gun that crazy old Walker had welded onto the top last week fired with a brakata-brakata-brakata, and Stella held on real close to the respectful. She knew that he would probably just call her a big baby like Daddy did, but she was awful scared now. Most people had dark bits on the inside, but this man was really shiny on the outside and on the inside, so Stella trusted him a lot.

There was a big crunch, and the Three-Oh-Niner stopped moving. Stella didn't know what she should do, so she held onto the respectful some more. People opened the doors and started and running, but Stella was too scared to move. The shiny man made some noise, but Stella couldn't understand him.

The respectful suddenly took Stella's hand and starting pulling her outside. Stella was afraid of being alone and she followed, but outside was real scary. There were lots of people shooting big guns, and there were Zerg, too, like she'd seen on the TV. But each Zerg had a little line of black stuck on them, like someone had them on a leash. Stella would've stopped right there, but the shiny man kept tugging her. He was saying something, and Stella couldn't hear him regular-like. But then she could hear him in her head, saying "come on let's go!" like people sometimes did when they got real angry.

Then the ground exploded.


Thing didn't think or feel very much, but Thing was scared of being underground. When the Voice told Thing to burrow, though, Thing did just that. The new Things were ready, and Thing was told to throw the new Things out.

Purging its stomachs, the Zerg infestor that called itself Thing launched its eggs through the soil, each egg holding a previously-dead infested Marine. Five infestors had burrowed underneath the convoy from Lark's Crossing, and they had swallowed many dead or dying Marines while they crawled across Agria.


Corporal Thorosis turned as the ground began to rumble. "Distraction!" he yelled to his team – the small Tyranids were a distraction, and the larger creatures must be below!

Spinning in unison, the ammunition-less Space Marines charged while the first infested egg breached the surface of Agria again. Chopping down on the nearest egg in an overhead strike, Thorosis was rewarded with an animalistic howl from inside the foul thing while his chainsword's motor screamed its victory.

The Space Marines chopped and slashed, giving the Emperor's Blessing to many reanimated Marines, but one by one the eggs popped, depositing the infested Marines in shooting distance of the fleeing colonists. The colonist previously crippled by the Mutalisk yelled and fired, attracting the infested Marines' attention, which lasted for mere seconds before his shredded corpse toppled to the ground.

Mordian Guardsmen stopped and fired, their lasguns doing damage to the infested Marines as CMC neosteel conducted the lasbolt-heat inward and killed the zombie-like creatures. The infested corpses fired again, the 8mm spikes turning many of the unarmored Guardsmen into bloody ribbons. The Mordians fell back as the Commissar ordered a retreat to protect the fleeing colonists. The ever-present Zerglings closed again, while another Mutalisk flight appeared over the horizon and the infested Marines turned to kill the colonists.

...

The shiny man kept pulling her, but Stella stopped even as the bullets flew around her. There were lots and lots of strangers all around her, but Stella Waters could feel – DADDY!

...

The egg bursting open, the armored creature that used to be Sergeant Waters turned to fire at a one-legged Terran Marine. As the spikes from the former human's Impaler ripped the shouting colonist open, the infested Marine was already looking for a new target. Seeing an unarmored soldier and a small girl nearby, the creature turned and raised its weapon to fire.

...

Stella could see Daddy, but something was wrong with him. He was dressed in the big suit again, but there was a black line stuck on his back, like all the Zerg had. Stella Waters screamed as Daddy turned towards her and she saw his face. She tried to talk with Daddy, even though Mommy had said that Stella shouldn't do that, but Daddy only growled at her and shot-

I think not.

...

The infested Marine, formerly Sergeant Waters of the Agrian Milita, exploded in a massive ka-boom. Sonic booms echoed across the beleaguered Terran convoy as Raynor's Raiders arrived, Banshee flyers launching rocket salvos at Zerglings while Vikings blotted Mutalisks from the sky.

But when the Bad Thing happened to Daddy, Stella didn't say a word. She didn't say a thing as the shiny man pulled her towards the 'port, or when the other people started laughing or crying. Even when the other people from home came to the 'port, everyone happy on the inside, and they all got in the big ship, Stella stayed real quiet.

Stella just kept shivering and hugged the shiny man. He hugged her back, and the white shirt around his waist got more and more red, and eventually he sort of went to sleep and he stopped being so shiny on the inside. Stella didn't say a word, and when no one hugged her anymore she sat in the corner and hugged herself as best she could.