StarCraft: Brain Damage

Chapter 10: Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk

Moria was a heavily populated planet, probably the most populated planet in the sector. It had gotten to the point where cities, having been built up as far as possible, were being built underground to house the amounts of people that the planet was flooded with. This posed a problem for the Kel-Morian Combine, the corporation-government of Moria.

What were they to do with this many people? Mining was done with little human interaction; most of it being handled by machines anyway. Factories didn't require many people either, again, because of machines. So the Combine initiated a draft, culling civilians into a propaganda-laden military death machine that produced brainwashed, heavily patriotic soldiers ready to die willingly for their government.

This caused another problem, which was what were they to do with all the transport ships full of troops?

To the CEOs of the Kel-Morian Combine the answer was blatantly obvious: war. War on piracy.

War on terror. War on freethinking society. War on the Protoss.

And, currently, war on a small space platform full of refugees from a war on Nora III. Of course, two Goliaths were causing a bit of trouble actually getting to the refugees in question, as they were chewing up all the Morian marines attempting to accomplish the mission. Not that the CEOs would care, there was plenty of men left to replace those lost. That was the great thing about men: they were an infinitely renewable resource. Steel for replacing that CMC armor, however…

"Don't let up!" Jim shouted over the COM link, "Ayanami! What's the status of the evacuation!?"

30mm shells blasted into the Morian human wave, blowing men into pieces with ease. It frankly disturbed Jim how the next man in line took his dead buddy's place and continued the charge, unafraid of the imminent death awaiting him. One glance at his ammo counter, however, informed Jim that the remaining time imminent death would be available was dwindling.

"We're almost there!" Ayanami replied, "Engine's running! Just three more minutes!"

"You've got two!" Jim shouted, "Nick, ammo count!"

"Not enough!" the Reaper-turned-Goliath pilot replied, launching a Hellfire into the enemy formation.

The missile exploded, throwing troops into the air and creating a short-lived gap in the line. Faster than the missile had traversed through the air, the gap was filled with more men.

"Hey, Jim? These Battlecruisers are looking mighty close over here…" Ian put in from the Dream where it was docked on the other side of the platform from the advancing Combine.

"Shut the fuck up, kid!" Jim shouted, "The only thing between these people and them is us! So I don't want to hear it! All you gotta do is plot us a course through warp to some random place in deep space, alright?"

There was a pause on the line. "Yeah, I'm on it," Ian replied.

"Jefferies, you get Toji on the ship?" Jim asked.

"Thought you'd never ask," the Ghost replied, the sound of shooting filling the background, "I've had him on for ten minutes. Sleeping like a nasty little baby in that room of his."

"What the hell are you doing?" Nick asked.

"Just picking off some fuckers trying to move around the hospital to get at us. No worries though. They haven't found my position yet," Jefferies replied.

Jim targeted and blasted a Morian Marauder apart at the waist with a four-shot burst from one of his autocannons. He moved it to the right a bit and clicked the firing switch.

Nothing happened.

"Out of ammo!" Jim shouted, pulling his Goliath away from the front, "Nick?"

"I can hold them for a few more seconds!" he shouted, "But Ayanami could do me a big fucking favor by hurrying up!"

"Sorry assholes, but its kind of hard to make them run faster when their God damn legs are gonna fall off!" Ayanami retorted in all seriousness.

"Cut the shit!" Jim interjected, "How much longer?!"

Ayanami was silent a second. "Done. Patients aboard, ready to roll out, Doc!"

"Good timing. I just ran out," Nick muttered, moving his Goliath up toward the evacuation ship, "Hop on my leg Ayanami."

"No, they need my help on this ship," she said, "I'll catch up to you all later, Jim."

"You sure?" Jim asked.

Down below his Goliath, Jim saw her nod through the visor of her helmet. "Yeah, I've got to. I'm the only combat-capable medic around," Ayanami said, "I'll be in touch. Trust me."

"Okay," Jim said, not having any more time to argue the matter, "Get to the Dream, Nick!"

As the two Goliaths lumbered away at a full trot, Ayanami sprayed a clip at the onrushing Morian soldiers and ducked through the side entrance to the medical ship. She closed the door behind her and shouted up the corridor to Harris. "Door's shut! Let's blow this fucking joint!"

"I hear that!" Harris replied, "Everyone: hold on to your asses!"

The docking clamps blew away from the ship and it moved free, rocketing across the platform and slipping out of the oxygen bubble with ease. It tore through space, ripped open a warp hole and vanished through it, heading out on a random course into the stars.

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Jim jumped free of his Goliath, letting the walker collapse face-first behind him with a wham. He hit the ground just as his armor finished folding up around him. Nick slammed into ground next to Jim, just finishing putting his helmet into place himself. The Gunner's Dream sat in front of them, its door open at the top of an inviting ramp, and standing on it, Jefferies aimed his C10 at some far-off target. The two newly arrived troopers clambered up the ramp, Nick slipping inside to help Ian with the remaining pre-flight checks.

Jim stopped next to Jefferies and put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "We gotta go!" he shouted above the screaming Kel-Morians approaching the ship.

"Yeah," Jefferies replied, fired one shot from his rifle, and ducked inside.

Jim tracked the shot and saw a pair of single-file marines explode into blood as one. He took a few pot shots and headed inside, not looking to see if he'd hit anything. As soon as the door was shut, Ian gunned the throttle, bringing the ship around on a vector out-system.

A warp hole opened up in front of the ship, sucking it in. Just before it got through, however, a Yamato shot slammed into the Dream's stern, spinning it around in space hard enough to shudder the whole frame and start fires all throughout the vessel. As a result from this, it had to enter the matter-bending warp hole sideways.

The Dream entered the whole and it slammed shut behind them, leaving the overrun platform to the Combine.