Aboard the long-range Explorer class Battlecruiser The Expedition IV…
"…And this is the final part of the orientation; the cryostasis chamber!"
Head scientist Nadia M'Dibh smiled broadly as her arms raised in a grand gesture at the scene occurring on the floor below the catwalk. Workers in SCV suits, engineers, and marines ran around tending to the myriad of tasks required to ready the hangar for operation. Cryo-stasis pods stood in great rows across the hangar, multiple levels being connected by raised catwalks and heavy-duty metal staircases. The entire array resembled a library, with the pods acting as the books contained in the great metal shelves.
Nadia turned towards the assembled group of scientists, interns, civilians, and reporters and began to orate her prepared speech.
"Inside this chamber, Dominion forces will be held in suspended animation for the entirety of our exploratory journey. Each pod can hold a single Marine or Marauder trooper and are deployable to a planet's surface straight out of stasis. The rows between the stacks of pods can be opened straight into the atmosphere. The pods are deployed immediately to the surface. The ship's AI will brief the deployed soldiers as they "defrost" from stasis. As you all well know, this ship has been specially modified to find and colonize new planets and solar systems, with the specific aim of pacifying local wildlife and habitation. To this purpose, all organic crew and military will be put into stasis until awoken by the ships AI at first sight of a new planet."
Several nervous glances were cast at the hangar from some of the wealthier civilians and scientists, and Nadia quickly reassured them.
"All non-military personnel will have stasis pods connected to their quarters…ones that do not have a method of being deployed into the atmosphere." She gave a placating grin to the assembled group as a few relieved chuckles sounded from within. Fuckin' civvies, she thought bitterly. Too many non-scientific and non-military personnel for my tastes, but Junior (as Raynor called him) did insist on a diverse group of people for this mission. All the better, I suppose, diversity is the spice of life…and the spark of evolution.
She took a breath to continue her speech but was interrupted by a shrill-voiced intern from the front row.
"How are the soldiers equipped while in the pods?"
Nadia shot a slight glare at the intern for interrupting before quickly regathering her thoughts and explaining.
"All soldiers are equipped with fusion-powered CNC power armor and standard-issue weaponry for each particular class. They are put into stasis, fully prepared for a long-haul deployment. You can read more about the suits in the ship's manual, provided to each passenger free of charge. Now, if there are no more questions, I would like to lead you to the passenger section of the ship to find your assigned quarters. A team of engineers will assist you into stasis."
She continued to talk about the ship's architecture as she walked, every facet of it newly designed and built for one purpose, longevity. This ship was meant to carry the Dominion beyond the Koprulu sector and into the universe's wild unknown. Valerian Mengsk's dream of a Dominion golden age had already been realized after the defeat of Amon. Now the objective was of a greater purpose for mankind. As her thoughts raced and her mouth absent-mindedly answered inane questions from the assembled crowd, one thought breached the turbulent ocean. Soon these untested whelps will be weeded out. This expedition's true purpose will be shown…to breed a more perfect Terran, one poised to conquer the universe under the banner of the Dominion. At this thought, Nadia's lips curled into a smirk, and her eyes glittered with the insanity of unhindered scientific advancement. Yes…one day I will watch a new generation of Terrans rule the universe, guided, of course, by a hand that had done so to a different race before. Nadia's hand idly dropped to the scar on her forearm where a slightly writhing mass of pure biomass resided. Her eyes glinted yellow as the voice in her head whispered grand ideas in the direct manner of the Evolution Master, ideas of domination and survival. Abathur.
Two Years Later…
A crash echoed through halls of Neo-Steel, and with it came the claxon of alarm and the hum of electricity releasing occupants from their stasis.
WARP SPACE ANOMALY DETECTED. ALL SOLDIERS REPORT TO BAT-
A horrifying eldritch screech cut through the fog of stasis, and John Dunkirk awoke to pure chaos. A beam of the ship blocked his pod's vision window as John struggled to free himself from the pod.
"Course' the scientists didn't put in a way to open this damn thing from the inside. That would only mean that their fuckin' machines didn't fuckin' work for shi-" John ranted as he pushed on the door of his pod, trying to force it open to join his comrades in repelling the… Space anomaly? What in the zerg-infested fuck is a 'space anomaly'?
His armor-enhanced push was largely ineffective against the unfortunately well-sealed door. Running out of options and hearing another mind rattling screech, he reached for his gauss rifle to blow a hole through the pod. Suddenly a different screech came from outside his pod, the screech of metal on metal and the beam blocking his viewport lifted, revealing the faceplate of his commanding officer.
"Well well well War Pig, you seem to have an issue getting yourself out of sticky situations," the faceplate lifted to reveal a savage grin and multitude of scars, "first you almost get blown to pieces by Warfield's Banshees on Char and now you can't even get out of your pod to join the rest of us. Kids these days, HA!"
John grinned back at the man outside his pod, "Get me out of here, and I'll help you out of your chair, old man, maybe then we can fight…" John trailed off, again unsure of what it was that they would be fighting, "…something? You know what the fuck this 'space anomaly' is?"
The commander looked about and opened his mouth to reply when a blurred object rammed the man over the ledge and down onto the hangar floor below. Gunfire rang out, and men began screaming as hundred of just barely imperceptible blurs breached the hangar. It wasn't that these blurs weren't visible, John thought numbly, but it was more that my mind cannot comprehend what they are. He looked out of the viewport, trying to catch a glimpse of these figures. He got his chance. From above, a Marine plummeted with a resounding clang from the level above John. On top of him stood a truly horrifying beast. Its form shimmered through forms, hundreds in the space of a heartbeat, from a Zergling to a zealot to even his own mother; the figure seemed to draw its shapes from his own memory. It clawed and rent the man's armor open, spilling his guts across the catwalk and yet leaving the shifting figure unmolested by blood and viscera. John reflexively jolted backward, banging the back of his armor against the pod with a BANG.
It stopped. The figure turned from its meal to look at John. Faces from his memory, mom, dad, sister, warden, fling, Raynor, Zergling…chaos. The faces and forms flickered lightning-fast, turning a combination of figures into a roughly man-sized blur of motion and malice. It crept towards his pod slowly and methodically. It showed no emotion, but John just knew it had a sly, shark-like grin stretched across its flickering maw. Closer. Closer. Closer it walked until it seemed pressed against the pod. One more moment and it would be inside the pod and devouring his very sou-
FLASH
With a jet of sickly yellow psionic energy, the figure was blasted into dust, and in its place stood something perhaps even more horrible, if only because he recognized it.
"Terran is experiencing anger. Curious. Unimportant. Terran cannot perish here. Must continue the grand experiment. Will carry essence. Continue work. Continue ABATHUR."
The head scientist Dr. M'dibh, her once clear and beautiful face was made of segmented carapace plates. Her once tightly bound hair now floated slightly in the air of psionic energy. Her once lilting voice of grand vision and command was now stilted in a strange discomforting way.
"INFESTED"
His voice was equal parts anger and disgust. Memories of having to burn entire cities in nuclear ash and fire just to irradicate the infested Terran that threatened the whole planet came to the front of his mind. He reacted as a true Terran would towards an infested, with violence. He tried to raise his rifle, only to be stymied by the tight confines of the stasis pod.
"Silence. Mind is stubborn. Too inflexible. Will not accept change. Will pass on to next worthy host. Do. Not. Resist."
"What the fuck are you-GET THE FUCK AWAY GODNODONTDOIT" A hand shoved through the viewport of the pod, slipped behind his visor, and tapped his forehead. A searing pain was emanating from the part of his head that the creature once named Nadia touched. Chaos. Confusion. His mind already worked to the brink, finally shut down, rendering the near forty-year-old veteran unconscious. His visor slapped down, and his armor froze, sensing his unconscious state.
"Immobile. Host has been infiltrated. Last resort, initiated."
Abathur, for that, is who this creature now was, flung another bolt of energy at an eldritch creature before running full sprint at the large handle that would open the hangar bay below. Fighting rang loud, and the screams of Terran would have soothed them had it not been for their immediate peril looming close. They reached the handle taking one last look over the hangar below them. All the pods were empty, their occupants either dead or dying, except one. A shimmering field of psionic energy protected the pod occupied by the chosen Terran. They pulled the handle. In an instant, before they and all of those below were sucked into warp space, Abathur saw the monster that had attacked the Terran battlecruiser. The very image turned even their advanced and meticulously crafted essence into not but bio-mass and screams of torment as their existence in that body was disintegrated.
As all personnel and equipment were sucked out into warp space and summarily destroyed by the beast or the effects of warp space itself, one pod sped away, protected by psionic energy. It flew towards a hole, in reality, one that could send a person to many places. The pod passed through. The gap closed behind the pod, leaving behind the eldritch horrors of the warp and just as soon reopening. The hole reopened within the gravity well of a planet, one made of ice and the current home of a young blonde man, riding high on his victory against the Empire. Luke Skywalker clutched his head as he felt a disturbance in the Force. Far in the distance, a metal meteor hurtled towards Hoth's icy surface, and the galaxy was forever changed.
AN- This is the prologue for my first ever fanfiction! As it's my first story I am totally open to any and all constructive criticism through either the reviews or through Private Messaging. I am open to having a beta reader if anyone is interested, and I hope to have the next chapter out by April 11th, 2021. Have a great Easter and may the Force be with you...always.