Half Machine, All Warrior
Part 2: The Rebirth
By: Dark-Elk
Light flooded into my "eyes", as I awoke. Reborn at last. It had been a hellish period, being dead, and unable to see, hear or move. I floated, a mere consciousness in a void of no color, no light, no feeling. Trapped with but my memories of the battle, which seemed as though both minutes and millennia ago. I could not help but weep mentally, as my mind replayed my comrade's heroic death over and over.
I moved my fingers, stretching my body. Nothing happened, as I should have known. I was a Dragoon now, and there were no "fingers". I had manipulators clustered in my midsection that would serve as limbs. My legs flexed, all four of them.
Finally, I rotated my optic viewer around, facing myself. I could see what I looked like now. A mechanical being, at least at first glance. Four segmented legs met at a spherical pod, where my mind rested now. I had manipulators of many sizes and lengths clustered underneath, to keep them from getting in my way. My exoskeleton was a deep golden-bronze, but where the limbs met, it was a deep crimson. I had long admired the Dragoons, for although in death they continued to serve. Now I was one, and it felt much different than I had imagined.
I rotated my viewer around again, facing it towards the technician who had apparently activated me after my "slumber". I inquired as to how long I had been gone, and she smiled. She told me I had been dead for almost a year now.
My mind reeled. A year? What could have possibly delayed my resurrection for nearly a year? I began rapidly questioning the technician. She began explaining all that had happened in the last year. When she was finished, I was unable to move. The war had been quite brutal while I was dead.
Shakuras was gone. It had been completely absorbed into a wormhole during an attack by both the Hybrids and the Zerg. Its current location was unknown, and probably never would be known. The location to where the Hybrids move planets and fleets is still unknown, but it is almost certainly their main base. Once found, it should prove to be a great threat to the entire galaxy.
After Shakuras disappeared, the Protoss fleets in the galaxy had very little in additions, and were steadily being destroyed due to attrition. It wouldn't be long before we totally lost the war, and were forced to withdraw from the conflict.
I slowly began moving again, and then inquired about my comrade. She told me that he had been activated a few days earlier, and was assigned to a battle group on a small Zerg held planet controlled by one of the Cerebrates spawned after the fall of Shakuras. The Cerebrate wasn't very battle-hardened yet, so small groups were striking at it with guerilla tactics. My addition to the group would fill the minimum requirement for a full-fledged attack on the Cerebrate.
I began walking towards the exit. The technician jumped up and positioned herself in my path. She told me that she needed to inform me of my status. I mentally sighed, longing for battle once more to test the limits of my capabilities. It was quite worth my wait, however. She told me I had been outfitted with a technological innovation from our Terran allies that would allow me to cloak, similar to their Ghost's. It would run off my psionic energy, so it could last indefinitely. I began to smile, and then stopped myself. After all, I couldn't smile in this form, sad as it was. I stalked out the door, and onto the Shuttle waiting nearby.
We arrived at the Zerg held planet of Sumner with little incident. We narrowly dodged being dragged into a Dominion-Hybrid conflict, and continued along our way. Upon arrival, I exited the Shuttle, and began to search around. I could see the foul, twisted shapes of the Zerg structures against the horizon, and was able to tell that their primary structure was only in Lair form, preventing them from producing more advanced units.
I scuttled around, until I made contact with the Protoss base, and quickly received an update on the situation. Not much had really changed in the area, save one thing. The Terran Dominion had set up a base a distance away from ours. Our bases were laid out along the rough lines of a triangle, and the space in between was no man's land. Craters and slain warriors lay across the area, strewn as if by a windstorm.
I turned away, and then there was an update. The Terrans had begun to establish another base, and a convoy of vehicles was heavily undefended, save a few Siege Tanks and Marines. I scuttled out of the intelligence center, and slammed directly into my comrade. We quickly got each other up to speed on our lives since dying. Not much had happened since then, except my comrade had seen some battles from the front lines and excitedly told me some of the capabilities of the Dragoon exoskeleton. I noticed that although we had the same model of Dragoon armor, his was a pasty yellow on the coloration area, while mine was still the deep crimson.
We met with a group of about a dozen Zealots who were our accomplices for destroying the convoy. They all treated us with such reverence it made me wonder how I had looked to the Dragoons I had fought alongside before. We grouped together, and headed towards the convoy's last known location.
We arrived quite quicker than I would have figured. I had never really noticed how quickly a Dragoon could move, and now with the cloaking upgrade they could move quite stealthily. I barely noticed the terrain around us, which is a tribute to the Dragoon's design. The highly agile legs allowed us to transverse hills and ditches with little effort.
The Terran convoy could be seen in the distance, merely by the dust the crude treads shunted into the air. I counted four Siege Tanks, and about two-dozen Marines. Quite an easy target for our strike force. I had seen a mere six Zealots take down a similar force. I wondered what the Terran commander was thinking, sending such a convoy through hostile territory.
The convoy reached the top of a hill, and paused for a second. They raised various satellite dishes, attempting to gain intelligence about the area ahead. A door on one of the convoy vehicles opened, leaving a figure to exit. It quickly began setting up some sort of communications station. I realized quickly they were planning on setting the base up near here, and what they were setting up was the beginning of its surveillance network. I conferred with my comrades, and we sent the discovery to our commander. His orders were simple: expunge the Terran station with extreme caution. I activated my cloaking field, as did my comrade. The Zealots were unequipped with such devices, and would serve as ground support and diversions while my comrade and I tore through the station.
We began stalking towards the convoy, and then stopped. We were amazed as we saw the figure who had set the station up disappear, and then the convoy proceeded across the other side of the hill. My comrade asked if I had seen the figure reenter the ground transport. I replied in the negative, as he doubtless already knew. The Terran must have been equipped with a cloaking device. I cursed the Terran with an ancient oath from the Aeon of Strife, and quickly messaged the base for an Observer to be dispatched. It was, but I was told to be cautious with it, as our detachment had only been issued three, and one had already been shot down and the other was undergoing repairs.
We stood still for a short while until the Observer floated overhead. It inched forward until the Terran was visible. The Terran quickly shifted his rifle to his shoulder and fired off a round. The round hit the Observer cleanly, and the Lockdown round proceeded to disable the Observer. Cursing the Terran again, I decided to lead a charge to reach him and attempt to surround him. That was a horrible mistake.
As we charge forward I watched the Terran open fire. A round hit my comrade dead center and the Lockdown blossomed over his Dragoon exoskeleton. I barely had any time to realize what had happened as another Lockdown round struck my exoskeleton. My legs froze and I could feel my sensors dimming until they finally became completely opaque. The various processors and motors on my exoskeleton that ran my life now all ceased, and I was completely blind. I could not even hear the slaying of the Terran who had struck at us with such impudence.
I wafted in the darkness for an indeterminate length of time until the Lockdown finally wore off. My senses were the first thing to return to me, albeit slowly. As I opened my "eyes" again, I wished I had some way to turn them off again. The field in front of me was strewn with the bodies of my fallen brethren, dirt piled over their bodies haphazardly by craters. My comrade was standing next to me, and his Lockdown and mine ended completely. We raised our psionic voices in an outburst of rage and despair. The only reason we had survived was because the Terran who had paralyzed us was killed quickly, thus leaving no other Terrans knowledgeable to our positions. Our gift.our curse: the cloaking fields we had been equipped with. Had they been linked to a power source they would have deactivated when we were hit, but because they were linked to our psionic energy we alone survived.
I turned to my comrade, and told him that I was going to make the Terrans pay for this. Vengeance is not typically embraced by Protoss, but I had never felt so powerless in my life. My comrade stared at me for a few short moments, and then agreed. The Terrans had indeed taken their attack too far. They had dishonored us as warriors and as Protoss. Death was the only cure for dishonor, and only one suitable death was readily available. We would assault the Terran base.alone.
Part 2: The Rebirth
By: Dark-Elk
Light flooded into my "eyes", as I awoke. Reborn at last. It had been a hellish period, being dead, and unable to see, hear or move. I floated, a mere consciousness in a void of no color, no light, no feeling. Trapped with but my memories of the battle, which seemed as though both minutes and millennia ago. I could not help but weep mentally, as my mind replayed my comrade's heroic death over and over.
I moved my fingers, stretching my body. Nothing happened, as I should have known. I was a Dragoon now, and there were no "fingers". I had manipulators clustered in my midsection that would serve as limbs. My legs flexed, all four of them.
Finally, I rotated my optic viewer around, facing myself. I could see what I looked like now. A mechanical being, at least at first glance. Four segmented legs met at a spherical pod, where my mind rested now. I had manipulators of many sizes and lengths clustered underneath, to keep them from getting in my way. My exoskeleton was a deep golden-bronze, but where the limbs met, it was a deep crimson. I had long admired the Dragoons, for although in death they continued to serve. Now I was one, and it felt much different than I had imagined.
I rotated my viewer around again, facing it towards the technician who had apparently activated me after my "slumber". I inquired as to how long I had been gone, and she smiled. She told me I had been dead for almost a year now.
My mind reeled. A year? What could have possibly delayed my resurrection for nearly a year? I began rapidly questioning the technician. She began explaining all that had happened in the last year. When she was finished, I was unable to move. The war had been quite brutal while I was dead.
Shakuras was gone. It had been completely absorbed into a wormhole during an attack by both the Hybrids and the Zerg. Its current location was unknown, and probably never would be known. The location to where the Hybrids move planets and fleets is still unknown, but it is almost certainly their main base. Once found, it should prove to be a great threat to the entire galaxy.
After Shakuras disappeared, the Protoss fleets in the galaxy had very little in additions, and were steadily being destroyed due to attrition. It wouldn't be long before we totally lost the war, and were forced to withdraw from the conflict.
I slowly began moving again, and then inquired about my comrade. She told me that he had been activated a few days earlier, and was assigned to a battle group on a small Zerg held planet controlled by one of the Cerebrates spawned after the fall of Shakuras. The Cerebrate wasn't very battle-hardened yet, so small groups were striking at it with guerilla tactics. My addition to the group would fill the minimum requirement for a full-fledged attack on the Cerebrate.
I began walking towards the exit. The technician jumped up and positioned herself in my path. She told me that she needed to inform me of my status. I mentally sighed, longing for battle once more to test the limits of my capabilities. It was quite worth my wait, however. She told me I had been outfitted with a technological innovation from our Terran allies that would allow me to cloak, similar to their Ghost's. It would run off my psionic energy, so it could last indefinitely. I began to smile, and then stopped myself. After all, I couldn't smile in this form, sad as it was. I stalked out the door, and onto the Shuttle waiting nearby.
We arrived at the Zerg held planet of Sumner with little incident. We narrowly dodged being dragged into a Dominion-Hybrid conflict, and continued along our way. Upon arrival, I exited the Shuttle, and began to search around. I could see the foul, twisted shapes of the Zerg structures against the horizon, and was able to tell that their primary structure was only in Lair form, preventing them from producing more advanced units.
I scuttled around, until I made contact with the Protoss base, and quickly received an update on the situation. Not much had really changed in the area, save one thing. The Terran Dominion had set up a base a distance away from ours. Our bases were laid out along the rough lines of a triangle, and the space in between was no man's land. Craters and slain warriors lay across the area, strewn as if by a windstorm.
I turned away, and then there was an update. The Terrans had begun to establish another base, and a convoy of vehicles was heavily undefended, save a few Siege Tanks and Marines. I scuttled out of the intelligence center, and slammed directly into my comrade. We quickly got each other up to speed on our lives since dying. Not much had happened since then, except my comrade had seen some battles from the front lines and excitedly told me some of the capabilities of the Dragoon exoskeleton. I noticed that although we had the same model of Dragoon armor, his was a pasty yellow on the coloration area, while mine was still the deep crimson.
We met with a group of about a dozen Zealots who were our accomplices for destroying the convoy. They all treated us with such reverence it made me wonder how I had looked to the Dragoons I had fought alongside before. We grouped together, and headed towards the convoy's last known location.
We arrived quite quicker than I would have figured. I had never really noticed how quickly a Dragoon could move, and now with the cloaking upgrade they could move quite stealthily. I barely noticed the terrain around us, which is a tribute to the Dragoon's design. The highly agile legs allowed us to transverse hills and ditches with little effort.
The Terran convoy could be seen in the distance, merely by the dust the crude treads shunted into the air. I counted four Siege Tanks, and about two-dozen Marines. Quite an easy target for our strike force. I had seen a mere six Zealots take down a similar force. I wondered what the Terran commander was thinking, sending such a convoy through hostile territory.
The convoy reached the top of a hill, and paused for a second. They raised various satellite dishes, attempting to gain intelligence about the area ahead. A door on one of the convoy vehicles opened, leaving a figure to exit. It quickly began setting up some sort of communications station. I realized quickly they were planning on setting the base up near here, and what they were setting up was the beginning of its surveillance network. I conferred with my comrades, and we sent the discovery to our commander. His orders were simple: expunge the Terran station with extreme caution. I activated my cloaking field, as did my comrade. The Zealots were unequipped with such devices, and would serve as ground support and diversions while my comrade and I tore through the station.
We began stalking towards the convoy, and then stopped. We were amazed as we saw the figure who had set the station up disappear, and then the convoy proceeded across the other side of the hill. My comrade asked if I had seen the figure reenter the ground transport. I replied in the negative, as he doubtless already knew. The Terran must have been equipped with a cloaking device. I cursed the Terran with an ancient oath from the Aeon of Strife, and quickly messaged the base for an Observer to be dispatched. It was, but I was told to be cautious with it, as our detachment had only been issued three, and one had already been shot down and the other was undergoing repairs.
We stood still for a short while until the Observer floated overhead. It inched forward until the Terran was visible. The Terran quickly shifted his rifle to his shoulder and fired off a round. The round hit the Observer cleanly, and the Lockdown round proceeded to disable the Observer. Cursing the Terran again, I decided to lead a charge to reach him and attempt to surround him. That was a horrible mistake.
As we charge forward I watched the Terran open fire. A round hit my comrade dead center and the Lockdown blossomed over his Dragoon exoskeleton. I barely had any time to realize what had happened as another Lockdown round struck my exoskeleton. My legs froze and I could feel my sensors dimming until they finally became completely opaque. The various processors and motors on my exoskeleton that ran my life now all ceased, and I was completely blind. I could not even hear the slaying of the Terran who had struck at us with such impudence.
I wafted in the darkness for an indeterminate length of time until the Lockdown finally wore off. My senses were the first thing to return to me, albeit slowly. As I opened my "eyes" again, I wished I had some way to turn them off again. The field in front of me was strewn with the bodies of my fallen brethren, dirt piled over their bodies haphazardly by craters. My comrade was standing next to me, and his Lockdown and mine ended completely. We raised our psionic voices in an outburst of rage and despair. The only reason we had survived was because the Terran who had paralyzed us was killed quickly, thus leaving no other Terrans knowledgeable to our positions. Our gift.our curse: the cloaking fields we had been equipped with. Had they been linked to a power source they would have deactivated when we were hit, but because they were linked to our psionic energy we alone survived.
I turned to my comrade, and told him that I was going to make the Terrans pay for this. Vengeance is not typically embraced by Protoss, but I had never felt so powerless in my life. My comrade stared at me for a few short moments, and then agreed. The Terrans had indeed taken their attack too far. They had dishonored us as warriors and as Protoss. Death was the only cure for dishonor, and only one suitable death was readily available. We would assault the Terran base.alone.