StarCraft II
Rise of the Claymore
"Seal all access points from access halls f and g! Seal off the lab and get all noncombat personnel inside it!" Raynor ordered as his Raiders frantically moved about the ship, making preparations for war.
"Deneve, Helen, Yuma, Cynthia, Ilena, and Teresa are keeping the Dominion marines at bay. The dominion can't keep a docking tube connected for more than a few minutes with them taking them down," Matt declared checking the monitor.
"A couple of minutes is all the time a Ghost needs to get on board! I want the Hyperion's detection systems running at full power. We need to know if a single Ghost sets foot on the ship.
"They haven't yet," Galatea declared, "all of the Ghost energy signatures are still inside the Dominion's ship.
"They haven't moved! Why? Why wait? That doesn't make any sense," Raynor declared.
"She may be trying to lure us onto her ship. Sir, this could be a trap. I think it'd be a good idea to retreat for now. If the Claymores can keep the Dominion forces at bay for ten minutes, I can have the ship prepped to make a warp jump and we can lose them."
"Don't ya even think about runnin' Mr. Raynor," Tosh's voice suddenly called over the communicator.
"Tosh, I'm giving you and your specters an order to stand down. Trying to fight Nova on her own ship is to dangerous. We'd be walking right into her hands!" Raynor ordered.
"I told ya to jus leave little Nova to me. I'll handle her and her ghosts," Tosh declared turning off his communicator.
"Darn it Tosh! I'm ordering you! Stand down!" Raynor shouted, but it was no use.
"What should we do sir? It's your call," Matt declared.
"Galatea keep an eye on Tosh and his specters. We'll let him do this, but if his specters fail, we'll have no choice but to abandon them," Raynor declared.
"Understood," Galatea declared.
"And let me know when Tosh boards. I want to know…"
"You're a little late there commander," Galatea revealed, "I sensed Tosh and his Specters board the Dominion ship quite some time ago."
"He was planning this all along, sir. Guess we really shouldn't be surprised. We are dealing with Tosh after all," Matt declared as Raynor shook his head.
"Captain Miria, I just had a thought," Tabitha said glancing over at her commander, "do you think this woman, Nova, might know anything about Clare's whereabouts."
"She makes a good point sir. The Dominion is going to great lengths to keep their dealings on Talderan a secret," Horner declared.
"Yeah and no one in the Dominion knows more about top secret information then Nova. Get Tosh back on the line. We need Nova alive."
….
"You want Nova alive, ya say?" Tosh said after Raynor had given his orders, "Not gonna be easy Brother. Not even for a Specter.
"I thought your Specters were supposed to be able to do anything Tosh. Grabbing one little Ghost shouldn't be too difficult," Raynor joked which earned him an angry glare from Tosh.
"Killin' a ghost, that be easy. Kidnappin' one and sneakin' her off a Dominion Battlecruiser right under the nose of a ship full a troops… well, let's just say it's a good thing for you you got Specters and not jus Ghosts Mr. Raynor. This job you got for me'd be impossible for a Ghost, but you can trust us Specters to get the job done."
"There we go. Now that's starting to sound more like the Tosh I know," Raynor replied.
"Teresa and the other's still have the docking tubes under control, so you should have plenty of time. Do this job right Tosh, we can't afford any screw-ups," Horner declared, "Right now, Mengsk doesn't know that we've been to Talderan. If Nova finds out, it may cause some problems."
"Understood. Just make sure you got someplace to hold the little Ghost once I bring her back. I doubt she'll be too keen on the idea a bein kidnapped and brought aboard an enemy ship in chains. Best ta be prepared. Tosh out." The communicator screen flipped off for a second, then flipped back on to show Deneve.
"Deneve," Miria said, "how are things out there."
"We're fine, Captain. We're spread a little thin though. It'd help out a lot if we could get one or two more pairs of hands down here," Deneve declared.
"Aren't Jean and your other warriors helping to garrison the Armory?" Raynor asked, "most of my boys are down there now. I think we should get all of the Claymores holding off the Dominion docking tubes. We can't afford giving the Ghosts an opportunity to slip onboard the Hyperion."
"Did you hear that Jean?" Miria asked as Deneve's face moved over to the right half of the screen and Jean's appeared on the left half.
"Yes Captain. Dietrich, Miata, Clarice, and myself will head up immediately," Jean declared.
"Tabitha and I will go too. Galatea, you stay here and keep an eye on those Ghosts. If they start to move, let us know immediately," Miria ordered turning to Tabitha and Galatea.
"I think I can handle that much," Galatea replied, "you just make sure you do what you need to do."
"Kerrigan, where are you?" Raynor shouted into the comm screen. Kerrigan's face appeared on the screen.
"I'm in the Lab access hall. We're just about done securing the lab. Once I'm done, I'll leave my troops here and head out to meet the Claymores," Kerrigan revealed.
"Alright," Raynor replied, "I'll go with you and do what I can. Matt, the second Galatea says anything about the Ghosts moving out, I want to know. Let's go." With that, Raynor, Miria, and Tabitha ran off the bridge.
"We're lucky that the Dominion's Battlecruiser hasn't started firing on us yet," Matt declared, "it's strange though. Why go to all this trouble. What is Nova after?"
….
"We've got the docking tube connected! Get ready to board," a Dominion marine ordered as he stepped into the tube, only to be blown back out by a sniper round. The ten marines panicked and ran to the tube, only to find that it was empty.
"What the heck happened! Where did…! Gahh!" one of the Marines screamed as sniper rounds cut through the air, downing all ten marines. There was a flash of red and the ten Specters all appeared over the fallen marines. Tosh appeared in front of them.
"Alright boy. Mr. Raynor wants little Nova taken alive, but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun with the rest of the ship's crew. Let's do this," Tosh ordered as all eleven specter warriors reengaged their cloaks.
….
"I want a report," Nova ordered a soldier on the command bridge.
"Ma'am, our forces are being decimated by an unknown force aboard the enemy's starship. We think they may be more of the monster women from Talderan, but we can't be sure," the man declared, "no one who's gone aboard has made it back to tell us what's happening!"
"Darn it. I should have known this was a bad idea. Pull out, we'll let Raynor go for now. Tell the helmsmen to break off from their ship!" Nova ordered.
"Ma'am, the control platform isn't responding to our transmissions. We can't get ahold of them!" a woman shouted from a control panel.
"What do you mean they aren't responding! Send someone to see what's going on!"
"Yes ma'am, I'll go take a look right now," a man shouted running off of the bridge. He hadn't been out of sight for more than a few seconds when he suddenly stopped as though grabbed by an invisible hand. He lurched forward and then fell dead, a knife wound in his back.
Nova didn't see anything wrong as two cloaked specters moved onto the Command bridge and silenced her two remaining subordinates, nor did she notice as three other specters moved behind her. In fact, Nova didn't notice anything out of the ordinary at all, until a sudden flash of red in front of her… revealed Gabriel Tosh.
"Long time no see sista," Tosh said as Nova jumped back, "jus give up and keep quiet." Nova reacted quickly, immediately engaging her cloak, but even that wasn't quickly enough. Nova didn't have time to move before the three specters behind her grabbed her. One of them clamped his hand over her mouth, silencing her and preventing her from raising an alarm while the other two pinned her arms and legs.
"We got some friends who got a few questions for ya, Ms. Nova. Be grateful, that's da only reason we're sparing your life," Tosh revealed.
….
"Tosh and his specters are back on the Hyperion, and they have one of the Ghost energies with them. I'm certain it's the one we want," Galatea revealed to Horner when Tosh returned to the ship.
"We're all set to make the jump," Horner declared, "just need to get the last few docking tubes disconnected and we're home free."
"Matt," Raynor called as his image appeared on the comm screen, "we're all clear!"
"On it sir! Focus all guns on the Dominion Flagship. Set firing output to maximum capacity! Keep them at bay! All hands, prepare for warp jump on my mark!"
"You might want to find something to hold on to!" Kerrigan shouted to Miria who grabbed onto a bar sticking out of the wall.
"Mark!" Horner shouted as the ship lurched forward at warp speed. Miria, Teresa, Ilena, Galatea, Jean, and Deneve managed to hold their footing fairly well for their first jump. The others… were all sent sliding across the Hyperion floor.
"Ugh, okay, I really don't like that," Helen declared rising slowly, "I don't feel so good."
"Commander, we've got someone you'll want to talk to here on the bridge," Horner declared.
"On our way Matt," Raynor replied, "let's just hope all of this ends up paying off."
