Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Starcraft or the characters, but
the story is mine. I was not paid or not receiving any money from
Blizzard.
Chapter 6
The Blue Nose was making great time, as usual. Most of the UED had remained on the planet Aster Prime. Only the Blue Nose and six other Cruisers had moved on. The new course was going to the Sara system. Long range scanners showed major activity and Admiral Gray wanted to see what the fuss was all about. They slowly made their way to the Aster Prime jump node. The confident Admiral watched the node approaching quickly as a wing of escort ships flew by.
"Admiral, President Holland has sent you a message. You may take it in your quarters sir," First Mate Tab said with a perfect attention stance and salute.
The Admiral smiled. "Well done, Mr. Tab. Assume control of the bridge till I return," he replied as he put his arm on Tab's shoulder. The Helm was in good hands. Admiral Gray walked off the bridge to find his room. The walls of the corridor were spotless. The metal shown as if it was brand new. Terrence smiled at the beauty of the ship.
He found his quarters at the end of the main hall of the ship. It wasn't home, but it was very comfortable. The red carpeting lined the room with a viewing window that showed another Cruiser along the side of the Blue Nose. There was a bookshelf that was filled with various books on war, peace, drama, romance and more located behind his desk on the far wall. He sat at his desk and opened his laptop. The computer activated and said that he had one new message.
He stood up and walked to a small wine closet he had. He opened it and was about to pull out a bottle but though against it. "Not yet," he whispered. He walked back to the computer and opened the message.
President Holland face appeared with a smile. "Good morning, Admiral. Well it is morning here at least. I am glad that you found a good location to set up H.Q. and that you have moved on so quickly and encountered no resistance. We are all pulling for you here and hope to here a report of your progress within the next three days. Remember your objective is to deal with the PRIMARY threat. The Zerg. Good hunter Terrence," Holland said and the transmission faded away.
"Well he put a big emphasis on the PRIMARY target, didn't he?" he whispered to himself. He turned to face the door as it opened and saw Mr. Tab standing there.
"Sir, we have reached the jump node. We are warping to the Sara system now, sir." He spoke efficiently and coolly. The man would make a fine addition to the UED one day.
Admiral Gray nodded. "Come in. Have a drink," the Admiral offered. Tab was slightly taken back by the offer.
"Sir?" he asked confused. He loosened a little looking at the Admiral.
"No, I insist. What do you take?" Admiral Gray said walking over to the liquor cabinet he had.
Tab walked in at the Admiral's request. He sat down in a comfortable velvet chair that was in front of the Admiral's desk. "Scotch in water. Is everything all right, sir?" Tab was concerned by this sudden action. He wondered if things went well in the message from President Holland.
"Stan, please, my name is Terrence," Admiral Gray said handing Tab his drink. He walked behind his desk and sat down.
"Very well then, Terrence. Is everything, okay?" Tab asked again more concerned by the sudden hospitality.
Admiral Gray took a sip of his drink. "Everything is fine, Stan. You have been with me how long, three years? Four?" he asked the officer sitting in front of him with a casual look on his face.
Stanley Tab was confused. He did not know what the Admiral was exactly getting at and that was starting to get under his skin. "Four years, three months, and two days, si-I mean Terrence."
"Heh. You remembered that. That's what is astounding. I have put in an order for you to be a Commander Stan. Your attention to detail, your skill, the way in which you act upon your duties is unreal," Admiral Gray said smiling.
Stan smiled widely. "Thank you, sir. Thank you very much," was all the reply he could mutter out.
"No need to thank what is great. Your going to be a fine leader one day. Once this campaign is over, you will be commanding your own Battle Cruiser," Admiral Gray said standing with a huge smile on his face as well. "It's damn good to have you onboard this ship, son. You're a damn fine soldier. Carry on, Mr. Tab," Admiral Gray said letting Stanley rise from his chair. Tab left the room feeling proud to be a soldier on the Blue Nose.
"Sir, we have reached the Sara system! Zerg are about to engage us, sir!" The comm. fell silent. Gray ran to the observation window and saw the Zerg flyers coming at them.
He ran out of his quarters and ran for the bridge. He got there in a record time. "I want communication with the H.Q. on Aster Prime! We will need reinforcements ASAP!" he ordered watching the Zerg come at them with unreal speed.
"Sir, H.Q. is getting charred up pretty bad, sir! They are reading at least four Broods raining down on them! The Cruisers are already coming here to escape the attack! Anyone on the surface is more then likely dead already, sir!" Tab said maintaining control. He was good under pressure.
"Sir, what is our orders sir?" Tab asked with a look of, Admiral Gray couldn't place it. It wasn't fear nor was it hate. 'Damn good soldier' he thought to himself.
Jeffery Homes was on the bridge of the Hyperion when he saw six Battle Cruisers warp in. Almost as soon as they had warped in, the Zerg appeared engaging them. "Can you get a fix on those Cruisers? Are they Dominion or what?" he asked the man at the scanning station.
He looked up at Homes shaking his head. "Negative, sir. Not Dominion. Sir, they have the ensignia of the UED. More are warping in now, sir!" he yelled back as more Cruisers warped in.
Homes watched the battle from afar. Then one of the large Behemoth Cruisers went down. Though the details of the fight could not be seen by eye, the explosion of that Cruiser grabbed the attention of all the men and women on the Hyperion.
He pointed his finger at the comm. officer. "Get a hold of Raynor! Tell him we got a lot of unwanted company here! Move it people! Get fighters ready to deploy and have the Cruisers take up defensive fighting positions. If the Zerg or UED win, no doubt that they will come here," Homes ordered and the entire room began frantically working to achieve the same goal.
Another explosion distracted them for only a minute. But the next words Homes heard frighten him to the core. His blood turned to ice as he heard the message.
"Zerg! They are about ready to engage, sir! Hundreds of them! Why won't they die?" screamed the officer at the radar station.
Homes could not believe the swirling shapes that were approaching were Zerg. "Are fighters deployed?" He looked back through the observation window to see the smaller laser turrets on the Cruisers begin to fire.
"Aye sir. Fighters are deployed," replied a voice from somewhere behind him. He didn't care how it was, as long as he got the answer. Then all he was dreading was approaching him. The jellyfish/starfish like Scourge was charging for the bridge.
"Oh my God," he let slip out. "Fire the forward cannon!" he screamed as the creature approached with terrifying speed.
"Too late!" screamed one of the officers as they all began to flee their posts.
Homes stood there watching the beast come closer. "God help us," he whispered as the creature rammed into the observation window. The explosion consumed the bridge crippling the Hyperion. Smaller explosions continued down the neck of the doomed ship.
"Oh damn it! We lost the Hyperion, sir!" the comm. officer screamed. The Commander of the New Hope watched in horror as the lead Cruiser broke apart.
Daniel McColl watched in anger a sadness as the lead Cruiser continued to break down. "All craft, stay away from the Hyperion! The shock wave of that thing going down will be more then enough to end this fight!" he ordered as his Cruiser began to bank hard right. Many of the fighters did the same. He watched for the last time as the damage finally overtook the ship. The ship exploded in one final fury send a shock wave that was visible toward the remaining fleet.
"Sir, half of the Zerg were caught in that explosion! We have a chance, sir!" said the radar officer smiling with hope of life.
McColl looked down at the man, then back out the window. "Tell that to the men and women on that ship," he whispered in a lone tone barely audible to himself. "I want reports on all the fighters now. Need to know how bad our losses are."
"Sir, we have lost only twenty nine ships so far. If we keep this up, we can turn the tides in more for our favor," said someone from down below. He could see the face of the officer, but it didn't matter to him much either. He was sick with sorrow for those lost onboard the Hyperion.
"More Zerg joining the engagement both on the UED front and ours Commander!" again the radar officer cried. He looked up at the Commander. "What is our orders, sir?" he asked looking scared beyond the point of coming back. Hysterical maybe.
"We have men on the surface of Mar Sara. You want to abandon them?" he asked looking down at the now pale radar officer. "We hold our ground. Maybe those guys over there could use some help too." he said but trailed off. He watched as another of their Cruisers went up in flames.
"Sir, Memories is going down!" one of the officers cried out.
"Jesus.." He whispered as the ruined Memories cut in front of their flight path. "That Cruiser may go down any second! HARD RIGHT!" he screamed as the Cruiser slowly turned out of the path of the of the giant inferno. "Brace for impact!" again he screamed as the remainder of the Cruiser exploded. The shock wave hammered the New Hope. Many of the systems went off line and the lights went out. Small fires broke out in the bridge.
"Commander! What do we do?" a voice called out from the darkness in the bridge. The silence seemed to drag on forever but there was no response. "Commander! What are we doing?! Commander?!"
The away team with Jim Raynor reached the surface of one of the downed Carriers. With weapons ready, they moved through the dead world prepared for the worst. They reached the hull of the Carrier and took up a defensive position. An SCV then approached and began cutting a large square in the ships hull.
"Raynor, we should start looking in other locations as well. It will save us some time and maybe more lives," one of the medics said. It was true but risky.
Raynor didn't know what to say. He knew it would save time and lives but what if the Zerg were lingering around here. "All right. Listen, stay close, go to another Carrier that's right around the block you, got me? Don't need Zerg breakin' us up one by one and pickin' us off. There is another Carrier not far from here, take one of the Dropships and get to it," he said as the large square section fell in.
A distance hum was growing louder and had grabbed Jim's attention. A small portion of the away team went in. A few medics and a few marines to help drag out the wounded. There were a few other teams station at a few other Carriers no more then five minutes away all working in the same fashion.
That hum was louder and had completely consumed Jim's mind. "Sounds like Scouts." As he said that, three Scouts flew directly overhead. "Yup, those are Scouts."
The three Scouts did another flyby before landing near the Dropships. Three Protoss pilots emerged from the bellies of the large beautiful craft that landed. Artanis was one of them. Though it was the only one he knew of the three, he was glad to see that they managed to stay in the air.
"Captain Raynor, glad to see your attempting to pull our people out. Zelsasha, Latura, see if you can't help with the rescue," as he spoke the two ran into the Carrier to help the search for survivors.
"What the hell happened man? You boys shoulda knocked the hell outta those Zerg." Jim knew how bad the attack must have been. "Where is the Vengeance?" he asked hoping that Zeratul would still be okay.
Artanis looked down slightly at the man. "The Zerg had us heavily outnumbered and there was little to nothing we could do to stop them. I do not know where the Vengeance went down. We barely managed to get here ourselves without dying. We lost one of ours along with way here," the sound of the voice was troubled. Artanis was upset and scared for the well being of Zeratul as much as Jim was.
"It's okay man. We will find him and anyone else we can, and get the hell of this rock. Trust me," he said smiling at Artanis. He was about to speak again when the unmistakable sound of Article fire took flight. "Damn. Figures, eh?" Jim ran inside the Cruiser along with Artanis to help speed up the search.
Artanis looked around in the dimly lit room. "This is the Vengeance. Jim, this is the Vengeance," he repeated not believing this twisted shape was once the Carrier he had stood only moments before.
Jim looked up and nodded. He was about to continued forward when the team came back. "What is it? Did you find anyone?" Jim asked one of the medics as he walked by. He looked up and shook his head and continued to walk out of the ship.
"Jim, we could not find Zeratul's body. He must have survived the crash and found a way out," Zelsasha said walking up to him. Jim looked up a little puzzled at the Protoss. "Forgive me, I am Zelsasha. I served under Zeratul. He is not here, I am certain he is alive," he said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Captain! We got Protoss tracks leading away from the hanger and a few dead Zerg along the way! We got a few men following right now," one of the marines spoke quickly but calmly.
A few more blasts came for a Siege tank not to far off. Jim looked up at the team. "Okay, we are leaving. Get everyone back to the Hyperion. I need one transport to stay behind with a few men. Let's go!" Jim said as a few of his men followed him around to the side where they found the tracks.
"Zelsasha, take Latura and escort those ships back. I will stay here with Jim. Move out, my warriors," Artanis said leaving the two to follow Jim. They both looked at each other and nodded. They ran back to the Scouts and began to take off along with a few of the Dropships. They broke past the atmosphere and were horrified at the still ongoing battle.
"I hope there are still ships for Jim and the others to come too," Zelsasha said speeding up to help in the fight.
"Zelsasha, we are to escort the Dropships! Great." Latura said breaking formation as well to follow Zelsasha into the conflict. She gave max. throttle and was almost in targeting range of some of the Zerg flyers. She saw Zelsasha let two missiles go and they sped off towards their targets. Two Devourers had fallen victim to the projectiles, killing them both.
Zelsasha saw that the battle was almost over now and the Terrans had it under a shaky control. "Let's protect the Dropships," he said as he brought the Scout around as did Latura.
"Very well," she replied following his lead back to the Dropships. She was glad he was going to follow orders this time.
Jim and his men followed the tracks for ten minutes. "Damn, he got a hell of a long way away from the Carrier," he whispered with a little bit of frustration building. As they continued pursuing the never ending trail, a body was found. A female Protoss was lying on the ground and the tracks stopped. She had a makeshift split on her left leg.
"These tracks couldn't belong to her, she is wounded. We would have noticed that in the tracks," the medic said approaching slowly.
"AH, Captain Raynor, good to see you here," Zeratul said stepping out of a small brush. "I had reason to believe the Zerg were pursuing us. I was using Monera as bait," he said walking over to her. She sat up from the position she was in.
"Rescuers!" she cried happily. Zeratul then walked over to her and picked her up.
"She was injured on the Vengeance, I believe it's a fracture or a break in her left leg," he said showing the medic the spot.
Jim looked up relieved to see him. "I'm sure it hurts Mon- rea-or whatever. Sorry, don't have time on pronouncing names. We gotta move. We can fix you up on the Dropship," Jim said turning around and sprinting back the way they had come from with his men close behind.
Zeratul then noticed Artanis alone. He and Zelsasha were together and knew they wouldn't part unless. "So I take it Zelsasha is lost?" he said extremely hurt. Artanis could see this in his eyes.
He walked up to Zeratul and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It will be hard to bear, but Zelsasha is- he is escorting a few Dropships back to the Battle Cruisers," Artanis replied chuckling now.
Zeratul gave a dead stare at him for a moment. "That's not funny," he replied. After a few minutes, both Artanis and Zeratul were laughing lightly. "We must catch up, come on," he said running with the wounded female in his arms.
Artanis looked at Zeratul as they ran to catch up. "You are better with a blade, do you want me to carry her?" Zeratul only gazed at him for a moment. He stopped and handed over the wounded warrior. Artanis held her the same way as Zeratul did and she wrapped her arms around his neck as well. "We will get you out of here, do not worry."
"Artanis, do you have your shield generator with you?" Zeratul asked as Artanis shook his head.
"No, it is in my Scout. We are not too far now. We can make it without them," he replied speeding up. Something moved somewhere to their left but the kept running not wanting to wait and find out what it was. A low whistle sound was heard along with a cry of pain. Four spine needles dug deep in Artanis' left leg. He fell losing grip of Monera. She screamed as she crashed onto her left leg.
Zeratul turned to see a Hydralisk emerge. He saw both Artanis crawling on the floor and Monera screaming out in pain for her wounded leg. Something moved behind Zeratul as well. He turned to see four more Hydralisks drooling and claws raised.
"Well, some one has come to greet us. Do come closer," he said with his blade extending out. He then faded from existence. His form completely disappearing in the dying light. The Hydralisks then began firing their spines blindly trying to hit the now invisible target. One of the Hydralisks cried as its intestines and stomach were now on the outside of its body. Another one too died but didn't have time to see it coming. The front portion of its face fell from the rest of the head.
The Hydralisk that was standing alone then jumped and landed on Artanis. It's claws brought up ready to come down one the Templar. Artanis closed his eyes tightly ready to accept his fate when the sound of Gauss rifle fire had cut down the beast. He looked up and saw Jim Raynor standing not to far off with the barrel of his weapon smoking. The last two Hydralisks retreated from the fight. Jim ran back after them.
Jim held his weapon steady and fired a fragmentation grenade from the RPG that was attached to the bottom of his weapon. Both Hydralisks screamed and died in small bits and pieces. "Thank God for that," he whispered smiling. "Artanis, if your try to impress the lady, man oh man, you messed up," Jim said smiling as he went to help them.
Artanis pulled out the spines from his leg. "Not funny Captain Raynor," he said throwing the last needle he pulled out away.
Monera looked up laughing slightly. "It's actually quite funny. Hehe. That was funny Mr. Raynor," she said sitting herself up again.
Jim quickly turned to face the female Protoss. "Hey, no, don't. No Mr. Raynor, that just sounds really weird. You can call me Jim, James, Jimbo, Captain Raynor, I don't care. That Mr. Raynor thing just doesn't fit that well," he said very quickly. He started smiling at himself imagining how dumb that must have sounded.
"Mr. Raynor, if we could get back to your ship now, that would be a wise choice," Zeratul said becoming visible again. He had a slight tone of sarcasm in his voice.
Jim rolled his eyes. "You're a funny guy Zeratul. Real funny pal," he said running to help up Artanis.
Artanis stood and picked up Monera. They started ahead with Jim and Zeratul close behind. Jim looked over at Zeratul with a puzzled look.
"What is it, Jim?" he asked looking back at him.
Jim then looked straight ahead. "You got to teach me how to do that invisible thing. That is something I just need to know how to do." Jim looked back at Zeratul smiling.
Zeratul shook his head. "Raynor, I do not know what I should do with you," he said running a little faster.
Jim looked back ahead. You could cut me into a million small pieces. Heh," he said shaking his head.
They reached the ship and without a moments hesitation got onboard. Artanis placed Monera inside the ship and ran back out. He climbed into his Scout and lifted off. Soon afterwards, the Dropship followed. They had done what they could and prayed that the Protoss that were still alive were rescued by other teams or had died. It was a cruel thought but it was better then the alternative. They reached space to see only that there was another battle. This time they weren't as fortunate.
Chapter 6
The Blue Nose was making great time, as usual. Most of the UED had remained on the planet Aster Prime. Only the Blue Nose and six other Cruisers had moved on. The new course was going to the Sara system. Long range scanners showed major activity and Admiral Gray wanted to see what the fuss was all about. They slowly made their way to the Aster Prime jump node. The confident Admiral watched the node approaching quickly as a wing of escort ships flew by.
"Admiral, President Holland has sent you a message. You may take it in your quarters sir," First Mate Tab said with a perfect attention stance and salute.
The Admiral smiled. "Well done, Mr. Tab. Assume control of the bridge till I return," he replied as he put his arm on Tab's shoulder. The Helm was in good hands. Admiral Gray walked off the bridge to find his room. The walls of the corridor were spotless. The metal shown as if it was brand new. Terrence smiled at the beauty of the ship.
He found his quarters at the end of the main hall of the ship. It wasn't home, but it was very comfortable. The red carpeting lined the room with a viewing window that showed another Cruiser along the side of the Blue Nose. There was a bookshelf that was filled with various books on war, peace, drama, romance and more located behind his desk on the far wall. He sat at his desk and opened his laptop. The computer activated and said that he had one new message.
He stood up and walked to a small wine closet he had. He opened it and was about to pull out a bottle but though against it. "Not yet," he whispered. He walked back to the computer and opened the message.
President Holland face appeared with a smile. "Good morning, Admiral. Well it is morning here at least. I am glad that you found a good location to set up H.Q. and that you have moved on so quickly and encountered no resistance. We are all pulling for you here and hope to here a report of your progress within the next three days. Remember your objective is to deal with the PRIMARY threat. The Zerg. Good hunter Terrence," Holland said and the transmission faded away.
"Well he put a big emphasis on the PRIMARY target, didn't he?" he whispered to himself. He turned to face the door as it opened and saw Mr. Tab standing there.
"Sir, we have reached the jump node. We are warping to the Sara system now, sir." He spoke efficiently and coolly. The man would make a fine addition to the UED one day.
Admiral Gray nodded. "Come in. Have a drink," the Admiral offered. Tab was slightly taken back by the offer.
"Sir?" he asked confused. He loosened a little looking at the Admiral.
"No, I insist. What do you take?" Admiral Gray said walking over to the liquor cabinet he had.
Tab walked in at the Admiral's request. He sat down in a comfortable velvet chair that was in front of the Admiral's desk. "Scotch in water. Is everything all right, sir?" Tab was concerned by this sudden action. He wondered if things went well in the message from President Holland.
"Stan, please, my name is Terrence," Admiral Gray said handing Tab his drink. He walked behind his desk and sat down.
"Very well then, Terrence. Is everything, okay?" Tab asked again more concerned by the sudden hospitality.
Admiral Gray took a sip of his drink. "Everything is fine, Stan. You have been with me how long, three years? Four?" he asked the officer sitting in front of him with a casual look on his face.
Stanley Tab was confused. He did not know what the Admiral was exactly getting at and that was starting to get under his skin. "Four years, three months, and two days, si-I mean Terrence."
"Heh. You remembered that. That's what is astounding. I have put in an order for you to be a Commander Stan. Your attention to detail, your skill, the way in which you act upon your duties is unreal," Admiral Gray said smiling.
Stan smiled widely. "Thank you, sir. Thank you very much," was all the reply he could mutter out.
"No need to thank what is great. Your going to be a fine leader one day. Once this campaign is over, you will be commanding your own Battle Cruiser," Admiral Gray said standing with a huge smile on his face as well. "It's damn good to have you onboard this ship, son. You're a damn fine soldier. Carry on, Mr. Tab," Admiral Gray said letting Stanley rise from his chair. Tab left the room feeling proud to be a soldier on the Blue Nose.
"Sir, we have reached the Sara system! Zerg are about to engage us, sir!" The comm. fell silent. Gray ran to the observation window and saw the Zerg flyers coming at them.
He ran out of his quarters and ran for the bridge. He got there in a record time. "I want communication with the H.Q. on Aster Prime! We will need reinforcements ASAP!" he ordered watching the Zerg come at them with unreal speed.
"Sir, H.Q. is getting charred up pretty bad, sir! They are reading at least four Broods raining down on them! The Cruisers are already coming here to escape the attack! Anyone on the surface is more then likely dead already, sir!" Tab said maintaining control. He was good under pressure.
"Sir, what is our orders sir?" Tab asked with a look of, Admiral Gray couldn't place it. It wasn't fear nor was it hate. 'Damn good soldier' he thought to himself.
Jeffery Homes was on the bridge of the Hyperion when he saw six Battle Cruisers warp in. Almost as soon as they had warped in, the Zerg appeared engaging them. "Can you get a fix on those Cruisers? Are they Dominion or what?" he asked the man at the scanning station.
He looked up at Homes shaking his head. "Negative, sir. Not Dominion. Sir, they have the ensignia of the UED. More are warping in now, sir!" he yelled back as more Cruisers warped in.
Homes watched the battle from afar. Then one of the large Behemoth Cruisers went down. Though the details of the fight could not be seen by eye, the explosion of that Cruiser grabbed the attention of all the men and women on the Hyperion.
He pointed his finger at the comm. officer. "Get a hold of Raynor! Tell him we got a lot of unwanted company here! Move it people! Get fighters ready to deploy and have the Cruisers take up defensive fighting positions. If the Zerg or UED win, no doubt that they will come here," Homes ordered and the entire room began frantically working to achieve the same goal.
Another explosion distracted them for only a minute. But the next words Homes heard frighten him to the core. His blood turned to ice as he heard the message.
"Zerg! They are about ready to engage, sir! Hundreds of them! Why won't they die?" screamed the officer at the radar station.
Homes could not believe the swirling shapes that were approaching were Zerg. "Are fighters deployed?" He looked back through the observation window to see the smaller laser turrets on the Cruisers begin to fire.
"Aye sir. Fighters are deployed," replied a voice from somewhere behind him. He didn't care how it was, as long as he got the answer. Then all he was dreading was approaching him. The jellyfish/starfish like Scourge was charging for the bridge.
"Oh my God," he let slip out. "Fire the forward cannon!" he screamed as the creature approached with terrifying speed.
"Too late!" screamed one of the officers as they all began to flee their posts.
Homes stood there watching the beast come closer. "God help us," he whispered as the creature rammed into the observation window. The explosion consumed the bridge crippling the Hyperion. Smaller explosions continued down the neck of the doomed ship.
"Oh damn it! We lost the Hyperion, sir!" the comm. officer screamed. The Commander of the New Hope watched in horror as the lead Cruiser broke apart.
Daniel McColl watched in anger a sadness as the lead Cruiser continued to break down. "All craft, stay away from the Hyperion! The shock wave of that thing going down will be more then enough to end this fight!" he ordered as his Cruiser began to bank hard right. Many of the fighters did the same. He watched for the last time as the damage finally overtook the ship. The ship exploded in one final fury send a shock wave that was visible toward the remaining fleet.
"Sir, half of the Zerg were caught in that explosion! We have a chance, sir!" said the radar officer smiling with hope of life.
McColl looked down at the man, then back out the window. "Tell that to the men and women on that ship," he whispered in a lone tone barely audible to himself. "I want reports on all the fighters now. Need to know how bad our losses are."
"Sir, we have lost only twenty nine ships so far. If we keep this up, we can turn the tides in more for our favor," said someone from down below. He could see the face of the officer, but it didn't matter to him much either. He was sick with sorrow for those lost onboard the Hyperion.
"More Zerg joining the engagement both on the UED front and ours Commander!" again the radar officer cried. He looked up at the Commander. "What is our orders, sir?" he asked looking scared beyond the point of coming back. Hysterical maybe.
"We have men on the surface of Mar Sara. You want to abandon them?" he asked looking down at the now pale radar officer. "We hold our ground. Maybe those guys over there could use some help too." he said but trailed off. He watched as another of their Cruisers went up in flames.
"Sir, Memories is going down!" one of the officers cried out.
"Jesus.." He whispered as the ruined Memories cut in front of their flight path. "That Cruiser may go down any second! HARD RIGHT!" he screamed as the Cruiser slowly turned out of the path of the of the giant inferno. "Brace for impact!" again he screamed as the remainder of the Cruiser exploded. The shock wave hammered the New Hope. Many of the systems went off line and the lights went out. Small fires broke out in the bridge.
"Commander! What do we do?" a voice called out from the darkness in the bridge. The silence seemed to drag on forever but there was no response. "Commander! What are we doing?! Commander?!"
The away team with Jim Raynor reached the surface of one of the downed Carriers. With weapons ready, they moved through the dead world prepared for the worst. They reached the hull of the Carrier and took up a defensive position. An SCV then approached and began cutting a large square in the ships hull.
"Raynor, we should start looking in other locations as well. It will save us some time and maybe more lives," one of the medics said. It was true but risky.
Raynor didn't know what to say. He knew it would save time and lives but what if the Zerg were lingering around here. "All right. Listen, stay close, go to another Carrier that's right around the block you, got me? Don't need Zerg breakin' us up one by one and pickin' us off. There is another Carrier not far from here, take one of the Dropships and get to it," he said as the large square section fell in.
A distance hum was growing louder and had grabbed Jim's attention. A small portion of the away team went in. A few medics and a few marines to help drag out the wounded. There were a few other teams station at a few other Carriers no more then five minutes away all working in the same fashion.
That hum was louder and had completely consumed Jim's mind. "Sounds like Scouts." As he said that, three Scouts flew directly overhead. "Yup, those are Scouts."
The three Scouts did another flyby before landing near the Dropships. Three Protoss pilots emerged from the bellies of the large beautiful craft that landed. Artanis was one of them. Though it was the only one he knew of the three, he was glad to see that they managed to stay in the air.
"Captain Raynor, glad to see your attempting to pull our people out. Zelsasha, Latura, see if you can't help with the rescue," as he spoke the two ran into the Carrier to help the search for survivors.
"What the hell happened man? You boys shoulda knocked the hell outta those Zerg." Jim knew how bad the attack must have been. "Where is the Vengeance?" he asked hoping that Zeratul would still be okay.
Artanis looked down slightly at the man. "The Zerg had us heavily outnumbered and there was little to nothing we could do to stop them. I do not know where the Vengeance went down. We barely managed to get here ourselves without dying. We lost one of ours along with way here," the sound of the voice was troubled. Artanis was upset and scared for the well being of Zeratul as much as Jim was.
"It's okay man. We will find him and anyone else we can, and get the hell of this rock. Trust me," he said smiling at Artanis. He was about to speak again when the unmistakable sound of Article fire took flight. "Damn. Figures, eh?" Jim ran inside the Cruiser along with Artanis to help speed up the search.
Artanis looked around in the dimly lit room. "This is the Vengeance. Jim, this is the Vengeance," he repeated not believing this twisted shape was once the Carrier he had stood only moments before.
Jim looked up and nodded. He was about to continued forward when the team came back. "What is it? Did you find anyone?" Jim asked one of the medics as he walked by. He looked up and shook his head and continued to walk out of the ship.
"Jim, we could not find Zeratul's body. He must have survived the crash and found a way out," Zelsasha said walking up to him. Jim looked up a little puzzled at the Protoss. "Forgive me, I am Zelsasha. I served under Zeratul. He is not here, I am certain he is alive," he said placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Captain! We got Protoss tracks leading away from the hanger and a few dead Zerg along the way! We got a few men following right now," one of the marines spoke quickly but calmly.
A few more blasts came for a Siege tank not to far off. Jim looked up at the team. "Okay, we are leaving. Get everyone back to the Hyperion. I need one transport to stay behind with a few men. Let's go!" Jim said as a few of his men followed him around to the side where they found the tracks.
"Zelsasha, take Latura and escort those ships back. I will stay here with Jim. Move out, my warriors," Artanis said leaving the two to follow Jim. They both looked at each other and nodded. They ran back to the Scouts and began to take off along with a few of the Dropships. They broke past the atmosphere and were horrified at the still ongoing battle.
"I hope there are still ships for Jim and the others to come too," Zelsasha said speeding up to help in the fight.
"Zelsasha, we are to escort the Dropships! Great." Latura said breaking formation as well to follow Zelsasha into the conflict. She gave max. throttle and was almost in targeting range of some of the Zerg flyers. She saw Zelsasha let two missiles go and they sped off towards their targets. Two Devourers had fallen victim to the projectiles, killing them both.
Zelsasha saw that the battle was almost over now and the Terrans had it under a shaky control. "Let's protect the Dropships," he said as he brought the Scout around as did Latura.
"Very well," she replied following his lead back to the Dropships. She was glad he was going to follow orders this time.
Jim and his men followed the tracks for ten minutes. "Damn, he got a hell of a long way away from the Carrier," he whispered with a little bit of frustration building. As they continued pursuing the never ending trail, a body was found. A female Protoss was lying on the ground and the tracks stopped. She had a makeshift split on her left leg.
"These tracks couldn't belong to her, she is wounded. We would have noticed that in the tracks," the medic said approaching slowly.
"AH, Captain Raynor, good to see you here," Zeratul said stepping out of a small brush. "I had reason to believe the Zerg were pursuing us. I was using Monera as bait," he said walking over to her. She sat up from the position she was in.
"Rescuers!" she cried happily. Zeratul then walked over to her and picked her up.
"She was injured on the Vengeance, I believe it's a fracture or a break in her left leg," he said showing the medic the spot.
Jim looked up relieved to see him. "I'm sure it hurts Mon- rea-or whatever. Sorry, don't have time on pronouncing names. We gotta move. We can fix you up on the Dropship," Jim said turning around and sprinting back the way they had come from with his men close behind.
Zeratul then noticed Artanis alone. He and Zelsasha were together and knew they wouldn't part unless. "So I take it Zelsasha is lost?" he said extremely hurt. Artanis could see this in his eyes.
He walked up to Zeratul and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It will be hard to bear, but Zelsasha is- he is escorting a few Dropships back to the Battle Cruisers," Artanis replied chuckling now.
Zeratul gave a dead stare at him for a moment. "That's not funny," he replied. After a few minutes, both Artanis and Zeratul were laughing lightly. "We must catch up, come on," he said running with the wounded female in his arms.
Artanis looked at Zeratul as they ran to catch up. "You are better with a blade, do you want me to carry her?" Zeratul only gazed at him for a moment. He stopped and handed over the wounded warrior. Artanis held her the same way as Zeratul did and she wrapped her arms around his neck as well. "We will get you out of here, do not worry."
"Artanis, do you have your shield generator with you?" Zeratul asked as Artanis shook his head.
"No, it is in my Scout. We are not too far now. We can make it without them," he replied speeding up. Something moved somewhere to their left but the kept running not wanting to wait and find out what it was. A low whistle sound was heard along with a cry of pain. Four spine needles dug deep in Artanis' left leg. He fell losing grip of Monera. She screamed as she crashed onto her left leg.
Zeratul turned to see a Hydralisk emerge. He saw both Artanis crawling on the floor and Monera screaming out in pain for her wounded leg. Something moved behind Zeratul as well. He turned to see four more Hydralisks drooling and claws raised.
"Well, some one has come to greet us. Do come closer," he said with his blade extending out. He then faded from existence. His form completely disappearing in the dying light. The Hydralisks then began firing their spines blindly trying to hit the now invisible target. One of the Hydralisks cried as its intestines and stomach were now on the outside of its body. Another one too died but didn't have time to see it coming. The front portion of its face fell from the rest of the head.
The Hydralisk that was standing alone then jumped and landed on Artanis. It's claws brought up ready to come down one the Templar. Artanis closed his eyes tightly ready to accept his fate when the sound of Gauss rifle fire had cut down the beast. He looked up and saw Jim Raynor standing not to far off with the barrel of his weapon smoking. The last two Hydralisks retreated from the fight. Jim ran back after them.
Jim held his weapon steady and fired a fragmentation grenade from the RPG that was attached to the bottom of his weapon. Both Hydralisks screamed and died in small bits and pieces. "Thank God for that," he whispered smiling. "Artanis, if your try to impress the lady, man oh man, you messed up," Jim said smiling as he went to help them.
Artanis pulled out the spines from his leg. "Not funny Captain Raynor," he said throwing the last needle he pulled out away.
Monera looked up laughing slightly. "It's actually quite funny. Hehe. That was funny Mr. Raynor," she said sitting herself up again.
Jim quickly turned to face the female Protoss. "Hey, no, don't. No Mr. Raynor, that just sounds really weird. You can call me Jim, James, Jimbo, Captain Raynor, I don't care. That Mr. Raynor thing just doesn't fit that well," he said very quickly. He started smiling at himself imagining how dumb that must have sounded.
"Mr. Raynor, if we could get back to your ship now, that would be a wise choice," Zeratul said becoming visible again. He had a slight tone of sarcasm in his voice.
Jim rolled his eyes. "You're a funny guy Zeratul. Real funny pal," he said running to help up Artanis.
Artanis stood and picked up Monera. They started ahead with Jim and Zeratul close behind. Jim looked over at Zeratul with a puzzled look.
"What is it, Jim?" he asked looking back at him.
Jim then looked straight ahead. "You got to teach me how to do that invisible thing. That is something I just need to know how to do." Jim looked back at Zeratul smiling.
Zeratul shook his head. "Raynor, I do not know what I should do with you," he said running a little faster.
Jim looked back ahead. You could cut me into a million small pieces. Heh," he said shaking his head.
They reached the ship and without a moments hesitation got onboard. Artanis placed Monera inside the ship and ran back out. He climbed into his Scout and lifted off. Soon afterwards, the Dropship followed. They had done what they could and prayed that the Protoss that were still alive were rescued by other teams or had died. It was a cruel thought but it was better then the alternative. They reached space to see only that there was another battle. This time they weren't as fortunate.