Chapter 2: The Frontlines Of War
The hiss of air filled the cramped Dropship cockpit as my pilot docked gently with the Norad 2, the behemoth of a battlecruiser that was my new home, and the centre of operations for General Duke's Alpha Squadron. I stepped out onto a metal plank in full gear to be met by a jumpy technician and the excitement-turned-bored stares of the marines. I was just another Ghost. But I was a Ghost that would not go away like the rest.
I followed jumpy to General Duke's quarters, and was hit by a wave of fear as I walked in. But the fear wasn't for me. Duke was staring intently at the computer screen in front of him, his eyes darting back and forth again and again on the unchanging screen. Jumpy had already left, scurrying away to his post frantically like Duke was gonna kill him. Hell, if I'd been around him for as long as the General had, I'd probably be tempted to do the same.
"Ghost reporting," was the comment I gave that jarred the balding General back to reality. I stood at rapt attention while he gave me the usual "give-it-all-for-me" speech, filling me with the military bullshit I'd come to expect. I yes sir'd at all the right times, but I knew all the words he would say before he said them. There are times when being psionically gifted is an incredible pain in the ass. When he finished 5 minutes later, I was given my leave to explore the rest of the ship at my leisure.
The Norad 2 itself was an immense beast, 2 miles end to end from its sub-warp engines to its menacing Yamato Cannon, an immense weapon capable of focusing a small nuclear explosion into a beam of energy and unleashing it upon single foes. Multiple squadrons of the agile Wraith fighters stood beside the ships Dropships in the many hangers. She was a proud and deadly ship, but I would never see her again…
"Now listen up boys and girls," Duke's voice blared over the loudspeakers spread throughout the ship's interior, "We've been given new orders by our loving government. We're to go down to Mar Sara, and wipe those scum ridden Zerg right off the planet! Charge your weapons boys and girls, we're a going to war!" Cheers echoed across the Norad 2 from every marine on board, but I did not cheer. I could not help the fear that was growing slowly inside me. The fear that I would join the many unlucky soldiers whose only lasting impression was a name on the lengthy casualty lists of the Confederacy of Man.
Zerg, the species we were going to war with. An insect-like race that was hell-bent on their purity of essence, whatever that meant. The soldiers themselves were mindless, the entire race was controlled by a single brain-like entity dubbed the Overmind. To the Confederacy, they were just bugs with claws, and we were the exterminators. The only thing we didn't think about however, was that if the Protoss felt they had to toast an entire planet to stop them from spreading, what chance did we have on the ground?
I was dropped off separately from the rest of my group, and given a Vulture bike and my specific orders. I had my own mission, I'd worry bout base camp later. I was to go to the enemy's base, gather intelligence information and then paint a target for nuking, then get the hell out of there. Because the Zerg didn't take prisoners.
I left my bike back at my drop point, favouring my feet for the first part. I ran lightly, safely hidden from view in my cloaking field from any possible Zerg lying in wait, but my fear was still there. I climbed a small range, sensing enormous activity in front of me. But any fears I had before looking over that ridge were washed away in the sheer terror of the unknown that lay below me.
A purple, oozing substance quilted the ground heavily, reeking of death and decay. Human skulls lay among the purple ooze, called Creep I later found out, but it was the buildings themselves that scared me the most. Unlike the electronic filled Barracks I was used to, these buildings were made of skin and pulsed, as if alive. I later learned that they were. Fearfully relaying my information to base, I painted my target. And I ran.
I raced away from that site of horror, neglecting to switch my cloaking back on in my mad dash to safety. I later learned the folly of not staying cloaked if I could. A dog thing burst up from the ground behind me and darted forward, its claws clacking against each other in the air. I unslung my C-10 Canister rifle and fired quickly, the explosive shells making quick work of the Zergling's pitiful armor and spraying green ichor across my back. I continued running. Throwing myself behind a large boulder, I braced myself, and the ground shook and rumbled beneath me, attacked by nuclear fire.
I slowly made my way to my Vulture cycle, wiping my back as I checked for the communications that I knew weren't there. I was scared shitless, the kind of deep down fear that once the adrenaline has worn off leaves you a tired wreck. But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I got back to base.
The sounds of distant gunfire, echoing loudly across the hills and plains of Mar Sara brought me swiftly back to reality. Gunning my engine, I raced forward like a bat out of hell, worst case scenarios playing through my mind all the while. I didn't really have to worry about it though. It was much worse.
Human and Zerg blood pooled along the ground, great piles of green clashing with the torn limbs and red blood of my fellow soldiers. Buildings burned to the ground from the Zerg onslaught, as thousands upon thousands of the fierce but weak zerglings poured into the compound unchecked. Marines were slaughtered helplessly, Firebats exploded in balls of flame as their gas tanks ruptured. And everywhere along the planet, chaos reigned.
Looking down upon the masses of bodies and zerglings strewn about, I knew I couldn't do anything. But I didn't care. I fired anyway. Grenade after grenade shot from the nose of my Vulture, falling upon hundreds of the zerglings, only to watch helplessly as hundreds more leapt over the ones I had just killed. Hearing a rumble, I looked to the sky to see the worst sight a soldier could ever see in his military career. I looked up to see the Norad 2 pull out of orbit, leaving us alone on a planet overrun by the monstrous Zerg…
I don't know how long I sat there, watching the endless carnage below unfold itself. But however long it was, I suddenly felt jarred back to reality by a voice inside my mind, screaming for help. And I answered without thinking. Shooting forward over the barren ground, I came upon a group of zerglings moving forward very slowly, stalking an unseen foe.
The group continued walking forward, oblivious to my presence while completely attuned to another. Out of nowhere, the lead zergling split apart by an unseen blade, splashing its ichor upon the unseen attacker and clearly marking him for his attackers. I wasted no more time. As the zerg charged at the lone soldier, I fired a barrage of grenades, sowing confusion among their ranks and eliminating five of the six left. The other stood no chance and met the same fate as the first, sliced open and dead in an instant. The now green entity that I had just saved brushed the ichor off himself, and I immediately recognized superior cloaking technologies at work. He slowly materialized in front of me, and I stared, for I had seen nothing like him before. What in god's name was he?
The unknown stranger withdrew his blade and looked at me quizzically. He stood about 5 feet tall, slightly hunched over and surrounded by a long blue cloak that swirled behind and around him. He had no mouth, but rather a large bony plate covered by skin where his mouth should have been, and had piercing eyes that were of a deep blue, a colour that made him look sad all the time.
Human? The thought reverberated through my mind, and sudden realization of how he communicated coursed through me. If he had no mouth, what other choice was there but telepathy. "Yes," I said aloud, still a little unnerved by the situation. Had he been cloaked I would have thought I was hearing things. How? Humans have no psionic powers. "No, we don't," I answered. The being, whatever he was, seemed to accept this. How did you find me? My call was a psychic one. I decided to surprise him a little, and answered in the same way. Yes it was, but there are a few of us Humans gifted with the abilities you seem to readily possess, such as myself. This was news to him apparently, like a human suddenly learning that his dog knew how to talk. After awhile, he answered quickly. So I see. In any event I thank you for answering. Now come, we must leave immediately before my ignorant brethren arrive. I have a ship nearby, follow me. I will tell you everything once we are safely away.
As I sat there in his shuttle, guided deftly by my new friend's piloting skills, I remember looking at Mar Sara's destruction with that of great sadness. I had become so hardened by now that death did not bother me, usually. More of the giant Protoss warships descended from the sky, roasting Mar Sara in the same way that they did her sister world of Chau Sara, leaving it nothing more than a blackened rock in space that would never see life on its surface again. And even out in space, carried away swiftly from the carnage, I heard the mental begs and screams of agony from my fellow comrades. And for the first time in ten years, I did something I had been convinced I did not still know how to do. I cried.