Two days later, May was resting on the Mitspe Airport control tower. Shortly after she had taken the airport, a small force of less than fifty soldiers riding in HMMWVs had attacked. She had dealt with them quickly, throwing them into each other like toys. After that, no attacks came.
May was not sure whether she should be relieved or anxious. The Saudi Arabians should not have given up the airport so easily. It was in a good location tactically, and it housed several attack helicopters, fighter jets, and utility aircraft.
On a better note, the sudden decrease in Saudi Arabian air support had allowed Israel to advance their forces southward toward Mitspe Ramon. When they arrived, May would be able to leave the airport and prepare for another strike.
May was considering asking the Israelis if they wanted help on their push south when May heard a soft boom come from somewhere in the distance. Although it was quiet from where she was, far to quiet for human ears to hear, she could tell that it was about five miles away and that it had from behind and to the left of the nearby city of Mitspe Ramon.
About forty seconds later, she heard the boom again. May stood up, wondering what the sound could be.
Forty seconds later, the boom happened again. Curious, May found an Overseer orbiting over her area, and used its eyes. She found herself in seconds, and began to look in the direction of the booming sounds. About five miles away from her, she saw what was making the booming noise. Self-propelled artillery. Ten of them.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she immediately ordered all of her Roaches to get as far from the airport as possible. She returned the mind of the Overseer and flapped her wings in an effort to get herself as far from the ground as possible. She had only just gotten off of the air traffic control tower when the shells struck the airport.
The artillery had fired their first volley in such a way that it would take about one minute and forty seconds to hit the airport. The second volley, which was fired forty seconds later, would take sixty seconds to reach the airport. The third and final volley would be fired forty seconds after the second, and would take twenty seconds to reach the airport. Thus, twenty seconds after the third volley, all three volleys would strike the airport. If timed correctly, the enemy would be dead before they knew that they were being attacked. Had it not been for her extremely acute senses, May would have been oblivious to the incoming strike. She didn't have time to kick herself for being so lazy and careless.
There were ten shells per volley and three volleys. Thirty rounds of high explosive struck the airport within a span of three seconds.
May felt the shockwaves rip through her body, and she was sent flying high into the air along with tiny pieces of what was left of the airport building. The explosions blasted her high into the air.
Time seemed to slow when she realised that the ground far beneath her was beginning to get closer. She slowly, at least it felt slow, managed to turn herself into a position where she could use her wings. She flapped her wings hard in an attempt to regain control of her descent. When she did, she was sent spiraling out of control.
May looked over at her right wing to find that the tough wing membrane had been torn in many places by the shrapnel from the control tower. Her left wing was also torn, but not nearly as badly as her left.
She tried to regain control of her fall, but once she did, she realized that it was to late. She slowed herself as much as she could before slamming onto the lip of a crater in the ground.
The initial impact broke several ribs and her back right leg, sending her towards the center of the crater. She tumbled through the air, and landed a second time, but this time she landed on her right wing, breaking it in the middle.
When May opened her eyes, the world was spinning and the only thing to be heard was the ringing in her ears. When she gathered her thoughts, she ordered a nearby Nydus Worm to surface next to the artillery. Then ordered any remaining Roaches near the airport to attack the artillery. It would take about two minutes for the Nydus Worm to surface from where it was underneath the airport, and eight minutes for the Roaches to get there.
She wanted to get out of range of the artillery, but she was afraid to move. She took the mind of the orbiting Overseer she had used earlier and found the artillery. The artillery had not moved, and their barrels were still pointed at the sky. Then they fired again. May's heart sank. She needed to escape.
She tried to move, but she was met by crippling pain. She grunted and tried to think of a way to get out of the target area of the artillery strike.
The artillery fired again. She needed to escape now.
She tried to burrow, but the pain returned with a vengeance as the broken bone in her wing pierced her skin. She screamed in pain through gritted teeth and tried her best not to move as the pain throbbed through her body.
The third volley was fired. No escape.
May sensed the shells approaching from the sky. Ten came in at a high angle, ten at a medium angle, and ten at a low angle. In her head, she counted down the time to impact as she tried to think of a way to escape the destruction that approached from the sky.
Eight. No plausible ideas came.
Seven. Still no ideas.
Six. Nothing.
Five. She felt the death coming her way.
Four. But if she could feel it...
Three. ...then she could...
Two. May squeezed her eyes shut as she put all of her efforts into making her half-baked plan come to fruition.
One.
Zero.
Nothing.
May opened her eyes slowly and glanced around without moving her head. Hovering just feet above the ground were thirty artillery shells scattered across the target area. Not really sure what to do with the shells, she brought them all to her and set them gently down in the crater that she was laying in.
May smiled. It had worked. If she's could feel the shells, then she could move them...or in this case, stop them from moving.
She was not sure what to do with the shells at first, so she turned her attention to her Overseer.
Again, May spotted the artillery, but now there were thirty vehicles. The original ten self-propelled artillery vehicles were raising their guns to begin a third attack while the twenty new vehicles sped towards her location. Tanks.
Now she had a use for the thirty un-detonated artillery rounds. May picked up twenty of the rounds from her stockpile and directed them towards the twenty incoming vehicles.
While she waited for her retaliation to impact, she took a closer look at the incoming vehicles. At their current speed, she figured that they would be at the airport, or the place where it used to be, in just over ten minutes.
Her attention was drawn back to the artillery when they fired the first of what would have been three more volleys. May was not about to let them fire a second.
With help from the Overseer, May stopped each of the ten incoming rounds. Then she returned them to their owners, and watched in triumph as the self propelled artillery were hit with their own shells.
May then turned her attention back to the tanks. The rounds that she had sent their way were almost upon them. She directed each round simultaneously onto an incoming tank. She made sure to bring the rounds in at a very steep angle because armor on the top of tanks is weaker than armor on the sides.
Moments later, the tanks were hit hard. Several of the tanks were completely demolished due to the explosions setting off stored ammunition, but for the most part, the tanks were simply disabled. It was likely that the crews of all of the tanks were killed by the shockwave of the blasts, and any who survived would likely die soon from having ruptured organs and other life-threatening injuries.
May had ten more rounds to use in case of another attack, but a scan of the surrounding area did not indicate an immediate threat.
After all of the action finished, the Nydus Worm she had ordered to surface sprung up from the ground next to the smoking remains of the enemy artillery.
Relieved and comforted, but also slightly annoyed by the lateness of the Nydus Worm, May ordered one thousand Raptor Strain Zerglings to come through. May had begun exploring the various strains of her Swarm shortly after her alliance with Israel, and she found some of the strains useful...while others were downright creepy, even for the Zerg.
The Raptor strain of Zergling had proven to be useful for quickly traversing the cliffs of the Middle East, as it could scale the cliffs with ease.
She also ordered five hundred Vile Strain Roaches through the Nydus Worm. Although the Corpser Strain was probably the best decision strategically due to its ability to spawn Roachlings from the bodies of enemies, May could not get over the disturbing thought of human bodies being used as food. Thus, she never hatched any. Although not the best option, the Vile Strain was certainly not useless. Infantry would be killed instantly by being doused in Roach acid, while tanks and other armoured vehicles were slowed down by the microbes in the acid.
She then ordered four hundred Hydralisks to come to her position.
Though slightly tempted due to paranoia of a another attack, May resolved not to send any of her Torrasque Strain Ultralisks to the fight. She had chosen to hatch Torresques because she did not like to waste anything, especially not something as resource heavy as an Ultralisk. If killed in battle, it would form an egg around itself and be reborn in a few hours.
Lastly, May ordered one hundred Creeper Strain Swarm Hosts to her location. The Creeper Strain would produce creep when they root, thus giving any Zerg in the area food for prolonged deployments. Though marvelous, her Swarm's members could not live without food, and the highly consistent nutrient content of Creep allowed for a healthy and indefinitely sustainable food supply to grow virtually anywhere.
Once done destroying everything and giving commands, May relaxed. Twenty minutes earlier, she had been relaxing on top of an air traffic control tower, now she had six broken bones and a fear of moving anywhere.
She contacted Matilda.
"Matilda, we were just attacked. I am injured. I need you here. See if there is anywhere that the Israelis need help, then come here."
"Yes, my queen. Should I explain the reason for my absence to the Israelis?"
"I don't care. If they ask, then tell them."
May waited for a reply, but because she had nothing to do, she was left to endure the pain of her injuries.
"My queen, the Israelis say that it would help greatly if you were to attack here." Matilda said while sending a mental image of a map.
"Thanks."
Now, she could distract herself from the pain.
May looked through the orbiting Overseer and found the place where the Israelis needed help. It was just over forty miles north north-west of her position near one of the biggest cities in Israel: Be'er Sheva.
It had been occupied by I.S.I.S., but the sudden lack of air support over the city had allowed the Israelis to push them out over the past two weeks. Now I.S.I.S. had been pushed out of all but the southern outskirts of the city.
May began ordering her nearby forces around. She first ordered the Swarm Hosts to burrow in a line between her and the Nydus Worm. The creep they would provide would allow Matilda to get to her sooner. Next, she ordered half of her Zerglings, Roaches, and Hydralisks along with fifty Lurkers to assist the Israelis in Be'er Sheva.
Her forces had not yet exited the Nydus Worm, but she estimated that they would arrive in Be'er Sheva in about one and a half hours. The rest of her forces would arrive that the airport in about ten minutes, and Matilda would likely be with her in about twenty.
In an effort to distract herself from her pain, May began micro-managing her swarm. She was not particularly good at it, but it was practice. She had no need to fear a few losses due to her inept tactics. Grand strategy was where she excelled...or at least she hoped so. She had left that part up to the Israelis thus far.
Hello everyone! I have an announcement to make. Well two actually. And an apology. You probably aren't going to like the first one though. Don't worry, I am definitely going to finish this story. Here it goes. Don't hate me.
First announcement: I am going to take a break from writing this story for a little bit. I have had a hard time motivating myself to write for...a while. Here is why: I have got lots of other ideas for stories that are banging around in my head, and when I start writing for this story, I keep getting sidetracked. Once I get to where I can focus again, I will start updating again. I imagine that it will be a month or two before I start posting again, but I definitely will start posting again. Unless I die. Which would be worse for me than for you, so I am not going to apologize in advance for dying.
Second announcement: I have decided to make this a multi-book series. This book will primarily be focused on the Zerg and their growth on earth. The second will not focus on the Zerg very much. I want to say more about the second book, but...spoilers of course.
Apology: to anybody from Israel who may end up reading this. Sorry for invading your country. I have plans for another nation and it will probably be worse, so maybe that will cheer you up. :)
