Firebat CH 2
"Mission Accomplished" I said, elated that I was done with that hellish mission finally. I felt horrible that my men were all dead, and even worse that I felt good at having outlived them, but elated or despondent, I was not prepared for the cold response to my broadcast.
"Not yet"
"What?!!" I couldn't decide which I was more shocked at, the words themselves or the voice that spoke them. It was Xan, the ghost that had scared the #$%#ses out of me at the mission briefing for this. What was he doing now?
"What do you mean, sir?"
"I mean that you are not done yet. You are in a unique position to handle this assignment, and you will do this, understand?"
"Yes Sir"
"Good. You are to go to the front lines of the enemy base where the attack has already started, and you will receive further instructions there, understand?"
"Yes sir"
I managed to sneak back to my lines without further incident, although there were a few close calls with patrolling zealots. After an extensive debriefing on what I saw, I was ushered into a mobile field base, and left to wait for my briefing.
I waited maybe 5 minutes before an admiral came in. He sat down across from the table that had been provided.
"Well, I see you made it back safely. But that doesn't matter anymore, now we have a new problem. Our command is being hit very hard by protoss aircraft. We- his words were cut of by the sound of a bomb going off very close nearby. "You see my point? Were getting hit by the anti-matter missiles of the protoss scouts even now. This is a small attack, as well. You think this is bad, wait until the carriers come in later tonight. Our ghosts try to lockdown some of them, but… he trailed off, shrugging helplessly. We can't get them all, and those sons of #$!'s warp them in faster than we can waste them."
"At this point I had to interrupt "Sir, this is bad, but I'm no pilot, what do you want me to do? Where do I come in?"
He looked at me with an expression that could melt glass. "Where you come in Corporal Guy, is taking out their hangers. We control the orbit, so the bigger ships can't go up there to stay, not without getting torn to pieces, and they can't hover indefinitely. We have located 5 main hangers that they keep them in. They are spread out, so we don't expect you to get them all, in fact we don't expect you to get more than one. Getting just one, however, should buy us more time until we can get some anti-air defenses set up. Corporal, I cannot stress the importance of this mission enough. If these hangers aren't destroyed, then we will have to break off the assault, and all those lives will be wasted. That will make me VERY unhappy. In fact, I believe my unhappiness will be rivaled only by your own. Do you understand me?"
"Yessir" I said, understanding his implied threat completely.
"Sir how am I to take out these hangers without support? I am no ghost."
"Who said that you will have no support? That was never stated. You will have 3 ghosts to assist you, and as many nukes as can be spared."
"How many is that, sir?"
"It will change as we go, but as of now, about 4"
4 nukes. That was destructive capability beyond any I had encountered, with the exception of the fleet that got me here.
"Sir, why am I the one who is expected to do this mission? I am sure we have better, more experienced offi-"
"No, we don't, at least, none that have been that far into enemy territory as this mission will go without dieing. You seem to have an uncanny ability to get in and out of danger. I wonder…" He trailed off, looking at me oddly. "No matter. We have no one else that could do this job with the same chance of success as you. Get going. You have a mission briefing in 15 minutes, and leave in an hour. Dismissed."
I walked to the mission briefing building with many thoughts on my mind. The fact that I had thoughts should have surprised me. Marines weren't supposed to think, just to do. No, I am a thinking human being, regardless of whether I was just a number is some @#$%!ed military hierarchy. As I continued, I proceeded to describe my opinion of the high command in my head with surprising detail, and none of it was complementary, and little of it was appropriate for a lady to hear. I did this for so long that I was nearly late for the briefing. I went in just as the colonel briefing us yelled at everyone to sit down and shut up. As I sat down, he began.
"All right," he said, pointing at a large map "Here are the locations of the 5 hangers. We have a team going after all five, but you are the best one, so Merry Christmas! You get the most heavily guarded and defended base," he said, his face brightening in a mock smile.
"Here is your target. It is in the center of the enemy base, bordered by a few regular barracks, and a couple pylons. If you can, you are to attempt to destroy those with the blast of your nukes as well. Resistance will be heavy, we expect for they're to be several patrols, and there will probably be the ships themselves, which will be going in and out. Get as many of them at once as you can. There is one good thing; though- you are the last to go in so hopefully they will be attempting to kill the other infiltration teams. Of course, you will be having the same problem. Questions?"
"What about extraction? How do we leave?"
"After completion of your mission, you will be pulled out at a point about 1 mile north of the target. We will have a dropship staying nearby, it will come when you call-literally. Here." He gave me a small radio. "It is attuned to a special frequency, only detectably by special equipment in the dropship, and in HQ. Do not let this radio fall into enemy hands, at all costs. Understand?"
"Yessir"
"Good. You all have the best EQ waiting for you in the armory room. Goodbye, and -" here his face softened ever the slightest bit. "Good luck."
We left for the armory, each of us getting a gun we preferred. I noticed that all three of the ghosts immediately went for a large canister rifle, and the cloak suit that went with them. One of them handed me a cloak module for battle armor – a cloak device designed for non-ghosts. "It runs of an external battery, not your physic energy, so you only have a limited time, and it will not recharge, so be careful about using it. It should last for about 5 hours, as long as it isn't hit, that drains the battery." I accepted it with my thanks, and got the thing which I liked most- a new combat suit, like the standard firebats, except with a small gatling gun attached to one arm, and a sniper rifle with a scope in the other. It had a place for the cloak module from the suit as well. I had heard about these, and knew that the colonel wasn't bluffing when he said we had the best EQ, at least if we had this thing to use. There weren't many of them around.
Once done with suiting up, we had gotten into the dropship, and it had taken off. On the way, the pilot gave us a few last-minute briefing notes and reminders
"Remember, we will be landing about half a mile to the northwest of the base. From there it is about 3 miles to the target zone. Use stealth as much as possible, and you may yet stay alive. Take it out, or else I won't be able to get close enough to pick you up. This is all or nothing boys, don't forget that."
With that and other, equally pleasant reminders, we got off. The area was desolate, charred to a blacked desert by the artillery shells that we had launched before we realized that they had a massive anti – shell defense system. The nukes would not be affected by it, they could take the lasers fired at them, but a standard "Dumb" shell could not. We headed southeast, cloak suits on, until we reached the first barrier of the enemy base.
We had been warned that we would enter the first barrier a small distance before entering the base itself. The first wall was one of observers. Observers. The small, nearly invisible things were the bane of all cloaked things. They didn't even have the decency of letting you know they were there. You didn't know they could see you until you were already dead. We had come prepared, though. Each of us had a set of goggles that could detect cloaked objects built into our suits. They drained their energy fast, though, so we would only have enough power for this one engagement. "Alright" I whispered "Each of you, nail one of those four"- I indicated four observers that guarded an area. Once they were gone there should be a hole in the detection large enough for us. I would have rather went in a hole already opened, but orders said to open a new one. Oh well. Even if they knew we were here they would not know our numbers. With luck they would not send in enough men, being stretched thin already. "Fire"
At once 4 silenced rifles fired, 4 observers exploded into a brilliant, if small shower of sparks. I admired the ghost's efficiency- each of their observers had been hit in the main control unit, assuring a quick and easy kill.
Immediately 2 observers moved toward our position. Expecting that, our team had already begun to move. We ran silently through the hole, my suit making much more noise than I wanted. I had to the start asking that ghosts do these missions, not me!! Well, they needed a commander that knew combat, and one that knew firepower. Ghosts were notorious for not doing well once their targets knew they were there, and could not do well in a real firefight at all. Covert tactics are all well and good, but they only went so far.
We moved in the gap made by the observers, being just barely missed by a few others sent to plug the gap. We were in. Now we had to take out the most heavily defended part of the entire protoss base.
We moved on, silently each watching for threats. No one had seen us-yet, but I knew that our luck had to change. As if summoned by the thought, a trio of zealots came toward us, two observers floating above them. I looked around-no cover. We had to fight them. I told the ghosts to get ready; their shields weren't up yet. We had to kill them before they saw us, or else the fight would get a lot harder. "Fire" At my command, each of the ghosts launched a c-10 canister shot at one of the zealots. The shot went into the head of each, then destroying whatever the protoss call a brain. The zealots staggered and fell, each bleeding from a hole in the head. I used the gatling gun in my suit to destroy both the observers before they could get away. It made some noise, but they already knew that we were here. We moved on, faster than normal in the hopes we could be out of the area before anyone looking for us could get there. We didn't run fast enough, it appears. We were attacked by a flight of scouts doing patrol. We looked around for an observer, but we didn't see any. "Get under cover" I said into the helmet mike. We ran under cover, hoping the scouts hadn't seen the blurs of light. We had had nothing that could take on a scout, and I didn't feel like trying with the equipment that we had. The scouts passed us by, but I couldn't shake the feeling I had that they had seen us and just didn't want to alert us to it. Regardless, we moved on.
We were now close to the target area, in fact we could see the hanger from here. Unfortunately, this was also the location of a line of cannons.
Those cannons were the bane of any ghost. They had shields on permanently, and were also detectors. Their cannons would rip us apart if we got in range. "All right, anyone got any ideas about how to deal with these? I say we nuke them. Any other ideas?
"If we nuke them, then won't we have every protoss in the base attacking us?"
"Probably, but if we rush those cannons, it will be the same way. The time for stealth is over."
"Sir, with all due respect, when you have stealth, you use it. I say that we try to find a hole or gap in the defenses."
"Fine. You have five minutes. If you're not back by then, I will assume you died and go ahead."
"Yessir"
Less than five minutes later, he returned. "Sir, I found a small hole in the defenses. They couldn't set up cannons because of some rocks in the terrain, and they have shield batteries there."
"Observers?"
"Couldn't tell"
"Alright. Lets go there and order a comsat shot." We left and got there. It was very close to where we were. Too close, in my opinion. I smelled a trap.
We got there and had the comsat fired. Nothing. The ghost who mentioned the idea smirked at me. "Told you"
"Lets just get the job done."
As we went through the hole in the enemy lines, we heard a tremendous alarm. "Motion detectors!" We ran through the hole and saw- Dragoons. Lots of dragoons. "Crap" They didn't fire at once, which I found very strange. Then I saw blurs advancing from both sides. "Observers coming in!" I yelled, "Head for the hanger!" We ran forward, with the observers close behind. If they detected us… We soon found out what would happen if that occurred. One of the ghosts-the one who led us here, I observed grimly, had tripped on one of the rocks that frequented the area. He fell, and before he could get up, the observers had spotted him. He died with an agonized shriek, quickly cut off, by the energy blasts from the following dragoons. His was the only casualty, the rest of us made it to within nuke range of the target with a small margin-we ran with the speed of madmen. Very interesting, that. I wonder if it had anything to do with the suits as well. If it did, then I was certainly happy for it, because it saved me from a very crispy-not to mention early demise. As soon as the range- finder in my helmet reached maximum nuke range I gave the order. "Set up and nuke-all three of you!" As they set up the laser sights for the big ones, I turned around and called in a comsat, ready to take out the observers. I got it fast-this mission was high priority, as comsats were hard to get and most of the time the unit that called it in was dead before it fired off. Using the computer built into my suit, I took advantage of it (and its sight range-which was greater than mine) I fired off the sniper rifle built into my suit-once, twice, three times. Each bullet took an observer with it. I ordered the comsat officer to keep a continuous shot on my position, so I could hit any observers before they allowed the goons- which had surrounded us now to hit us. I was picking them off as they came (cursing the distance between the two bases which was making the ghosts have to stay in position longer) when I saw the outline of a high templar. I made it my priority, knowing the ghosts couldn't take a psi storm and live, not without the armor that I had at least. I resolved on the spot to send in an idea up to high command to have ghosts wear the armor I had, and not the flimsy plastic make up armor they currently wore.
I finally got a shot off into that *&%&^$(ing high templar, past its shields, and was rewarded by a fountain of gore that erupted from the hollow that, until recently, served as its head. All was not great, however. I heard shots from behind, then a scream. I spun around- but not in time to keep myself from getting hit. I flew forward from the force. I spun in the air to land on my back and roll, like I had been taught in training. I came up on my feet, shaken-but not enough to keep me from missing the observer that had snuck up from behind when I was shooting the High templar. I checked my suit and everything seemed okay. My back armor had taken the blast, it seemed. I though the armor was good, but not that good. My team had not fared so well. One was a crater on the ground where at least 5 shots had hit it at once. Another had been shielded by his now slain comrade, and was unharmed. The last had been hit in the arm-it no longer existed. He still kept that little dot aimed, though, balancing his gun with his other arm and on one knee. I was impressed. I had previously thought that ghosts were not very tough. I had to rethink that, obviously. As I stood there, amazed, he got up. I knew what that meant and had been waiting for it. I ordered a comsat back in the direction of the hole-with all luck they would think we were going that way-and fired my gatling gun in that direction periodically, to heighten the effect. A few dragoons went that way, but the rest went north, following us closely. "Kill all the observers you see as soon as possible," I yelled. "Ignore the others, and RUN!" The last was added because I (finally!) saw the nukes drawing close to the target. I looked away when they hit, for fear of going blind from the light, but when I looked back again I smiled.
The hanger was no more, unless you count flaming rubble- (and not much of that) as a building. A large number of dragoons had been destroyed with it. Too many were still chasing us. Of course, I considered 1 too many. We made our way out of the protoss base without too many difficulties. There were a few close calls, but nothing greatly distressing. When we were about halfway to the extraction point, I called in the dropship and some air cover. "Probability of a hot LZ" I warned. "You may want a few wraiths to support. We have dragoons chasing us."
We were almost safe, in sight of the dropship when I felt a difference in my suit. I looked down and realized that my cloak had dropped! I hastily flipped the switch on and off, but nothing happened. Still running, I pulled the battery out. I found the problem at that point. There was a massive char mark on the back of the battery and I remembered the hit I had received from the dragoon. I thought that my armor wouldn't have taken that much. I counted myself lucky beyond any account that it had not stopped before. I ran faster, hoping to reach the dropship before anything got me. I knew the dragoons were a ways off, but…
My fears were confirmed when I heard the whine of fusion engines going at a ferocious clip. I was very close to the dropship, which had landed. My squad mates were already in, they not being burdened by my armor. I heard the lovely sounds of missiles being launched (normal missiles, not anti- matter) and an explosion. Other missiles were being launched. Sounded like a full-fledged dogfight going on up here. I heard another sound closer than the others, one that filled me with cold fear. I heard the sound of gunfire. Not the gatling-gun sound of terran machine guns, but the lighter, softer sound of the protoss energy burst guns. They were bursting all around me. The door was so close now, so close… PAIN!! Stabbing, burning pain in my leg!! I was hit! I tried to keep running, to reach the dropship, but my leg no longer supported me. I fell, screaming as I had seen so many others do time and time before. The only good thing was that I felt pain, which meant the leg was still there, but right now I would have cut it off in a heartbeat to stop the pain. The fighter flew on, but turned around for the kill. "Corporal! Grab my hand!!" I looked up, and through a red haze I saw a hand reaching… reaching for me. I summoned strength from reserves I didn't know I had and grabbed it- being pulled in just before energy peppered the ground where I just was. As the doors closed and the last of the scouts were destroyed, I sank into blessed unconsciousness.
Pain… More pain. I opened my eyes. Over me stood a medic. "You'll be okay."
"Pain… Hurts"
"I know. Go back to sleep." She put a needle in me, pushed the plunger, and I knew no more.
I woke up once more, and was pushed back into unconsciousness. When I woke for the third time, I stayed awake, and the pain, while not fun, was at least… tolerable. I sat up, or tried at any rate. I could barley move anything, even my arms. My first thought was what if I had an itch. My second was to relieve myself, which I promptly did. Only then did I realize that the nurse was not there. I yelled, and she came in fast. "Good, your awake. If you woke up on your own, and" (she wrinkled her nose at this) "capable of bodily functions, then it is time to take of the bandages." She proceeded to do this, and when I had dressed, mentioned to her about how fast it had healed. It looked as good as new! "Medical technology has progressed quite rapidly," she said. "We are able to project a sort of radiation that, instead of killing cells, encourages them to grow and multiply. Our medics have a smaller, hand-held version. It healed the burns and holes in you leg quite well. Unfortunately, you will still have a scar." I thought that was ok. Chicks dig war scars, or at least the movies make it look like that. "You will also get the purple cross." That I liked too. Those were instant respect among the troopers. Once you had a wound, and lived, you were big stuff. I tested my leg, and yes, it was as good as new. The medic watched me with amusement. "I know what I'm doing. You can leave now, we have other wounded. You are also needed at headquarters. Go!"
I left, properly chastened, and headed for the main command center. I wondered what sort of insane or suicidal mission that I would get this time. What I did not expect, however was what I got:
"Corporal Guy, for you excellent two missions behind enemy lines, you have been awarded the UED cross, level 3. You also will be sent home for a one year break as an example to the other troops on what we do with heroes" HOME! Finally! I was so excited with this I almost didn't hear the next words he spoke: "During this period, you will be promoted to sergeant, and given a new vulture hoverbike, and trained on it, the goliath heavy assault mecha, and the siege tank emplacement assault vehicle. Were not going to let a soldier of your caliber get away from us completely. Enjoy the break, though.
I enjoyed myself at the banquet held afterwards; after all, it was in my honor. That is, I enjoyed it until the very end, where Xan, the ghost general spoke several words to me: "Enjoy your break while you can, because I already have plans for you." I resolved on the spot to enjoy myself as much as possible, and when I got back, to stay away from Xan as much as possible.
"Mission Accomplished" I said, elated that I was done with that hellish mission finally. I felt horrible that my men were all dead, and even worse that I felt good at having outlived them, but elated or despondent, I was not prepared for the cold response to my broadcast.
"Not yet"
"What?!!" I couldn't decide which I was more shocked at, the words themselves or the voice that spoke them. It was Xan, the ghost that had scared the #$%#ses out of me at the mission briefing for this. What was he doing now?
"What do you mean, sir?"
"I mean that you are not done yet. You are in a unique position to handle this assignment, and you will do this, understand?"
"Yes Sir"
"Good. You are to go to the front lines of the enemy base where the attack has already started, and you will receive further instructions there, understand?"
"Yes sir"
I managed to sneak back to my lines without further incident, although there were a few close calls with patrolling zealots. After an extensive debriefing on what I saw, I was ushered into a mobile field base, and left to wait for my briefing.
I waited maybe 5 minutes before an admiral came in. He sat down across from the table that had been provided.
"Well, I see you made it back safely. But that doesn't matter anymore, now we have a new problem. Our command is being hit very hard by protoss aircraft. We- his words were cut of by the sound of a bomb going off very close nearby. "You see my point? Were getting hit by the anti-matter missiles of the protoss scouts even now. This is a small attack, as well. You think this is bad, wait until the carriers come in later tonight. Our ghosts try to lockdown some of them, but… he trailed off, shrugging helplessly. We can't get them all, and those sons of #$!'s warp them in faster than we can waste them."
"At this point I had to interrupt "Sir, this is bad, but I'm no pilot, what do you want me to do? Where do I come in?"
He looked at me with an expression that could melt glass. "Where you come in Corporal Guy, is taking out their hangers. We control the orbit, so the bigger ships can't go up there to stay, not without getting torn to pieces, and they can't hover indefinitely. We have located 5 main hangers that they keep them in. They are spread out, so we don't expect you to get them all, in fact we don't expect you to get more than one. Getting just one, however, should buy us more time until we can get some anti-air defenses set up. Corporal, I cannot stress the importance of this mission enough. If these hangers aren't destroyed, then we will have to break off the assault, and all those lives will be wasted. That will make me VERY unhappy. In fact, I believe my unhappiness will be rivaled only by your own. Do you understand me?"
"Yessir" I said, understanding his implied threat completely.
"Sir how am I to take out these hangers without support? I am no ghost."
"Who said that you will have no support? That was never stated. You will have 3 ghosts to assist you, and as many nukes as can be spared."
"How many is that, sir?"
"It will change as we go, but as of now, about 4"
4 nukes. That was destructive capability beyond any I had encountered, with the exception of the fleet that got me here.
"Sir, why am I the one who is expected to do this mission? I am sure we have better, more experienced offi-"
"No, we don't, at least, none that have been that far into enemy territory as this mission will go without dieing. You seem to have an uncanny ability to get in and out of danger. I wonder…" He trailed off, looking at me oddly. "No matter. We have no one else that could do this job with the same chance of success as you. Get going. You have a mission briefing in 15 minutes, and leave in an hour. Dismissed."
I walked to the mission briefing building with many thoughts on my mind. The fact that I had thoughts should have surprised me. Marines weren't supposed to think, just to do. No, I am a thinking human being, regardless of whether I was just a number is some @#$%!ed military hierarchy. As I continued, I proceeded to describe my opinion of the high command in my head with surprising detail, and none of it was complementary, and little of it was appropriate for a lady to hear. I did this for so long that I was nearly late for the briefing. I went in just as the colonel briefing us yelled at everyone to sit down and shut up. As I sat down, he began.
"All right," he said, pointing at a large map "Here are the locations of the 5 hangers. We have a team going after all five, but you are the best one, so Merry Christmas! You get the most heavily guarded and defended base," he said, his face brightening in a mock smile.
"Here is your target. It is in the center of the enemy base, bordered by a few regular barracks, and a couple pylons. If you can, you are to attempt to destroy those with the blast of your nukes as well. Resistance will be heavy, we expect for they're to be several patrols, and there will probably be the ships themselves, which will be going in and out. Get as many of them at once as you can. There is one good thing; though- you are the last to go in so hopefully they will be attempting to kill the other infiltration teams. Of course, you will be having the same problem. Questions?"
"What about extraction? How do we leave?"
"After completion of your mission, you will be pulled out at a point about 1 mile north of the target. We will have a dropship staying nearby, it will come when you call-literally. Here." He gave me a small radio. "It is attuned to a special frequency, only detectably by special equipment in the dropship, and in HQ. Do not let this radio fall into enemy hands, at all costs. Understand?"
"Yessir"
"Good. You all have the best EQ waiting for you in the armory room. Goodbye, and -" here his face softened ever the slightest bit. "Good luck."
We left for the armory, each of us getting a gun we preferred. I noticed that all three of the ghosts immediately went for a large canister rifle, and the cloak suit that went with them. One of them handed me a cloak module for battle armor – a cloak device designed for non-ghosts. "It runs of an external battery, not your physic energy, so you only have a limited time, and it will not recharge, so be careful about using it. It should last for about 5 hours, as long as it isn't hit, that drains the battery." I accepted it with my thanks, and got the thing which I liked most- a new combat suit, like the standard firebats, except with a small gatling gun attached to one arm, and a sniper rifle with a scope in the other. It had a place for the cloak module from the suit as well. I had heard about these, and knew that the colonel wasn't bluffing when he said we had the best EQ, at least if we had this thing to use. There weren't many of them around.
Once done with suiting up, we had gotten into the dropship, and it had taken off. On the way, the pilot gave us a few last-minute briefing notes and reminders
"Remember, we will be landing about half a mile to the northwest of the base. From there it is about 3 miles to the target zone. Use stealth as much as possible, and you may yet stay alive. Take it out, or else I won't be able to get close enough to pick you up. This is all or nothing boys, don't forget that."
With that and other, equally pleasant reminders, we got off. The area was desolate, charred to a blacked desert by the artillery shells that we had launched before we realized that they had a massive anti – shell defense system. The nukes would not be affected by it, they could take the lasers fired at them, but a standard "Dumb" shell could not. We headed southeast, cloak suits on, until we reached the first barrier of the enemy base.
We had been warned that we would enter the first barrier a small distance before entering the base itself. The first wall was one of observers. Observers. The small, nearly invisible things were the bane of all cloaked things. They didn't even have the decency of letting you know they were there. You didn't know they could see you until you were already dead. We had come prepared, though. Each of us had a set of goggles that could detect cloaked objects built into our suits. They drained their energy fast, though, so we would only have enough power for this one engagement. "Alright" I whispered "Each of you, nail one of those four"- I indicated four observers that guarded an area. Once they were gone there should be a hole in the detection large enough for us. I would have rather went in a hole already opened, but orders said to open a new one. Oh well. Even if they knew we were here they would not know our numbers. With luck they would not send in enough men, being stretched thin already. "Fire"
At once 4 silenced rifles fired, 4 observers exploded into a brilliant, if small shower of sparks. I admired the ghost's efficiency- each of their observers had been hit in the main control unit, assuring a quick and easy kill.
Immediately 2 observers moved toward our position. Expecting that, our team had already begun to move. We ran silently through the hole, my suit making much more noise than I wanted. I had to the start asking that ghosts do these missions, not me!! Well, they needed a commander that knew combat, and one that knew firepower. Ghosts were notorious for not doing well once their targets knew they were there, and could not do well in a real firefight at all. Covert tactics are all well and good, but they only went so far.
We moved in the gap made by the observers, being just barely missed by a few others sent to plug the gap. We were in. Now we had to take out the most heavily defended part of the entire protoss base.
We moved on, silently each watching for threats. No one had seen us-yet, but I knew that our luck had to change. As if summoned by the thought, a trio of zealots came toward us, two observers floating above them. I looked around-no cover. We had to fight them. I told the ghosts to get ready; their shields weren't up yet. We had to kill them before they saw us, or else the fight would get a lot harder. "Fire" At my command, each of the ghosts launched a c-10 canister shot at one of the zealots. The shot went into the head of each, then destroying whatever the protoss call a brain. The zealots staggered and fell, each bleeding from a hole in the head. I used the gatling gun in my suit to destroy both the observers before they could get away. It made some noise, but they already knew that we were here. We moved on, faster than normal in the hopes we could be out of the area before anyone looking for us could get there. We didn't run fast enough, it appears. We were attacked by a flight of scouts doing patrol. We looked around for an observer, but we didn't see any. "Get under cover" I said into the helmet mike. We ran under cover, hoping the scouts hadn't seen the blurs of light. We had had nothing that could take on a scout, and I didn't feel like trying with the equipment that we had. The scouts passed us by, but I couldn't shake the feeling I had that they had seen us and just didn't want to alert us to it. Regardless, we moved on.
We were now close to the target area, in fact we could see the hanger from here. Unfortunately, this was also the location of a line of cannons.
Those cannons were the bane of any ghost. They had shields on permanently, and were also detectors. Their cannons would rip us apart if we got in range. "All right, anyone got any ideas about how to deal with these? I say we nuke them. Any other ideas?
"If we nuke them, then won't we have every protoss in the base attacking us?"
"Probably, but if we rush those cannons, it will be the same way. The time for stealth is over."
"Sir, with all due respect, when you have stealth, you use it. I say that we try to find a hole or gap in the defenses."
"Fine. You have five minutes. If you're not back by then, I will assume you died and go ahead."
"Yessir"
Less than five minutes later, he returned. "Sir, I found a small hole in the defenses. They couldn't set up cannons because of some rocks in the terrain, and they have shield batteries there."
"Observers?"
"Couldn't tell"
"Alright. Lets go there and order a comsat shot." We left and got there. It was very close to where we were. Too close, in my opinion. I smelled a trap.
We got there and had the comsat fired. Nothing. The ghost who mentioned the idea smirked at me. "Told you"
"Lets just get the job done."
As we went through the hole in the enemy lines, we heard a tremendous alarm. "Motion detectors!" We ran through the hole and saw- Dragoons. Lots of dragoons. "Crap" They didn't fire at once, which I found very strange. Then I saw blurs advancing from both sides. "Observers coming in!" I yelled, "Head for the hanger!" We ran forward, with the observers close behind. If they detected us… We soon found out what would happen if that occurred. One of the ghosts-the one who led us here, I observed grimly, had tripped on one of the rocks that frequented the area. He fell, and before he could get up, the observers had spotted him. He died with an agonized shriek, quickly cut off, by the energy blasts from the following dragoons. His was the only casualty, the rest of us made it to within nuke range of the target with a small margin-we ran with the speed of madmen. Very interesting, that. I wonder if it had anything to do with the suits as well. If it did, then I was certainly happy for it, because it saved me from a very crispy-not to mention early demise. As soon as the range- finder in my helmet reached maximum nuke range I gave the order. "Set up and nuke-all three of you!" As they set up the laser sights for the big ones, I turned around and called in a comsat, ready to take out the observers. I got it fast-this mission was high priority, as comsats were hard to get and most of the time the unit that called it in was dead before it fired off. Using the computer built into my suit, I took advantage of it (and its sight range-which was greater than mine) I fired off the sniper rifle built into my suit-once, twice, three times. Each bullet took an observer with it. I ordered the comsat officer to keep a continuous shot on my position, so I could hit any observers before they allowed the goons- which had surrounded us now to hit us. I was picking them off as they came (cursing the distance between the two bases which was making the ghosts have to stay in position longer) when I saw the outline of a high templar. I made it my priority, knowing the ghosts couldn't take a psi storm and live, not without the armor that I had at least. I resolved on the spot to send in an idea up to high command to have ghosts wear the armor I had, and not the flimsy plastic make up armor they currently wore.
I finally got a shot off into that *&%&^$(ing high templar, past its shields, and was rewarded by a fountain of gore that erupted from the hollow that, until recently, served as its head. All was not great, however. I heard shots from behind, then a scream. I spun around- but not in time to keep myself from getting hit. I flew forward from the force. I spun in the air to land on my back and roll, like I had been taught in training. I came up on my feet, shaken-but not enough to keep me from missing the observer that had snuck up from behind when I was shooting the High templar. I checked my suit and everything seemed okay. My back armor had taken the blast, it seemed. I though the armor was good, but not that good. My team had not fared so well. One was a crater on the ground where at least 5 shots had hit it at once. Another had been shielded by his now slain comrade, and was unharmed. The last had been hit in the arm-it no longer existed. He still kept that little dot aimed, though, balancing his gun with his other arm and on one knee. I was impressed. I had previously thought that ghosts were not very tough. I had to rethink that, obviously. As I stood there, amazed, he got up. I knew what that meant and had been waiting for it. I ordered a comsat back in the direction of the hole-with all luck they would think we were going that way-and fired my gatling gun in that direction periodically, to heighten the effect. A few dragoons went that way, but the rest went north, following us closely. "Kill all the observers you see as soon as possible," I yelled. "Ignore the others, and RUN!" The last was added because I (finally!) saw the nukes drawing close to the target. I looked away when they hit, for fear of going blind from the light, but when I looked back again I smiled.
The hanger was no more, unless you count flaming rubble- (and not much of that) as a building. A large number of dragoons had been destroyed with it. Too many were still chasing us. Of course, I considered 1 too many. We made our way out of the protoss base without too many difficulties. There were a few close calls, but nothing greatly distressing. When we were about halfway to the extraction point, I called in the dropship and some air cover. "Probability of a hot LZ" I warned. "You may want a few wraiths to support. We have dragoons chasing us."
We were almost safe, in sight of the dropship when I felt a difference in my suit. I looked down and realized that my cloak had dropped! I hastily flipped the switch on and off, but nothing happened. Still running, I pulled the battery out. I found the problem at that point. There was a massive char mark on the back of the battery and I remembered the hit I had received from the dragoon. I thought that my armor wouldn't have taken that much. I counted myself lucky beyond any account that it had not stopped before. I ran faster, hoping to reach the dropship before anything got me. I knew the dragoons were a ways off, but…
My fears were confirmed when I heard the whine of fusion engines going at a ferocious clip. I was very close to the dropship, which had landed. My squad mates were already in, they not being burdened by my armor. I heard the lovely sounds of missiles being launched (normal missiles, not anti- matter) and an explosion. Other missiles were being launched. Sounded like a full-fledged dogfight going on up here. I heard another sound closer than the others, one that filled me with cold fear. I heard the sound of gunfire. Not the gatling-gun sound of terran machine guns, but the lighter, softer sound of the protoss energy burst guns. They were bursting all around me. The door was so close now, so close… PAIN!! Stabbing, burning pain in my leg!! I was hit! I tried to keep running, to reach the dropship, but my leg no longer supported me. I fell, screaming as I had seen so many others do time and time before. The only good thing was that I felt pain, which meant the leg was still there, but right now I would have cut it off in a heartbeat to stop the pain. The fighter flew on, but turned around for the kill. "Corporal! Grab my hand!!" I looked up, and through a red haze I saw a hand reaching… reaching for me. I summoned strength from reserves I didn't know I had and grabbed it- being pulled in just before energy peppered the ground where I just was. As the doors closed and the last of the scouts were destroyed, I sank into blessed unconsciousness.
Pain… More pain. I opened my eyes. Over me stood a medic. "You'll be okay."
"Pain… Hurts"
"I know. Go back to sleep." She put a needle in me, pushed the plunger, and I knew no more.
I woke up once more, and was pushed back into unconsciousness. When I woke for the third time, I stayed awake, and the pain, while not fun, was at least… tolerable. I sat up, or tried at any rate. I could barley move anything, even my arms. My first thought was what if I had an itch. My second was to relieve myself, which I promptly did. Only then did I realize that the nurse was not there. I yelled, and she came in fast. "Good, your awake. If you woke up on your own, and" (she wrinkled her nose at this) "capable of bodily functions, then it is time to take of the bandages." She proceeded to do this, and when I had dressed, mentioned to her about how fast it had healed. It looked as good as new! "Medical technology has progressed quite rapidly," she said. "We are able to project a sort of radiation that, instead of killing cells, encourages them to grow and multiply. Our medics have a smaller, hand-held version. It healed the burns and holes in you leg quite well. Unfortunately, you will still have a scar." I thought that was ok. Chicks dig war scars, or at least the movies make it look like that. "You will also get the purple cross." That I liked too. Those were instant respect among the troopers. Once you had a wound, and lived, you were big stuff. I tested my leg, and yes, it was as good as new. The medic watched me with amusement. "I know what I'm doing. You can leave now, we have other wounded. You are also needed at headquarters. Go!"
I left, properly chastened, and headed for the main command center. I wondered what sort of insane or suicidal mission that I would get this time. What I did not expect, however was what I got:
"Corporal Guy, for you excellent two missions behind enemy lines, you have been awarded the UED cross, level 3. You also will be sent home for a one year break as an example to the other troops on what we do with heroes" HOME! Finally! I was so excited with this I almost didn't hear the next words he spoke: "During this period, you will be promoted to sergeant, and given a new vulture hoverbike, and trained on it, the goliath heavy assault mecha, and the siege tank emplacement assault vehicle. Were not going to let a soldier of your caliber get away from us completely. Enjoy the break, though.
I enjoyed myself at the banquet held afterwards; after all, it was in my honor. That is, I enjoyed it until the very end, where Xan, the ghost general spoke several words to me: "Enjoy your break while you can, because I already have plans for you." I resolved on the spot to enjoy myself as much as possible, and when I got back, to stay away from Xan as much as possible.