2. Boarding Party
Stranix arrived on the bridge of the Arrogance, Captain Greer was waiting. It was two months after Stranix and his team boarded the Vindicator. Starting immediately after the Arrogance left the system, the other ship began a campaign of destruction. It attacked several border worlds and laid waste to them literally in minutes. All opposing forces, even detachments of Battlecruisers and defense stations were destroyed with out even a chance to defend themselves.
"We have received a coded message from fleet command." Captain Greer said. "Lieutenant, bring up the play back." The communications officer hit a button, and a holographic projection of Admiral Tirmirav, commander of the Terran fleet, was shown.
"Greg," started the image of the admiral, using Captain Greer's first name, "we have received a communication from the Protoss about that ship, and it's campaign of destruction. As always, their warrior tradition and ego have complicated diplomacy. They insist that they can take care of the problem, and despite our best efforts to convince them of the seriousness of this problem, they have dispatched their entire fleet to sector seven. The ship was sighted there by a Protoss observer less than an hour ago. Even the entire Protoss fleet cannot take on that ship by itself. So I am rallying the entire fleet to sector five. From there you will assume command of the fleet, and take it to sector seven. If all goes well, you should arrive about a half hour after the Protoss fleet. Hopefully they have not been destroyed by then. This mission is crucial, and there is no one I trust more. You have much to do, so I will bid you farewell and good luck." The projection died, and Greer turned to Stranix.
"We have no choice but to prepare for immediate departure. I want all crews on full alert, including yours. We don't know what will be going on when we arrive in sector seven. There is a colony of separatists that moved out to a planet in sector seven after Mengsk took command. That may have been the target of the ship, and this could possibley turn into a land battle, or raking the ruins of the settlement. Either way, I want you to command the ground forces."
"Consider it done." Stranix replied. "I'll report back to my men right away."
"Right." Captain Greer said. "Lieutenant, sound the general alarm. All crews on alert status."
"Roger that sir." Spoke the communications technician.
"Helm, plot a course to sector five, all speed."
"Roger that sir." The helmsman spoke.
* * * *
"Sir, five minutes until we enter sector seven." Spoke the navigator.
"All crews to battle stations." Captain Greer said. After meeting with the assembled fleet in sector five, the ships proceeded immediately to sector seven. There was no time to waste. Even with the entire Protoss fleet arrayed against it, that ship could make a short victory out of the engagement.
Reports from what few survivors there were from an attack by the ship, said that it took all the punishment of a full broad side from a battlecruiser without even slowing down. And they always told of Zerg units appearing out of no where.
With a bright flash, the Arrogance dropped into real space. Before it stood a single planet heated by the local star. The planet was a harsh ice world, and was never officially named. It only had a number designation. There were no signs of space battle, yet.
"Locate the Protoss fleet." Captain Greer said.
"There sir." Said a technician, pointing to a spot out the viewport. There was no mistaking it. No less than eighteen Protoss Carriers were visible, with several other ships in support. Everything from heavy cruisers to shuttles and scouts.
"Now locate that ship."
"Point oh five, sector twenty-nine ex." Said the technician. Captain Greer brought it up. The ship sat hovering in space, seemingly alone. The Protoss fleet was heading towards it at flank speed.
"Full speed ahead, this battle could yet be over before we get there!" Captain Greer said.
"Roger that sir!"
With an amazing flash of light, the battle began. All the Protoss carriers launched their robot interceptors. The small droid fighters sped towards the ship, and began their relentless barrage. The cruisers opened up with their laser batteries, and the scouts let off a barrage of missiles.
This barrage would be enough to tear chunks out of a planet. However the ship was unaffected. With a flash of light, it's Yamato cannon lashed out, striking the lead Carrier. It's shields held for a nanosecond, then collapsed, and the beam of energy struck the ship on it's armored bow.
Bulkheads were vaporized, and armor buckled. The entire front half of the ship was either crippled or destroyed, and fires burnt unchecked in the parts of the ship not venting atmosphere into outer space. The ship began a slow descent towards the planet, getting pulled by it's gravity. With no engines active, there was no way to save it.
"Full speed!" Screamed Captain Greer. "Now!"
"Sir I'm detecting a new set of signals on the far side of the Vindicator." Said the sensor technician.
"What are they?" Asked Captain Greer.
"Definitely organic, I would say a very large force of various Zerg space units." Said the technician.
"Launch all fighters! Guns, fire at will, concentrate on any Scourge you see!"
"Roger that sir!" Came the simultaneous reply of two officers.
"Sensors, how long until we are in optimum Yamato cannon range?" Asked Greer.
"Two minutes sir." Replied the technician.
"This might be over in two minutes. Instruct all other ships not to fire their Yamato cannon until I give the word."
"Roger that sir." Replied the communications technician.
The Protoss fleet was now readily engaged as it's interceptors veered away from bombing the Vindicator and fighting with the Scourge and Mutalisks that had suddenly appeared in space.
Everywhere Scouts battled it out with the Mutas, dodged Scourge, or in some cases didn't dodge them. The droid interceptors were more lucky as the Scourge and Mutalists targeted the Carriers instead. With out a Carrier controlling it, an interceptor would just fly strait, not shooting.
The Vindicator fired it's Yamato cannon yet again, and another Carrier exploded entirely as it's shields were weakened enough that the blast ruptured it's main reactor. The battle was going poorly for the Protoss. Their ships were being shot down left and right.
* * * *
"One flight form up on me, we're gonna throw a missile barrage at that ship." Ace said as soon as he got clear of Arrogance's belly hold. Not being a ground soldier, he was put in charge of a fighter wing, and sent out into the battle immediately, along with Michalels.
His flight of six Wraiths moved into formation, and they flew strait and true towards the Vindicator. He acquired a target lock, which wasn't hard with the massive ship.
"Missiles away!" He yelled over the radio as he hit his trigger. The flight of twelve missiles flew on to impact the ship, but no visible damage appeared.
"Incoming Scourge!" Shouted a pilot.
"Split by pairs and engage at will." Ace said, throwing his fighter into a dive. His wingman Jiles, tucked in behind him, mimicking the maneuver. He swung around onto the tail of a Scourge. "Lead has this one."
"Roger that, covering your ass." Jiles responded. Ace centered the Scourge in his cross hairs, and tightened up on the trigger, sending a direct burst of laser right up it's ass. It exploded into a cloud of corrosive gas which quickly condensed and froze. Ace swung his Wraith around the ice block, and headed back towards the engagement.
* * * *
"Sir, we are in optimum Yamato cannon range now." Said the sensors technician.
"Tell all ships to get a lock on that ship, and prepare to fire on my command." Greer said.
"Roger that sir." Said the communications officer. After a moment he replied, "they are awaiting your order sir."
"Fire!" Greer screamed. Twelve Battlecruisers opened fire within two seconds of each other. A blast like that would have been sufficient to kill the population of an entire city. However only two of the shots made it to the ship. Appearing out of no where, a massive group of hundreds of Mutalisks shot upwards and absorbed the energy of the massive attack.
"Did you see that? It protected itself with the Mutas, it can be killed." Greer said after recovering from his astonishment. "Inform all ships to engage that ship at point blank range, and concentrate as much fire as they can on it, without allowing Scourge to penetrate."
"Yes sir."
The twelve Battlecruisers rushed in as fast as they could go. Other smaller Frigates, and Corvettes could have gone in faster, but chose to stay near the Battlecruisers. What remained of the Protoss fleet followed Greer's example, heading in as close as the could.
The battle got insanely brutal. With all the capital ships and fighters engaged so closely around one ship the risk of a collision was very imminent.
"Helm take us down twenty degrees, and begin a defensive roll to port." Greer said.
"Roger that sir." While rolling, the ship could have two thirds of it's guns on the enemy ship at all times. With the laser batteries focusing on the ship, several Mutalisks made a strafing run. The Arrogance rocked under repeated impacts. Then a very large explosion made everyone on the bridge fall down.
"Report!" Greer screamed as he regained his feet.
"Scourge hit in the back quarters, engines at fifty-nine percent and dropping rapidly.
Greer watched in horror as the Vindicator opened fire with it's Yamato cannon at point black range. The Battlecruiser it struck had absolutely no chance. Even if it wasn't damaged at all, nothing could have survived getting hit by the Yamato cannon at such close range. The resulting explosion sent shrapnel flying to pelt the surrounding ships. Several fighters went down from impacting the shrapnel, and the two Battlecruisers flanking the destroyed one were heavily damaged from the explosion and shock wave.
"Sir, we won't be able to take this punishment much longer." Spoke the female technician named Terry.
A very very radical, outrageous, and insanely crazy idea struck Greer. "Send a message to the entire fleet, tell them to launch every SCV they have with orders to assault the Vindicator."
"Assault it?" Asked a confused Terry.
"Yes, tell them to use their cutters to rip apart the bulkheads, and then we send Stranus and every other person who can carry a gun onto that ship in an attempt to destroy the source. Relay a message to the Protross telling them our plan, and ask for any help they can give."
"Roger that sir." She replied. "This actually could work."
"It'll work, or we'll die."
* * * *
Mouse was the first SCV to leave the Arrogance. All around him Wraiths, Interceptors and Scouts zoomed around, battling it out with Scourge and Mutalisks.
The capital ships had directed all their fire towards the enemy fighters, ignoring the Vindicator to give mouse and his fellow SVC's as much cover as possible.
They swarmed out, hundreds of them. Each ship carried plenty of them. The SCV's on the twelve battle cruisers alone could have taken out a small Protoss camp.
They swarmed across the open expanse of space, and latched onto the door of the main belly hold. However they did not make it without sacrifice. No less than seven of them were shot down by Mutalisks, then twelve more were taken out as they latched onto the hull.
Still, there was a large number of them attacking the hangar door, and large sections of it were torn away in seconds because of the many fusion cutters assaulting it.
Hundreds of Protoss probes suddenly erupted from the Protoss fleet. Half of them carried a Zealot in their grippers. They too sailed towards the Vindicator, and began to assault the bridge. The probes used their psionic powers used in cutting minerals to start to slice through the bridge viewport. The Zealots anchored themselves to the bridge with one psionic blade, and hacked and slashed with the other.
A fleet of dropships erupted from the Battlecruisers. Not waiting to check to see if the door had been cut fully away, they rocketed forward at full speed to avoid the enemy units.
"Form up into a line, the main hold can only carry so many dropships at a time, everyone drop your load, and get out of there fast. Be on stand by in case we hit trouble, but get clear of the enemy units." Stranix spoke into the radio. A series of acknowledgments came back.
As always, his dropship was the lead one. It would be the first one into the hold, and probably take the most casualties, if there were Zerg in the hold. And seeing how they seemed to be formed from the ship itself, he was betting they were going to be there.
His ship burned full on into the hold and slammed down into a messy, rough, but survivable landing, it's landing claws sliding on the smooth metal of the floor. Zerg units were squashed flat as the ship slid across them. It finally slid to a halt at the back of the hold, and the doors opened.
Immediately Stranix and his men were on their feet. In his life, Stranix had always been first into every thing. Nothing had changed. He was the first marine to charge down the exit ramp towards the mass of Zerg units waiting in the hold.
Hydralisk spines slammed into the sides of the dropship, ripping jagged holes in it.
Stranix and the other men charging down the ramp went full auto, shredding flesh and bone alike. Two firebats began their descent down the ramp, and began spewing fire off to each side. The smell of charred flesh rose fast and strong, overpowering the filters in their armor.
Coming in right behind Stranix's dropship was another one. This one dropped it's door, and out lumbered a unit of Goliaths. The massive combat suits wouldn't be much use in the packed corridors of the ship, but they would be damn useful in clearing the hangar packed to the brim with Zerg.
As they charged down the ramp, they blazed away with their twin 30mm autocannons. The shells tore into the mass of Zerg, ripping bone apart like it was paper.
Stranix and his men charged into the heart of the hangar, hoping to clear it for more dropships. Everyone was going full auto for there was a multitude of targets. The Zerg were absolutely shredded by the onslaught. The taller Hydralisks fell prey to the marines first, for they were easily visible above the mass of bodies, teeth, claws, and fangs.
Over half of Stranix's men fell before the second dropship of marines arrived. The floor of the hangar was stained with blood, and littered with body parts and spent casings.
"Fuck this shit!" Stranix screamed as the marine next to him fell with a spine sticking out of his face.
He moved his hand down to the secondary trigger on his rifle, and fired the grenade launcher built into the bottom. He pumped and fired, pumped and fired, pumped and fired, as fast as he could. The grenades landed on the deck, exploding brilliantly, and tracing a trail of fire across one whole side of the hangar. The Zerg hissed and screamed at the explosive force of the grenades. They began to fall back.
"Don't skimp on the grenades men!" Stranix screamed. "We have to clear this hangar for the other units!" The other men began to follow Stranix's example and launch their grenades.
The Zerg were either killed, or fled out of the main hangar door. Stranix aimed his last grenade, sending it arching down the hallway and it filed the corridor with fire.
"Man that hatch, I want firebats on station with marines and goliaths in support!" He screamed. Two firebats sauntered up and stood next to the door in compliance with his order. Their flame throwers were up and ready. Goliaths stood behind them, pointing their auto cannons over the firebat's shoulders. Marines pounded forward and backed up the firebats. Nothing was coming through that doorway, not even the queen of blades herself.
"Come on ladies, we don't have all day here!" Stranix screamed at the marines, trying to move everyone to the end of the hangar to make room for the incoming dropships. The hangar was quickly getting filled with marines, and there wasn't much room for the dropships to land.
"Form up into companies, we're launching now, storm the bridge!" Stranix screamed. With those words a long line of marines began to rush in through the doorway, sprinting as fast as their armor would allow. Battle cries and yells filled the air as they filed by companies through the only doorway. Stranix's company was the first to stream through the door. As always he was at the head of the pack. He had never allowed himself to be left behind before, and nothing had changed on this suicide mission.
He and his men didn't have time to be fancy. They were going full auto on anything that moved. When someone ran out, they dropped out of the charge, and two men clambered to take his place. Stranix was at the head of the charge the whole way. While most officers issued the Impaler with magazines to their men, Stranix used the belt fed version that was built right into his armor.
Many officers hated how the ammo belt could be cut by a stray spine. Stranix's philosophy was that if the spine cut the ammo belt, then it most likely hit his arm, and he now had no arm. So in a combat zone, he was as good as dead.
Zerg tried to make runs at the charging marines, but they were slaughtered mercilessly. The tight packed corridors favored the full auto weapons of the marines. When a hydralisk did appear, it sometimes had time enough to let off a spine, however. So marines were falling, but nothing could dampen the charge. The men knew their lives depended on it. They just climbed over the bodies of the dead or wounded.
Stranix launched a grenade down the corridor, making it bounce around a corner in the hallway. The explosive detonated, frying several Zerg units that were waiting to ambush his men there.
The charge led them to a service ladder. Since the turbo lifts were deactivated, and they were over one thousand strong, using the turbo lifts was out of the question. So Stranix used his unique knowledge of the ship to direct the charge toward a ladder.
"Get some fire up that ladder!" Stranix barked. "I want a perimeter set up, firebats with marine support on every possible approach vector!" Men moved to comply with his orders. "Keep your eyes open. The Zerg seem to be able to come out of the very ship. Don't miss and light up any friendlies.
Firebats ran to three of the opening of the four way intersection. They kneeled down, their flame throwers out and ready. Marines came and stood over their shoulders, their gauss rifles cocked and locked. A similar group watched the rear of the advance.
Two firebats and a pair of marines stood by the ladder. The firebats wafted their flames up the ladder, scorching anything even remotely close. The marines each grabbed two hand grenades, pulled the pins, and hurled them up there one at a time.
Before Stranix could insist he was the first man to go up the ladder, three marines jumped on it and began to scale it. With suddenness that surprised everyone, a hydralisk appeared out of the ceiling, and speared the marine with it's claws.
The marines on the ground blazed away at the hydra, knocking it out of it's perch on the ceiling. It took the two remaining marines on the ladder down with it. This time Stranix was the first to jump to replace them.
"Give us some goddamn cover you lazy sons of bitches!" He screamed. Stranix led the climb up the ladder, and the marines on the ground blazed away at the empty bulkheads they could see, without hitting the climbing marines.
Stranix climbed and climbed, passing level after left. He prayed to every God he knew that there weren't any hydralisks in the hallways because they could launch a spine and send him plummeting, dead before he hit the ground, and he would be powerless to defend himself climbing as he was.
Finally he reached the bridge level. He leapt off the ladder, kneeling down preparing for any Zerg assault. The hallway was empty, but he knew very well these Zerg were capable of forming out of solid bulkheads. Solid bulkheads. He thought to himself. When giving us cover fire, their rounds weren't bouncing off the bulkheads. With that in mind he fired a quick burst into the wall beside him. Nothing. No scratches, or marks of any kind. The rounds were absorbed directly into the ship itself.
By this time the second, third and fourth marines had climbed the ladder, and took up a position facing down the opposite sides of the corridor.
Stranix took this lull in the fighting to check on the status of his ammo. It was quite low. He decided to take this opportunity to reload. Just as he was disengaging his rifle, masses of zerglings began to swarm from all four of the corridors.
Quickly reneging the rifle, he began to blaze away at them. However he soon encountered the second reason why many commanders shunned the belt fed variant. It was an absolute and total bitch to reload under fire. Realizing he would never reload before the first waves met him, he released the catch that dropped the rifle from his right arm, freeing the limb up. He then unholstered his sidearm and began to pummel the mass of 'lings with the small pistol. It wasn't nearly enough. While he had mowed down no less than twelve of them with his gauss rifle, and took out two with the pistol, there were just to many of them.
A bony head slammed him down with a blow to the chest, and he was stunned, stars before his eyes. He vainly tried to lift his arms to fend off his attacker, but the zergling reared back and prepared to sink it's fangs into the soft flesh of his neck.
* * * *
"Sir the Stargazer is a dead stick, it's orbit is decaying, they're abandoning ship. The Valhalla is reporting engine failure." Came the report of the desperate sensor technician.
"Damage report!" Greer yelled.
"Engines failing, helm is down to thirty percent. We can roll, but anything else is too sluggish to be called a maneuver. Reports of a fire on decks thirteen through eighteen, and the main hold has been destroyed by a direct scourge hit." Said one technician.
"Weapons are down to fifty percent. We've lost over twenty-five percent of our laser batteries, and one of the reactors. Those lasers that work are loosing power fast. We still have missiles, but we are running out of ammunition, and the targeting systems were damaged by mutalisk fire. Yamato cannon has been deactivated." Said a second.
"Weapons, divert the Yamato cannon reactor's power to laser batteries, that should give you an extra punch for a few barrages." Greer yelled. "And I don't wan't anther scourge to get a hit on us. If it does we're as good as a dead stick.
"Right sir." The weapons technician replied.
"Helm roll us to get our belly as far away from shooting as possible. I want to protect that tender spot where the scourge hit, our reactor is too fucking close to the hold. How far until we can jump out of the system?" Greer asked.
"Sir sub light engines are damaged, we can't jump sir." Replied a technician.
"So either we defeat this thing, or we die here." Greer said to himself. "Stranix don't you let me down now." He muttered. "Oh well we can still do as much damage as possible."
"Sir!" Screamed a technician. "A scourge is heading for the bridge, it is out of range of all working laser cannons! All bow weapons have been destroyed.
"Helm can we roll anymore?" Greer screamed as he watched the blur of motion getting closer fast.
"Sorry Captain, helm is not responding." Replied the helmsman.
"It's heading right for us!" Screamed someone.
"So I guess this is it." Greer muttered to himself.
* * * *
Michaels maneuvered his wraith around the battlefield. Also not being a ground soldier, he was sent out in his fighter. He was flying alone at present, for his wingman had taken a hit from a muta.
He moved his ship with the liquid grace born of all pilots. Mutalisk fire streaked across the space all around him, but never struck his fighter. While evading a mutalisk, he centered a scourge in his sights. Tightening his finger on the trigger almost nonchalantly he sent hundreds of kilo-joules of energy right into the backside of the blind, ship seeking organic bomb.
A glave worm grazed his fighter. In response he dove it downward, and cutting into a hard turn, that slammed him into his seat despite the internal compensations. He swung around on it's tail and tried to line it up in his cross hairs.
The creature was side slipping and barrel rolling to avoid allowing Michaels to get a target lock. He stuck to the creature's tail, mimicking it's every move. His cross hairs were moving closer and closer after every maneuver. Finally he got a lock, and squeezed his secondary triggers, sending a pair of missiles flying to slam into the muta, destroying it.
A quick glance at his sensors told him he had another mutalisk on his tail. He swung in a hard turn to the right, but the critter stuck with him. He spiraled downward, then snap rolled to the left. The creature was not shaken from his tail, and it's shots were coming closer and closer.
His travels had brought him close to the masses of capital ships that were firing madly. He thought that perhaps a gunner would see his plight and maybe shake the mutalisk off his tail. The ships however, were concentrating their fire on anything that might danger them, especially scourge.
He began sweeping along close to the deck of the battlecruiser, hoping maybe a stray shot would light up his muta. None did, and a glave worm bit into his back quarters. Reacting quickly, Michaels swung his ship hard to the left. Out of the corner of his viewport he had the fleeting glimpse of a scourge less than fifty yards to his left. With his turn and the scourge's enhanced speed, there was no way he could dodge.
"Oh shit." He had time to say quietly.
* * * *
Stranix lay on his back with the zergling on his chest. It reared back, preparing to pierce his faceplate with it's claws. Suddenly a humming thrummed through the air, and a hand punched into the zergling's skull, penetrating bone as if it was paper. The ling writhed and kicked in it's killer's grasp, but there was no escape. Lying in that position, all Stranix could see of his savior was his arm.
The hand extracted itself from the zergling's skull to reveal the secret of how it got through the bone. Pulsing from it's wrist was a foot long blade made out of pure energy. The blade vanished, and the zealot offered Stranix his hand.
"En taro adun, Terran." Spoke the zealot as he pulled Stranix to his feet. "I would suggest we move quickly, the bridge is not far."
Stranix looked around. A force of about eight zealots had saved him from the zergling advance. They bore the marks of heavy combat all over their bodies, despite the closely guarded Protoss shielding technology.
"I thank yo..." Stranix began, but he knocked the zealot aside as he dove on a fallen Impaler. He brought it inline with the zealot, and pulled the trigger.
* * * *
Captain Greer saw the scourge come flying towards the bridge. He knew in seconds his life would end. There was no way to escape. The entire bridge would be incinerated in a giant corrosive cloud of natural acids and explosives.
Reaction took over, and he dove on the ground, his hands over his head. He felt the whole ship vibrate as the scourge exploded. He felt the chill, and tug as the front viewport exploded outward, venting atmosphere. He braced himself for the inevitable burning as the acid burned his skin away. He knew it would only take a second or two, but it would be the most painful seconds of his life.
However the seconds trickled by, and still no acid. Come to think of it, the pull of the atmosphere venting wasn't even that of a smashed viewport, it was closer to a small hole.
He looked up. The bridge was shaken, many having dove for cover like himself, but it was intact. There was a small hole in the front viewport, about the size of a zergling's head. The pull of the air kept him clawing at the ground for support, but he was not being pulled into an airless void.
"Everyone vacate the area, move to the auxiliary bridge immediately. Get some techs up here to patch that hole!" Greer began to bark orders. "And somebody hold that door before it closes and we all suffocate!" The door to the bridge had automatically began to close to preserve the atmosphere on the rest of the ship.
"Terry!" Greer shouted.
"Here sir." She replied.
"What the hell happened, why the hell aren't we dead?"
"Sir a wraith collided with the scourge less than fifty meters from the viewport. The explosion made that hole, but did no other visible damage."
"Lets move people, we don't have air to spare for talking!" Greer screamed. "Move now!" He barked as he began to crawl his way to the door.
* * * *
The grenade leapt from Stranix's borrowed gun. It arched, instead of going strait, so it's trajectory carried it over the shoulder of the group of zealots. It landed right at the corner at the end of the hall where a group of hydralisks had suddenly appeared. They were preparing to launch spines when the grenade hit.
At least three of them were incinerated by the direct blast. Two of them were thrown forward in the middle of launching their spines. Others were knocked down the side hallway.
"My apologies for startling you." Stranix said, getting up. He dropped the borrowed Impaler, and proceeded to reload his own.
"We must hurry, more Zerg are near." Spoke the zealot, so far he had done all the talking. "We shall have time for introductions later, now I suggest you hurry your men up so we can destroy the source of this evil."
"Right!" Stranix screamed. "What are you cowards waiting for, the war to end?! We got us a job to finish! We're gonna destroy this ship or die trying!"
With that motivational speech, men began to flow up over the ladder. When a considerable force was gathered, Stranix charged, not taking the time to wait for the whole force, which could take hours to climb the ladder.
The group of zealots were out in front. Their psionic blades wreaked havoc on anything in their way. With the marine's gauss rifles, they were all but unstoppable.
The force of about thirty beings raced down the corridor, mowing down everything and anything in their path. Hydralisks went down before they could let off a spine. Zerglings were cut up, or mowed down as they charged.
It was like that, yelling and screaming that the force charged onto the bridge. It was empty of Zerg, so Stranix gave the only order he could.
"Destroy everything men. This ship has to have some kind of control originating here. Leave the viewport intact, but as for anything else, if it's in this room, destroy it!"
"SIR YES SIR!" Screamed back the marines. This was the kind of thing they lived for.
The men and zealots fanned out. Marines began blowing holes in the walls, floor, computer consoles, sensor stations, you name it, they broke it.
The zealots were more delicate, but just as effective. They targeted the computer stations in the crew pit, and sliced them open with their blades.
Firebats spewed out their twin streams of molten death, turning anything they touched into a river of melted slag. Computer screens exploded outward, panels melted, the walls melted, even the goddamn floor melted. More and more men and zealots showed up and added to the carnage of computer parts and equipment.
Just as every thing in the bridge was either punched full of holes, sliced, or melted, an earsplitting sound cut through the air. It seemed as if the very ship itself was producing the sound. Everyone fell to their knees, clawing in vain, trying to cover their ears against the sound, and being thwarted by their helmets. It made their very bones rattle, and the whole ship began to shake with violent force. Men's mouths were open in screams not even audible over the horrific sound coming from the bowels of the ship.
The ship was trembling so hard that it seemed like it would tear itself apart. Funny thing, that's exactly what happened. The floor of the ship ripped apart, and a gaping hole spread out across the entire ship. A great sense of weightlessness gripped Stranix as he felt his body begin to fall into that hole.
As he fell, he saw the strangest thing he had ever seen in his life. The metal that made up the bulkheads was a very thin layer. Then underneath that, it looked like there was living, pulsing flesh. It almost resembled the flesh that made up Zerg buildings.
Stranix and the rest of the men fell. They fell right out of the ship itself. The entire ship had split apart, and the gravity simulators onboard made the men fall. They reached deep space, and the gravity wore off, so they began to float, helplessly.
Their suits were sealed, so they didn't suffocate, well not everyone. When sealed against hard vacuum, there was positive pressure created . This pressure pushes against the visor. Some of the men's visors were cracked from combat damage. Those visors exploded outward from the pressure. Other's whose suits were damaged also went through the agony of de-pressurization.
* * * *
On the bridge of the Arrogance, they beheld a peculiar sight. All around them the battle raged, and their ship was faring worse and worse. No matter how many Zerg units they shot down, their numbers never seemed to decrease. At least the Vindicator had stopped firing it's Yamato cannon.
Things got so much weirder very soon. The Vindicator began to shudder violently. Suddenly it ripped apart along the middle, and the two halves began spitting out little figures like fruit rinds.
While the ship was split like this, Captain Greer saw the strangest thing he had ever seen. Even with what remained of an entire fleet to back him up as witnesses, no one would believe him. The ship's innards were made out of living pulsing flesh. He could see veins, moving and pumping. He could see flesh tones, and blood spewing out of gaping holes.
After the ship finished spitting out it's "fruit rinds" it came back together, and looked like a regular battlecruiser. Then suddenly it was gone. No flash of a hyperdrive, no glowing engine trail. It was just gone, and it took the entire Zerg force with it.
"What in the name of all that's holy happened here today?" Greer wondered aloud.
* * * *
Stranix floated, as helpless as could be. The cold of space began to permeate his suit bit by bit. He knew that those who survived wouldn't be alive long. They had a limited supply of oxygen and heat. Damaged armor wasn't much help either. Their oxygen filter could have been damaged in combat, and carbon dioxide would slowly build up and they would suffocate.
"All right people listen up. We have a situation. I don't need to explain it to you. Here's what we're going to do. The big ships got their own trouble, so we may be short of help. The first thing we do is we're gonna have a call in of every man. Everyone reports to their squad leader. The squad leader reports to a lieutenant, and the lieutenant reports to a captain. The captains report to me with the number of survivors, and how bad their situation is. And anyone who asks me what to do if their squad leader is dead will be left out here to freeze. Got me?"
A deafening series of acknowledgments came back over the radio.
* * * *
"Give me a report, and I want it now!" Screamed Captain Greer from the floor of the bridge. The entire ship had suddenly given a shudder, and then a violent downward lurch that ripped everyone from their feet. They began to feel the effects of zero gravity.
"Sir, we have a critical failure in the engine room!" Screamed a technician.
"Why the hell have we lost gravity then?" Greer screamed.
"Sir there seems there was a disruption of power to artificial gravity well number two." The same technician explained.
"Sir that's the least of our problems sir!" Yelled another technician yelled.
"Explain yourself now!" Greer roared.
"Sir with our engines gone, our orbit has begun to decay due to the gravity of the planet. This ship will enter the atmosphere in less than five minutes!"
"Get every mechanic to the engine room and fix that problem. Send out a distress call to the fleet, and have any ship that can help come and aid us!" Screamed Greer.
"Roger that sir!" Said the communications technician.
* * * *
"This is the flagship Arrogance we have lost our engines and our orbit is beginning to decay. We will enter the atmosphere of the planet in less than five minutes. All ships or anything that can help get over here now!" Came the announcement over the radio.
Stranix quickly swung his body around so he could see the doomed ship. The other capital ships were all too damaged to help. If they went over close to the planets gravity they too would be sucked in. Their own engines weren't strong enough to resist the pull of gravity if they tried to tractor the Arrogance. They too would be pulled down and slam into the planet's surface.
"We gotta do something!" Stranix said out loud. Suddenly a very outlandish idea struck him. "All right men, today is going to be the most use the SCV has ever had, ever. I want every single SCV to haul ass towards the Arrogance, once there, attach yourselves to the hull, and convert all available power to the jets. Your gonna either lift the arrogance clear, or hold it until the engines get fixed. Now move it! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!"
It was a beautiful sight, seeing hundreds of SCVs streaking towards the dying capital ship. One by one they grabbed onto the side of the ship as it began it's descent to the planet. There was a sudden flash of light as the rocket at the back of each space suit doubled in size, the power to it swelling. It was beautiful, watching it, even though men's lives were on the line, and being lost.
The fact of the matter was that many of the SCVs weren't close enough to the ship to help before it began entering the atmosphere. The prow of the gigantic ship entered the atmosphere, and began to heat up with the air friction. The SCVs could take some heat, but not the amounts they were dealing with. The damaged ones exploded in fiery blasts.
But still more streaked in, and added their jet to the number of jets pushing the massive ship upwards. Hundreds and hundreds crowded onto the bow of the great ship. They're jets looked like a twinkling of stars on the ships hull. Protoss probes began to come in as well. They were going to add their psyonic power to the jets trying to save the ship.
Amazingly, the ship's descent visibly slowed. The superheated metal began to cool as the ship settled into something that resembled a stable orbit. More and more SVCs and probes flew in. The ship ever so slowly began to rise.
With a bright flash the ship's engines suddenly kicked to life. Greer quickly threw every available engine into full reverse to back the falling ship out of the danger zone, and stop burning up SCVs in the atmosphere.
"All right boys sit tight, We're sending every available craft to pick you guys up. Any SCV out there can pick up a marine or whatever and bring him back to the closest ship. Lets get ourselves out of this God forsaken sector and back to inhabited space." Greer's voice crackled over the radio. "It's time to go home men."
