Chapter Ten

Veronica Barns

Main Zerg Base

Planet Char

1200 Hours Local

It took a bit of organizing, and a few large headaches, but I finally set up a few Cerebrates to take command of my army. We were finally ready to attack the Overmind. My forces had also taken a few evolutions of their own now allowing Lurkers to attack targets even above ground and now Zerglings had better carapace so they could take more enemy attacks. We were about to advance when suddenly, a beam of light fell from the sky!

Roaring, I mentally ordered the drones to keep gathering, and for the hatcheries to produce scourge. Once they hatched, I ordered them to attack whatever was firing on us. They never made it to their target. Now several enemy fighters were flying overhead shooting down anything they saw. I quickly ordered my Overlords to land because where they were; they'd be sitting ducks for the planes. Now Protoss were showing up, and their Dark Templars were cutting through my army with ease.

Seeing that, I burrowed and went into a sort of trance to see if I could access the radio transmissions. I got a hold of something a few times, but I lost it until I eventually got a solid link through. The radio chatter from both the Soviets and the Protoss was pretty quiet, but occasionally, I heard the frantic plea for help and a few 'Bagged one!' calls. After a few seconds of this, I simply ordered every Zerg to stop what it was doing.

"Hey! What's going on?" One of the pilots said. "Why'd they just stop?"

"All units," the Supreme Commander's voice cut in. "The Zerg Colony in your local area has been neutralized. Move on to attack the next target."

"No!" one of the Protoss said. "This base still has Cerebrates nearby… however; they don't seem to be connected to the Overmind. They're connected to something else. Allow us some time to find the source."

"Roger that, Zeratul," the Commander said again. "All units remain on standby until—"

"Commander!" I yelled out telepathically. "These Zerg are mine! I'm currently stuck inside the body of a Hunter-Killer; I'm getting ready to launch an attack on the Overmind! Hold your fire!"

There was a pause then: "Who the hell was that?" the voice sounded like First Lieutenant Michaels, but I couldn't be sure.

"All units, Stand down!" the Commander barked. "Prepare to merge forces with the local Zerg forces in the area and stand by to commence attack on the final target, over."

All the forces acknowledged that, and the firing stopped as though somebody had just hit a button. I popped back up from my hiding place, and tried not to be intimidated by the Dark Templar standing in front of me. Despite the Hydralisk not having natural enemies, I was still afraid because those could kill just about any kind of Zerg, and they'd make them STAY that way.

The Templar was almost my height, and that's saying something for me being in the body of a ten-foot-tall killing machine. We gazed into each other's eyes for a few brief seconds, and then he walked forward, bumping me as he went. I turned my head, watching him depart and then I shook my head and went back to rebuilding my portion of the attack force.

I was later called in for a meeting between the four heads of the operation: the Supreme Commander, Air Force General Malcolm Granger, GLA Toxin General Dr. Thrax, and the Protoss Matriarch Zeratul. After getting washed up so I wouldn't smell like a Zerg base, I managed to get into the meeting room, although the damn door to the briefing room wouldn't open. Needless to say, I got in the harder way and the base maintenance crew STILL haven't figured out if a ten-foot-tall killing machine with human intelligence ripping a solid titanium door off it's hinges classifies as 'Animal damage' under their insurance policy.

Anyways, after I ducked in, squeezing my larger frame through a door designed for humans, I looked at the chairs around the main table, decided against sitting in one of them, and settled for shifting my weight into a comfortable position. Zeratul glared at me, and then swung his gaze over to the Commander.

"How can you let this abomination be a major part of the attack!?" he roared in a psionic voice so loud it hurt my brain. "She is infested to the core and will only be a liability for the assault!"

The Commander was calm and said: "it might interest you to know that Ms Barns here has single-handedly assassinated the Queen of Blades. We have video proof of that, in fact, CABAL; would you show us the footage from that fight?"

CABAL's face appeared on the screen overlooking the whole room, and then what seemed to be footage taken from a passing airplane showed me and Kerrigan fighting for the second time. There was no sound, but I clearly remembered what there was to hear. After it ended with me slicing off her head, I asked: "How did you get that? There wasn't anybody around for miles!"

The Commander's face remained expressionless. "That footage was from the Arkbird, and it hasn't been altered or enhanced in any way. Zeratul, if I didn't trust Ms Barns to be a major part of the attack, why would I even let her in here in the first place?"

"Very well," he said sharply. "But if she gets taken over by the Overmind, don't expect my warriors to help yours in any way."

"I won't get controlled by the Overmind." I said. It's tried to take over me since I was first infested, and it didn't succeed. In fact, I've now shut myself and my forces out from its wills, so my forces should be safe."

General Granger spoke next. "All right everyone, enough. Let's get back to planning this thing."

The Commander nodded, and motioned to Dr. Thrax for him to begin his portion of the briefing.

"Very well Commander," he said, slightly muffled by the cloth from his turban. "After Ms Barns went into medical, I started studying Zerg tissue, and I think I have come up with a virus that only affects them. I WAS going to test it in this attack, but I think I'll keep it on standby now that Ms Barns is here. If I was correct in the formulas, it should kill her in about three seconds after first exposure."

"Is it airborne?" I asked, wanting to know as much as possible about this new weapon as possible.

Thrax nodded. "Yes, but I have had problems controlling its duration. My estimate is that if released onto any battlefield, that area wouldn't be habitable for Zerg for days."

I knew what that meant: it was extremely deadly and powerful to its target, but it didn't last very long before the virus broke down and became useless. That was Mother Nature's way of keeping Thrax in check. Stable diseases weren't lethal, and deadly ones burned out too quickly to be useful for a length of time.

Slightly relieved, Thrax moved on to a less potent, but still deadly strain that seemed to kill only the basic Zerg units. I was a Hunter-Killer, so I'd be safe, but the majority of my forces would die except my evolved units and my air power. I went on using that strain instead, and everyone seemed to agree. (Well, everyone except Zeratul who just kept glaring at me.)

Eventually, we got the attack planned out and it would go down in a series of steps. My forces would be the first wave to alert the Zerg to the attack and draw out their numbers. My Hydralisks and Defilers would provide a very effective anti-aircraft net while my other ground forces distracted their ground forces. Then Thrax would release his bio-toxin killing whatever was left of the ground forces with the exception of evolved units and his toxic troops would then emerge from their hiding places and attack. General Granger would then take his aircraft and establish air superiority over the entire battlefield and finally, the Dark Templar would come in and destroy the Overmind and its Cerebrates once and for all. The Commander would keep the bulk of his forces back, while at the same time, launching Superweapon strikes from the Hrimfaxi submerged in one of the few open areas of water on the planet and the one closest to the battlefield.

Finally, after a while, it seemed everybody was ready, and the next day at 0600 Hours, my forces would advance.

Nicky Hammond

Arkbird

130 kilometres above Planet Char

1401 Hours Local

When my orders came through that the Arkbird would not be participation in the fight, to say that I was angry would have been an understatement. The Zerg were RIGHT THERE easily within our sights either with the laser, or with the two remaining nuclear bombs we carried. When I let the chief military officer explain, I relented slightly. Apparently, several high-ranking members of other military divisions would be personally taking part in the operation, and the Superweapon strikes may accidentally hit them. Add that to the constant problem of the Hrimfaxi's Burst Missiles, an orbital laser would be another problem to worry about, let alone the nukes.

I sighed and went to the control center for the Arkbird and deactivated the laser. Well, I though. Maybe this would be a good time to do diagnostics on the whole ship. Yeah, that'll give me something to do. Using the Arkbird heavily might have slightly damaged something, some outer hull panel, and if permitted to spread, then we'd be done for. Better go out and look at everything NOW and not regret taking this time later.