Three hundred Years after what seemed the end of the Core, the Arm space
fleet under the command ship SCmd-L32 Made a startling discovery. They
stumbled upon the remains of a Core Starcruiser, beaten beyond repair, with
construction logs dating back Fifty years. The Core were back. But what
destroyed them?
"Sir, one thing is bothering me. Starcruisers don't just blow themselves up, like that one did. Something must've done it." The Arm Admiral, Kyrin- K24, on board the ship Arclight said, in a tight beam two way message to the command ship. "Construction K-bots have determined it was attacked." Commander Leon-L32 said grimly. "With what?" Kirin asked in a shocked tone. "Ion cannons. Another Unknown energy weapon. A flack cannon shell was found as well. It could have been friendly or enemy." Leo replied. "The Core have found a new enemy?" "Looks like it. They might have done our job for us." Leo took his ship in closer to the wreck, Then went down to the hangar to greet the K-bots floating back in. "Report" "Sir, we've found the mission logs, undamaged. They also have an advanced weapon system. And there were residual traces of chemical weapons... This seems to have been an experimental cruiser" Commander Leo took the logs and uploaded them into his memory. Barely Two Weeks ago the ship had been caught by surprise by enemy fire coming from the nearby moon...
Back on the bridge Leo sent orders to his fleet. "Deploy the Birds of Prey, and get them in formation around the ship. Launch orbital satellites. Send probes down to the moon." Leo sent a line of orders to the entire fleet. "Commander, do you expect an attack?" Admiral Kirin asked him when he had a spare moment. "They were surprised, from behind the moon. I expect the same tactics to be used on us. Keep sensors open to track all frequencies, and notify me of any fusion type energy emissions. Or others." He added as an after thought. These aliens may well have superior power sources than cold fusion.
Hours passed, and still the star-fighters patrolled relentlessly around the Command ship. Nothing near the moons moved. "Maybe they've left." Commander Leo thought. "Alright. Bring the Fighters back." He ordered the patrolling fighters. The last fighter was halfway through the hangar entrance way, when a beam of energy shot strait at it and blew it to pieces. It was a Stiletto, a light fighter renounced for speed, but this blast it could not escape. The shrapnel blew into the hangar, scattering over the other ships docked there but causing only minor damages. Leo switched the screen in front of him to show the space in the direction of the blast. Sensors showed none of the energy sources that power an energy weapon such as that used, but something was there... Leathery wings flapped through the void, propelling them towards the Command ship. Large, grotesquely huge teeth snapped in the vacuum, and spewed large balls of destructive energy at the ship. "Shields up! Try EMP's!" Leo ordered, wondering what these organic- no, they must be mechanical- beasts were, as he knew no life lived in the void. The blasts of energy hurled by the creatures caught on the film of the force field, splattering on it, but not being absorbed like most energy. EMP cannons fired from the ship-board cannons and the surrounding ships. The balls of blue energy impacted the beasts one by one, and seemed to do nothing. They just kept on coming. Behind this first wave, Leo could see, on high magnification, more creatures of a different sort. "Open fire! Re-deploy the fighters!" Leo bellowed to all ships, turning his own ship so the hangar entrance was on the other side from the attacking creatures. Star-fighters of all sizes flew out, turning to attack the mysterious invaders. Battle Logs came flying in, piling up on the side of Leon's screen. He shoved them aside, reading a few. These are no machines. They are living things, of flesh and blood. One pilots personal comments read. So that's why the EMP's failed. They seemed disconcerted, didn't function as much as a well trained team, though. Core Neutron weapons would be effective against this enemy. The superior Arm Fighters were beating back the attackers. But Leo could see the second wave rapidly approaching... Before they got within range of the Destroyer's weapons, the second wave opened fire. More energy globs, like the first wave, but these were more deadly. Some managed to penetrate the shields and stuck to the ships armour. Like Acid, they bored deep into the armour before dieing away. "Retreat!" Admiral Kirin suggested- Leo agreed. "Try latch onto one of the carcasses to study!" Leo said. "And retreat!" One of the only ships equipped with a cloaking drive, aside the command cruiser, the Eclipse attack frigate took a body of one of the dead or dieing beasts into its cargo hold, before activating the drive and vanishing from view. It followed the rest of the fleet as they retreated from this new enemy.
Outer worlds, Coordinates 142:332:709 Command ship SCmd-L32, Asteroid base no. 03 "Studied the body?" Leo asked. Him, Kirin, a couple of medics and the commander of the other destroyers and cruisers were in a conference room on board the Flagship, Justice-J143. "Its wasn't quite dead, sir. Its mind still lived, and has been transplanted for further analysis. From what we've learnt through mind probes, it is a highly adaptive member of a hive type species, Space- faring, in which some members are able to survive in vacuum. It serves higher being of great telepathic and intellectual capacity called a Cerebrate, and that in turn is controlled by another being called by it simply the Overmind. Its personal consciousness is rather primitive, designed to take orders and fight. They took our ships for the ships of a species they seem to live off, infecting their bodies and killing millions. From mind-pictures our empaths have picked up, this species looks a lot like us." The chief scientist said. "Like us? Could it be an Arm settlement?" Leo asked. If the safety of his people were at stake... "Not possible. All settlements are accounted for. This race uses technology in some ways inferior to ours. We have had decades of fighting the Core..." "I suggest we find these people and offer our assistance." Admiral Kirin said. "I second that!" Another voice said.
On a unanimous vote, The Arm fleet took flight to possible systems that could contain worlds inhabited by the enemies of these Hive creatures. Hives, they had become known as among the soldiers and pilots. With a full stock of metals and Energy storage glowing with power, the Command ship was prepared to create an entire base from scratch. All the blue prints were there, and the wonders of Nano-technology enabled it to be built from the rawest materials. They approached the world cautiously. Probes showed it to be life supporting. They also showed it to have artificial satellites. Only intelligence made them. Leo ordered construction to start in the neighbouring asteroid belt, he himself took control of an Eclipse Strike Frigate to get closer to the world. Closer the Eclipse's monitors showed the satellites to be all but destroyed. War ravaged the planet below. In orbit above it all, sat a group of Floating, bloated creatures. Hives. They were obviously not built for battle, but more of a transport vehicle for smaller, faster Hives. On Leon's orders the Three Eclipse's that had came with him opened fire. Five of the Overlords, the mind of the flying creature they captured had called them, exploded instantly. More were hit by pieces of flesh, and one started to deploy smaller things. These were the same leathery winged things that had attacked in the first wave. Before one had got fully out of the Overlords protective shell, another eclipse hit it and blew it to pieces. They began to retreat, slowly, waving tentacles at the Arm strike force. Two more shots finished them.
Looking down on the planet, spying from afar, None of Leon's men noticed the ship arriving until it was upon them. Literally. Force shields met, the cloaking devices of the Eclipse's failed. Quickly the pilot showed a good display of initiative and send the ship away from the unidentified one. A broadcast through all frequencies hailed them. A face flickered onto the screen, an inhuman and definitely alien face, wrinkled and greyish blue, with a large head. It said something in another language, then saw the uncomprehending looks on the faces of Leo and the crew members around him. Slowly, text appeared at the bottom of the screen as the alien repeated the same words over and over. The ship's auto translate was working... "Who are you?" The subtitle read. "Can we send a message back?" Leo asked the communications officer. "What d'you wanna say?"
"Terran impudence! They stand between us and the Zerg infested planet." protossno.1 said, declaring his anger at the members of the ship. "These are not terrans, or can't you tell..?" T'rahn replied, with a hard edge of certainty. "They are too tall, paler, they have no hair. Their star ship technology contains cloaking devices, much superior to ours, undetectable by our sensors. We must establish peace with them."
I am commander Leo of an Arm star fleet. Are you friend or foe to the creatures on the planet below? The first message of many appeared, translated, on the protoss ships screen. Soon a reply came back. Executor T'rahn of the Taw-rhee. The Zerg/Hive, Here the translator made these into two versions of the same word, Are our sworn enemies. We demand you remove your pitiful fleet from our presence so we can exterminate them. This message brought many responses from shock to outrage from the Arm ships. Their reply was ice-cold with their displeasure. We will do no such thing. Even now, a superior battleship targets you from afar. We shall reclaim this planet and put it under Arm control, and wipe out the 'Zerg'. You may stay, but should you attack us or the planet you will be destroyed. T'rahn decided to humour them. If they failed to exterminate the Zerg the protoss would intervene, and show their power. As if to illustrate the Arm's power, several star-fighters of powerful build and agility came from the meteor belt, it seemed, and began to circle the three Frigates around the planet.
"They won't understand much except a show of force. Let's give it to 'em." Admiral Kirin aboard his drop ship said, strapping himself into the fleets one Commander suit. Leo had given it to him and opted to stay in the command ship, to cover him from above and keep track of the other alien ship, a dangerous unknown who called themselves, Protoss.
Kirin landed planet side on top of a high mountain, in ranges rich in underground metal but with none or hardly any of the above ground mineral deposits searched for among the alien Hive structure. There was hardly any signs of Geothermal gas, so that was out. Energy would have to be transferred from off planet to accommodate building necessities. A small hand picked army, consisting mainly of Advanced K-bots and a few spider All Terrain vehicles, had come with him, more were off planet in Cyro-sleep, waiting for the command to be awoken and warped planet side. Kirin set to work immediately, using His suits' nanolathe to build the mining facilities out of the stores he held within the suit. The Construction K-bots were doing similar things, following orders given by Leo himself. Metal first, then defence, then energy. Kirin finished his third metal extractor and scanned his radar for any invaders. Nothing so far. They still had time... Kirin climbed to the mountain peak, made easy with the mechanized joints of the commander suit, and started Nanolathing a radar tower, to detect incoming winged beasts. A construction K-bot followed shortly, began manufacturing Defender- class Missile towers, armed with high explosive rockets that were capable of taking down whole core air contingencies. But would they be enough?
Above the planet, in the serene peace of space, Leo awoke to alarm soundings. "Explain." He said calmly, strolling into the bridge. "Un-identified ship leaving this sector, coming from the planet. Not of Hi... Zerg or Protoss make." "Hail it." Leo ordered. "Tried that already, they won't respond." If there was anything Leo didn't like, it was men who fled from a battle. In all battles he had been in, which had been few compared to the ground commanders, as his space fleet was only commissioned fifty years before the end of the war, Leo had never fled a battle. Even when it looked tough, they had always come through. His men knew that, they respected him and some of them were as old as he was. Three hundred and fifty years was a long time to live, especially when your youth was taken up fighting. Not that he had had a youth. Arm soldiers were cross-fertilized through a large gene pool, grown from infants to full growth, taught all they needed to know by computers communing directly with their brains. That technique had reverted back to the old ways, the natural ways, in the peace time, but they still knew it and Leo knew that to fight this war he would have to revive it. They had the gene banks aboard the Command ship, and most construction units planet side had them stored. "Then track them!" Leo said finally, almost whispering. He would find these cowards and show them what he thought of running from their world... When Empyrean was nearly overrun, The sole Commander had stayed and fought for his homeland. A tiny Drone ship ejected itself from the Command ship, now in orbit around the planet, yet to be named. The Arm had simply called it XX-C-01, as the first life giving planet unexplored that existed in colonized space. The drone flew after the fleeing ship and hooked onto it just before it entered Hyperspace and left the system behind.
Kirin surveyed the base he had built. All safe, all secure. One 'Annihilation' energy weapon completed and another under construction. 'Sentinels' stood proud and tall, watching the borders of this mountain outpost... no, it was no outpost. Their home base. 'Hawk's prowled the skies, flying at speeds near to the sound barrier, far faster than any mere animal could fly. Soon, it would be time to launch an attack. Kirin made his way over a mountain to the production area. Several hundred vehicles, war machines ands K-bot suits were built here and pre-programmed to make their way to the fields beyond where they arranged themselves. Hundreds upon hundreds of glorious Zeus bots, armed with their classic lightning gun, stood to attention. Among them were Four legged Fido bots, almost tanks, but with the speed and agility of a K-bot. Zipper patrols were out in the field already- patrolling the immediate area for anything the radar may not have picked up. There was one K-bot type that had yet to prove itself in battle. An experimental type derived fro m old Core blueprints, this was of a new specialisation. Leaper K-bots were huge, bulky things which included experimental jump boosters, allowing them to take to the air for short periods of time. Twenty of them had been constructed and the soldiers were adjusting to them. Then, there was Arm's secret weapon. 'Sniper' was devised to carry a personal cloaking device as well as a large, fold out energy weapon, equal to the 'Annihilator' energy weapons in power! They could take out the most heavily armoured Core structure, and with their first trike capabilities, but once done they were visible, and vulnerable. But Kirin had ordered production of them to start. There may be a use for them. Surveying the army, Kirin had not yet reached the Vehicles. He ran a quick check over them, found them all prepared and accounted for. All soldiers in position. He just had to wait for the Zipper Patrols or the scout planes to find them a target... Barely five minutes later, the first Zipper reports came in. Zerg were amassing just East of the combined Arm armies, as if in expectation of this battle. They weren't stupid. The Zipper's report showed an army of larger size than the Arm's. Kirin quickly sent messages to the awaiting air squadrons in the mountains. "Air support- take out any flyers you see, avoid their acidic spit. It penetrates armour deep. Don't attack them If they run into heavily guarder territory, and avoid flying over the mobile Flack Guns. Otherwise, fire at will!" At Kirin's order he saw them rise. The whole side of one of those mountains had been covered in landed fighters- the small, lithe, 'hawk' class. They rose through the air and flew out over the Arm army.
Zerg fighters rose to meet them. Known to the Zerg as Mutalisks, the larger ones, and the suicidal scourges, they showed no fear at this fast approaching enemy. The Cerebrate of this world had thought he had driven off or killed all the humans, and how could these have survived so long in the inhospitable mountains, and even mustered an army? He expressed its concerns to the Overmind telepathically, and tried to listen in on these humans minds. Funny, the warriors showed no fear, in fact their mindset was similar to the Zerg with its simplicity. They followed orders like the Cerebrates underlings. Skimming each ones minds he saw they each had hopes, dreams, knowledge of families living on worlds far off, memories of battles against a hated enemy. The Cerebrate took all this in, but understood very little of it. they showed no fear of the Zerg, did not know what would happen to them if they were captured alive, or how they would die. They simply didn't care. It was all in the moment. Then the first wave of fighters met the Mutalisk and scourge lines. 'Hawks' launched their missiles and turned away before they came with in range of the Mutalisks, and several hundred of them were killed in the first wave. Abruptly changing tactics to suit its opponents, the Cerebrate sent the Mutalisks soaring after the 'Hawk' squadrons. With a roar, the rest of the Zerg joined in, and charged. Heedless of this, the Cerebrate searched the minds until it found one in power. Kirin felt something probing his mind, some alien presence. It was not the time... probably the leader of these swarms, trying to take him out by mind- assassination. It would not work. Life support systems in the Commander suit were state of the art, he could not die without physical damage to the suit first. "In battle position! Shoot to kill or slow, then kill!" The forces heading on the Zerg were light infantry, the smallest K-bot, automated robots called simply 'Roaches' or walking bombs. The Zerg approached these Roaches and did not fire- in fact these Zerg seemed to have no projectile weapons, and had to be close. Fine by him. The Roaches exploded, unleashing their fiery payload on the Zerg. Hundreds died, but hundreds more took their place. More roaches, and now land mines, exploded. The whole battlefield was becoming filled with craters- not a good thing, the Zerg could hide in there and ambush his forces. Too late now, though.
The Cerebrate probed deeper, and finally established mind contact with Kirin, the Arm commander. *You fight different. You are not Terran's.* It accused him. Kirin groaned. It had got in. *We are the Arm. We can produce men faster than you can kill them, foul Cerebrate, and our weapons are beyond your imagination.* To this the Cerebrate laughed. *I can see into your mind- you hold no such mighty weapons. Death from the skies? The Protoss use such tactics, but you would not fire on your own armies here, would you?* At this Kirin had to laugh. The Cerebrate could see into part of his mind- but not the part that contained major Arm battle tactics, The Blueprints for all the armies out there now, and knowledge of the Star ships in orbit even now. That was all stored in the mechanical memory banks of the machine that was his body at the moment. Still, it would be unwise, though fulfilling, to taunt the Cerebrate. *Leave me in peace. I have a battle to fight.* Kirin said to the Cerebrate, and prepared the drug that would block it from his mind. *It is my battle too, Arm commander. Why do your soldiers have half empty memories? I will find out once they are...* It was cut off as Kirin injected the drug into his bloodstream.
"Sir, one thing is bothering me. Starcruisers don't just blow themselves up, like that one did. Something must've done it." The Arm Admiral, Kyrin- K24, on board the ship Arclight said, in a tight beam two way message to the command ship. "Construction K-bots have determined it was attacked." Commander Leon-L32 said grimly. "With what?" Kirin asked in a shocked tone. "Ion cannons. Another Unknown energy weapon. A flack cannon shell was found as well. It could have been friendly or enemy." Leo replied. "The Core have found a new enemy?" "Looks like it. They might have done our job for us." Leo took his ship in closer to the wreck, Then went down to the hangar to greet the K-bots floating back in. "Report" "Sir, we've found the mission logs, undamaged. They also have an advanced weapon system. And there were residual traces of chemical weapons... This seems to have been an experimental cruiser" Commander Leo took the logs and uploaded them into his memory. Barely Two Weeks ago the ship had been caught by surprise by enemy fire coming from the nearby moon...
Back on the bridge Leo sent orders to his fleet. "Deploy the Birds of Prey, and get them in formation around the ship. Launch orbital satellites. Send probes down to the moon." Leo sent a line of orders to the entire fleet. "Commander, do you expect an attack?" Admiral Kirin asked him when he had a spare moment. "They were surprised, from behind the moon. I expect the same tactics to be used on us. Keep sensors open to track all frequencies, and notify me of any fusion type energy emissions. Or others." He added as an after thought. These aliens may well have superior power sources than cold fusion.
Hours passed, and still the star-fighters patrolled relentlessly around the Command ship. Nothing near the moons moved. "Maybe they've left." Commander Leo thought. "Alright. Bring the Fighters back." He ordered the patrolling fighters. The last fighter was halfway through the hangar entrance way, when a beam of energy shot strait at it and blew it to pieces. It was a Stiletto, a light fighter renounced for speed, but this blast it could not escape. The shrapnel blew into the hangar, scattering over the other ships docked there but causing only minor damages. Leo switched the screen in front of him to show the space in the direction of the blast. Sensors showed none of the energy sources that power an energy weapon such as that used, but something was there... Leathery wings flapped through the void, propelling them towards the Command ship. Large, grotesquely huge teeth snapped in the vacuum, and spewed large balls of destructive energy at the ship. "Shields up! Try EMP's!" Leo ordered, wondering what these organic- no, they must be mechanical- beasts were, as he knew no life lived in the void. The blasts of energy hurled by the creatures caught on the film of the force field, splattering on it, but not being absorbed like most energy. EMP cannons fired from the ship-board cannons and the surrounding ships. The balls of blue energy impacted the beasts one by one, and seemed to do nothing. They just kept on coming. Behind this first wave, Leo could see, on high magnification, more creatures of a different sort. "Open fire! Re-deploy the fighters!" Leo bellowed to all ships, turning his own ship so the hangar entrance was on the other side from the attacking creatures. Star-fighters of all sizes flew out, turning to attack the mysterious invaders. Battle Logs came flying in, piling up on the side of Leon's screen. He shoved them aside, reading a few. These are no machines. They are living things, of flesh and blood. One pilots personal comments read. So that's why the EMP's failed. They seemed disconcerted, didn't function as much as a well trained team, though. Core Neutron weapons would be effective against this enemy. The superior Arm Fighters were beating back the attackers. But Leo could see the second wave rapidly approaching... Before they got within range of the Destroyer's weapons, the second wave opened fire. More energy globs, like the first wave, but these were more deadly. Some managed to penetrate the shields and stuck to the ships armour. Like Acid, they bored deep into the armour before dieing away. "Retreat!" Admiral Kirin suggested- Leo agreed. "Try latch onto one of the carcasses to study!" Leo said. "And retreat!" One of the only ships equipped with a cloaking drive, aside the command cruiser, the Eclipse attack frigate took a body of one of the dead or dieing beasts into its cargo hold, before activating the drive and vanishing from view. It followed the rest of the fleet as they retreated from this new enemy.
Outer worlds, Coordinates 142:332:709 Command ship SCmd-L32, Asteroid base no. 03 "Studied the body?" Leo asked. Him, Kirin, a couple of medics and the commander of the other destroyers and cruisers were in a conference room on board the Flagship, Justice-J143. "Its wasn't quite dead, sir. Its mind still lived, and has been transplanted for further analysis. From what we've learnt through mind probes, it is a highly adaptive member of a hive type species, Space- faring, in which some members are able to survive in vacuum. It serves higher being of great telepathic and intellectual capacity called a Cerebrate, and that in turn is controlled by another being called by it simply the Overmind. Its personal consciousness is rather primitive, designed to take orders and fight. They took our ships for the ships of a species they seem to live off, infecting their bodies and killing millions. From mind-pictures our empaths have picked up, this species looks a lot like us." The chief scientist said. "Like us? Could it be an Arm settlement?" Leo asked. If the safety of his people were at stake... "Not possible. All settlements are accounted for. This race uses technology in some ways inferior to ours. We have had decades of fighting the Core..." "I suggest we find these people and offer our assistance." Admiral Kirin said. "I second that!" Another voice said.
On a unanimous vote, The Arm fleet took flight to possible systems that could contain worlds inhabited by the enemies of these Hive creatures. Hives, they had become known as among the soldiers and pilots. With a full stock of metals and Energy storage glowing with power, the Command ship was prepared to create an entire base from scratch. All the blue prints were there, and the wonders of Nano-technology enabled it to be built from the rawest materials. They approached the world cautiously. Probes showed it to be life supporting. They also showed it to have artificial satellites. Only intelligence made them. Leo ordered construction to start in the neighbouring asteroid belt, he himself took control of an Eclipse Strike Frigate to get closer to the world. Closer the Eclipse's monitors showed the satellites to be all but destroyed. War ravaged the planet below. In orbit above it all, sat a group of Floating, bloated creatures. Hives. They were obviously not built for battle, but more of a transport vehicle for smaller, faster Hives. On Leon's orders the Three Eclipse's that had came with him opened fire. Five of the Overlords, the mind of the flying creature they captured had called them, exploded instantly. More were hit by pieces of flesh, and one started to deploy smaller things. These were the same leathery winged things that had attacked in the first wave. Before one had got fully out of the Overlords protective shell, another eclipse hit it and blew it to pieces. They began to retreat, slowly, waving tentacles at the Arm strike force. Two more shots finished them.
Looking down on the planet, spying from afar, None of Leon's men noticed the ship arriving until it was upon them. Literally. Force shields met, the cloaking devices of the Eclipse's failed. Quickly the pilot showed a good display of initiative and send the ship away from the unidentified one. A broadcast through all frequencies hailed them. A face flickered onto the screen, an inhuman and definitely alien face, wrinkled and greyish blue, with a large head. It said something in another language, then saw the uncomprehending looks on the faces of Leo and the crew members around him. Slowly, text appeared at the bottom of the screen as the alien repeated the same words over and over. The ship's auto translate was working... "Who are you?" The subtitle read. "Can we send a message back?" Leo asked the communications officer. "What d'you wanna say?"
"Terran impudence! They stand between us and the Zerg infested planet." protossno.1 said, declaring his anger at the members of the ship. "These are not terrans, or can't you tell..?" T'rahn replied, with a hard edge of certainty. "They are too tall, paler, they have no hair. Their star ship technology contains cloaking devices, much superior to ours, undetectable by our sensors. We must establish peace with them."
I am commander Leo of an Arm star fleet. Are you friend or foe to the creatures on the planet below? The first message of many appeared, translated, on the protoss ships screen. Soon a reply came back. Executor T'rahn of the Taw-rhee. The Zerg/Hive, Here the translator made these into two versions of the same word, Are our sworn enemies. We demand you remove your pitiful fleet from our presence so we can exterminate them. This message brought many responses from shock to outrage from the Arm ships. Their reply was ice-cold with their displeasure. We will do no such thing. Even now, a superior battleship targets you from afar. We shall reclaim this planet and put it under Arm control, and wipe out the 'Zerg'. You may stay, but should you attack us or the planet you will be destroyed. T'rahn decided to humour them. If they failed to exterminate the Zerg the protoss would intervene, and show their power. As if to illustrate the Arm's power, several star-fighters of powerful build and agility came from the meteor belt, it seemed, and began to circle the three Frigates around the planet.
"They won't understand much except a show of force. Let's give it to 'em." Admiral Kirin aboard his drop ship said, strapping himself into the fleets one Commander suit. Leo had given it to him and opted to stay in the command ship, to cover him from above and keep track of the other alien ship, a dangerous unknown who called themselves, Protoss.
Kirin landed planet side on top of a high mountain, in ranges rich in underground metal but with none or hardly any of the above ground mineral deposits searched for among the alien Hive structure. There was hardly any signs of Geothermal gas, so that was out. Energy would have to be transferred from off planet to accommodate building necessities. A small hand picked army, consisting mainly of Advanced K-bots and a few spider All Terrain vehicles, had come with him, more were off planet in Cyro-sleep, waiting for the command to be awoken and warped planet side. Kirin set to work immediately, using His suits' nanolathe to build the mining facilities out of the stores he held within the suit. The Construction K-bots were doing similar things, following orders given by Leo himself. Metal first, then defence, then energy. Kirin finished his third metal extractor and scanned his radar for any invaders. Nothing so far. They still had time... Kirin climbed to the mountain peak, made easy with the mechanized joints of the commander suit, and started Nanolathing a radar tower, to detect incoming winged beasts. A construction K-bot followed shortly, began manufacturing Defender- class Missile towers, armed with high explosive rockets that were capable of taking down whole core air contingencies. But would they be enough?
Above the planet, in the serene peace of space, Leo awoke to alarm soundings. "Explain." He said calmly, strolling into the bridge. "Un-identified ship leaving this sector, coming from the planet. Not of Hi... Zerg or Protoss make." "Hail it." Leo ordered. "Tried that already, they won't respond." If there was anything Leo didn't like, it was men who fled from a battle. In all battles he had been in, which had been few compared to the ground commanders, as his space fleet was only commissioned fifty years before the end of the war, Leo had never fled a battle. Even when it looked tough, they had always come through. His men knew that, they respected him and some of them were as old as he was. Three hundred and fifty years was a long time to live, especially when your youth was taken up fighting. Not that he had had a youth. Arm soldiers were cross-fertilized through a large gene pool, grown from infants to full growth, taught all they needed to know by computers communing directly with their brains. That technique had reverted back to the old ways, the natural ways, in the peace time, but they still knew it and Leo knew that to fight this war he would have to revive it. They had the gene banks aboard the Command ship, and most construction units planet side had them stored. "Then track them!" Leo said finally, almost whispering. He would find these cowards and show them what he thought of running from their world... When Empyrean was nearly overrun, The sole Commander had stayed and fought for his homeland. A tiny Drone ship ejected itself from the Command ship, now in orbit around the planet, yet to be named. The Arm had simply called it XX-C-01, as the first life giving planet unexplored that existed in colonized space. The drone flew after the fleeing ship and hooked onto it just before it entered Hyperspace and left the system behind.
Kirin surveyed the base he had built. All safe, all secure. One 'Annihilation' energy weapon completed and another under construction. 'Sentinels' stood proud and tall, watching the borders of this mountain outpost... no, it was no outpost. Their home base. 'Hawk's prowled the skies, flying at speeds near to the sound barrier, far faster than any mere animal could fly. Soon, it would be time to launch an attack. Kirin made his way over a mountain to the production area. Several hundred vehicles, war machines ands K-bot suits were built here and pre-programmed to make their way to the fields beyond where they arranged themselves. Hundreds upon hundreds of glorious Zeus bots, armed with their classic lightning gun, stood to attention. Among them were Four legged Fido bots, almost tanks, but with the speed and agility of a K-bot. Zipper patrols were out in the field already- patrolling the immediate area for anything the radar may not have picked up. There was one K-bot type that had yet to prove itself in battle. An experimental type derived fro m old Core blueprints, this was of a new specialisation. Leaper K-bots were huge, bulky things which included experimental jump boosters, allowing them to take to the air for short periods of time. Twenty of them had been constructed and the soldiers were adjusting to them. Then, there was Arm's secret weapon. 'Sniper' was devised to carry a personal cloaking device as well as a large, fold out energy weapon, equal to the 'Annihilator' energy weapons in power! They could take out the most heavily armoured Core structure, and with their first trike capabilities, but once done they were visible, and vulnerable. But Kirin had ordered production of them to start. There may be a use for them. Surveying the army, Kirin had not yet reached the Vehicles. He ran a quick check over them, found them all prepared and accounted for. All soldiers in position. He just had to wait for the Zipper Patrols or the scout planes to find them a target... Barely five minutes later, the first Zipper reports came in. Zerg were amassing just East of the combined Arm armies, as if in expectation of this battle. They weren't stupid. The Zipper's report showed an army of larger size than the Arm's. Kirin quickly sent messages to the awaiting air squadrons in the mountains. "Air support- take out any flyers you see, avoid their acidic spit. It penetrates armour deep. Don't attack them If they run into heavily guarder territory, and avoid flying over the mobile Flack Guns. Otherwise, fire at will!" At Kirin's order he saw them rise. The whole side of one of those mountains had been covered in landed fighters- the small, lithe, 'hawk' class. They rose through the air and flew out over the Arm army.
Zerg fighters rose to meet them. Known to the Zerg as Mutalisks, the larger ones, and the suicidal scourges, they showed no fear at this fast approaching enemy. The Cerebrate of this world had thought he had driven off or killed all the humans, and how could these have survived so long in the inhospitable mountains, and even mustered an army? He expressed its concerns to the Overmind telepathically, and tried to listen in on these humans minds. Funny, the warriors showed no fear, in fact their mindset was similar to the Zerg with its simplicity. They followed orders like the Cerebrates underlings. Skimming each ones minds he saw they each had hopes, dreams, knowledge of families living on worlds far off, memories of battles against a hated enemy. The Cerebrate took all this in, but understood very little of it. they showed no fear of the Zerg, did not know what would happen to them if they were captured alive, or how they would die. They simply didn't care. It was all in the moment. Then the first wave of fighters met the Mutalisk and scourge lines. 'Hawks' launched their missiles and turned away before they came with in range of the Mutalisks, and several hundred of them were killed in the first wave. Abruptly changing tactics to suit its opponents, the Cerebrate sent the Mutalisks soaring after the 'Hawk' squadrons. With a roar, the rest of the Zerg joined in, and charged. Heedless of this, the Cerebrate searched the minds until it found one in power. Kirin felt something probing his mind, some alien presence. It was not the time... probably the leader of these swarms, trying to take him out by mind- assassination. It would not work. Life support systems in the Commander suit were state of the art, he could not die without physical damage to the suit first. "In battle position! Shoot to kill or slow, then kill!" The forces heading on the Zerg were light infantry, the smallest K-bot, automated robots called simply 'Roaches' or walking bombs. The Zerg approached these Roaches and did not fire- in fact these Zerg seemed to have no projectile weapons, and had to be close. Fine by him. The Roaches exploded, unleashing their fiery payload on the Zerg. Hundreds died, but hundreds more took their place. More roaches, and now land mines, exploded. The whole battlefield was becoming filled with craters- not a good thing, the Zerg could hide in there and ambush his forces. Too late now, though.
The Cerebrate probed deeper, and finally established mind contact with Kirin, the Arm commander. *You fight different. You are not Terran's.* It accused him. Kirin groaned. It had got in. *We are the Arm. We can produce men faster than you can kill them, foul Cerebrate, and our weapons are beyond your imagination.* To this the Cerebrate laughed. *I can see into your mind- you hold no such mighty weapons. Death from the skies? The Protoss use such tactics, but you would not fire on your own armies here, would you?* At this Kirin had to laugh. The Cerebrate could see into part of his mind- but not the part that contained major Arm battle tactics, The Blueprints for all the armies out there now, and knowledge of the Star ships in orbit even now. That was all stored in the mechanical memory banks of the machine that was his body at the moment. Still, it would be unwise, though fulfilling, to taunt the Cerebrate. *Leave me in peace. I have a battle to fight.* Kirin said to the Cerebrate, and prepared the drug that would block it from his mind. *It is my battle too, Arm commander. Why do your soldiers have half empty memories? I will find out once they are...* It was cut off as Kirin injected the drug into his bloodstream.