Chapter 5 - Hard Decisions
Hizzan 6 2503-05-26, 12:00 Sector 7-3-1
Commander Jason Fisher, hated military rations. Being a high-ranking officer entitled him to proper meals, unless he was in the middle of a war, and proper food rations were out of stock. Basically the current situation he was in right now. Those bloody Zerg! He thought to himself while forcing himself to eat the military rations in front of him. "What could they be waiting for? We have no air support now that the Lightning is engaging the incoming enemy fleet, and we're running on basic military rations!" Jason said to himself. The supply depots could only do so much, compared to the special organic environmental station aboard the Lightning. Which was designed to grow organic foods, plants and animals in special chambers, in a matter of minutes.
A knock on his door brought Jason back down to earth, technically speaking. "Enter" Jason said. Captain Fawcett walked though the door and saluted him. "After-noon Captain." Jason said, " come to join me eat my dinner?" Jason said in a lighthearted voice. Fawcett smiled briefly, "No sir. My squad report that the Zerg have amassed over thousands of units around us sir, except to the west which is still occupied by those strange native creatures sir." Jason thought for a minute before replying. "This would mean that they have a base somewhere on the planet. But my scout reported no signs of a base when they scanned the planet when we arrived!" Jason said in a slightly worried tone.
"That would be the logical conclusion, sir. There also the fact that there wasn't any units either, yet now they're everywhere." He had a point, bloody special ops, always thinking with their heads. "Ok Captain, any idea, where the enemy base has appeared then?" The look on the Captain's face before he replied suggested that the captain had an idea. "Yes sir. My men are very good, and already have scouted selected areas, which would best support a base. And even found something very interesting." Jason raised an eyebrow. "Oh, pray tell me more Captain." "Over to the far east my scouts came across something strange. The ground was a deep purple, and seemed to be alive sir." Jason jumped to his feet. "What do you mean alive Captain?" "Its hard to describe but it seems to have a pulse, and after exploring this anomaly, one scout found a large living structure, that was producing lava like creatures."
Now Jason was beginning to wonder what the Special Ops Squad ate for a living, to be seeing such weird and crazy things. First living ground, and now living structures! But Jason was a reasonable man, and so before accusing the Captain of seeing things inquired further. "So what are you telling me Captain?" The Captain wasn't stupid and knew what the Commander was thinking, and had come prepared for such a case. Pulling out a data disk, he said. "If you would care to follow me to the briefing room Commander, I'll show you what I mean." So following the Captain, Jason and Fawcett were soon in the briefing room, and the adjutant greeted them both. "Afternoon gentlemen, how may I help you?" "By shutting up, and display the information on this disk to the Commander." The Captain barked at the adjutant.
Jason sat down, as the display screen flickered. Then a picture appeared of the living structure that the Captain was telling him about, appeared, and Jason could see for himself that the Captain had been telling the truth. The weird purple mass that the structure sat on did indeed seem to be alive, and it moved every now and then. As Jason watched as a lave crawled out of the structure and started to crawl around, until it settled. It then proceeded to construct a cocoon around itself. "This is most interesting Captain." Jason said, "but I fail to see the important of it." "Just watch commander, all will be revealed." Jason turned his head back towards the screen just as the cocoon cracked in two, and two of the Zergling units popped out.
"Ok, how fast were you fast forwarding it Captain?" Jason asked, despite that he knew the answer, but didn't want to accept it. "Not at all Commander. But then you already knew that." The Captain smiled. "Ok, so how what do you suggest I do then Captain?" The Captain turned around so that Jason couldn't see his face. "There's only one option for us, to combat the Zergs ability to mass produce units in such a short time, and that is to do the same." Jason now knew why the Captain had turned around. Even the idea to use the cloning vats in the barracks was enough to turn a mans face pale. "Ok, captain, I want clones of our best men. That includes clones of your team." The Captain nodded, he didn't like the idea, but what other choice was there. "Permission to leave, sir." "Granted Captain, and I know how you feel. I don't like the idea myself."
Down in the barracks the scientists in charge of the cloning vats, had a stiff shock, when order to activate the cloning system. They knew that the activation of the vats meant only one thing. A heavy attack was expected, and it was going to be big. To big for the current amounts of troops. Entering the password, which would stop anyone activating the vats without permission, the lead scientist started the processes of starting the vats up. While other scientists collected DNA samples from the troops sent by the Captain. These select few troops weren't sure what to feel. Being selected meant they were the best, and that meant pride, but the idea of being cloned was one to be greatly feared. "Hold still man, this wont hurt." A scientist said to one troop who was starting to panic.
The whole process of cloning a soldier only took ten minutes, but standing there watching your clone, grow bigger, and having your neural brain transmissions copied and transferred into the clone wasn't a pleasant one. Thankfully for the troops the neural transaction only needed to be done once, and so as soon as the first one was done, the troops would run as fast as possible, back to their positions along the defence perimeter. The Commander was going to use the clones to strengthen their defences, and use the rest to mount an attack against the Zerg base. "Commander," the adjutants voice came over his communications device on his arm. "Reports are coming in of Zerg units approaching fast." God save us, Jason thought. Ok maybe the clones would be used for a counter-attack instead. "Tell the troops to fire at will, reinforcements are being cloned as we speak!"
Hizzan 6 2503-05-26, 12:00 Sector 7-3-1
Commander Jason Fisher, hated military rations. Being a high-ranking officer entitled him to proper meals, unless he was in the middle of a war, and proper food rations were out of stock. Basically the current situation he was in right now. Those bloody Zerg! He thought to himself while forcing himself to eat the military rations in front of him. "What could they be waiting for? We have no air support now that the Lightning is engaging the incoming enemy fleet, and we're running on basic military rations!" Jason said to himself. The supply depots could only do so much, compared to the special organic environmental station aboard the Lightning. Which was designed to grow organic foods, plants and animals in special chambers, in a matter of minutes.
A knock on his door brought Jason back down to earth, technically speaking. "Enter" Jason said. Captain Fawcett walked though the door and saluted him. "After-noon Captain." Jason said, " come to join me eat my dinner?" Jason said in a lighthearted voice. Fawcett smiled briefly, "No sir. My squad report that the Zerg have amassed over thousands of units around us sir, except to the west which is still occupied by those strange native creatures sir." Jason thought for a minute before replying. "This would mean that they have a base somewhere on the planet. But my scout reported no signs of a base when they scanned the planet when we arrived!" Jason said in a slightly worried tone.
"That would be the logical conclusion, sir. There also the fact that there wasn't any units either, yet now they're everywhere." He had a point, bloody special ops, always thinking with their heads. "Ok Captain, any idea, where the enemy base has appeared then?" The look on the Captain's face before he replied suggested that the captain had an idea. "Yes sir. My men are very good, and already have scouted selected areas, which would best support a base. And even found something very interesting." Jason raised an eyebrow. "Oh, pray tell me more Captain." "Over to the far east my scouts came across something strange. The ground was a deep purple, and seemed to be alive sir." Jason jumped to his feet. "What do you mean alive Captain?" "Its hard to describe but it seems to have a pulse, and after exploring this anomaly, one scout found a large living structure, that was producing lava like creatures."
Now Jason was beginning to wonder what the Special Ops Squad ate for a living, to be seeing such weird and crazy things. First living ground, and now living structures! But Jason was a reasonable man, and so before accusing the Captain of seeing things inquired further. "So what are you telling me Captain?" The Captain wasn't stupid and knew what the Commander was thinking, and had come prepared for such a case. Pulling out a data disk, he said. "If you would care to follow me to the briefing room Commander, I'll show you what I mean." So following the Captain, Jason and Fawcett were soon in the briefing room, and the adjutant greeted them both. "Afternoon gentlemen, how may I help you?" "By shutting up, and display the information on this disk to the Commander." The Captain barked at the adjutant.
Jason sat down, as the display screen flickered. Then a picture appeared of the living structure that the Captain was telling him about, appeared, and Jason could see for himself that the Captain had been telling the truth. The weird purple mass that the structure sat on did indeed seem to be alive, and it moved every now and then. As Jason watched as a lave crawled out of the structure and started to crawl around, until it settled. It then proceeded to construct a cocoon around itself. "This is most interesting Captain." Jason said, "but I fail to see the important of it." "Just watch commander, all will be revealed." Jason turned his head back towards the screen just as the cocoon cracked in two, and two of the Zergling units popped out.
"Ok, how fast were you fast forwarding it Captain?" Jason asked, despite that he knew the answer, but didn't want to accept it. "Not at all Commander. But then you already knew that." The Captain smiled. "Ok, so how what do you suggest I do then Captain?" The Captain turned around so that Jason couldn't see his face. "There's only one option for us, to combat the Zergs ability to mass produce units in such a short time, and that is to do the same." Jason now knew why the Captain had turned around. Even the idea to use the cloning vats in the barracks was enough to turn a mans face pale. "Ok, captain, I want clones of our best men. That includes clones of your team." The Captain nodded, he didn't like the idea, but what other choice was there. "Permission to leave, sir." "Granted Captain, and I know how you feel. I don't like the idea myself."
Down in the barracks the scientists in charge of the cloning vats, had a stiff shock, when order to activate the cloning system. They knew that the activation of the vats meant only one thing. A heavy attack was expected, and it was going to be big. To big for the current amounts of troops. Entering the password, which would stop anyone activating the vats without permission, the lead scientist started the processes of starting the vats up. While other scientists collected DNA samples from the troops sent by the Captain. These select few troops weren't sure what to feel. Being selected meant they were the best, and that meant pride, but the idea of being cloned was one to be greatly feared. "Hold still man, this wont hurt." A scientist said to one troop who was starting to panic.
The whole process of cloning a soldier only took ten minutes, but standing there watching your clone, grow bigger, and having your neural brain transmissions copied and transferred into the clone wasn't a pleasant one. Thankfully for the troops the neural transaction only needed to be done once, and so as soon as the first one was done, the troops would run as fast as possible, back to their positions along the defence perimeter. The Commander was going to use the clones to strengthen their defences, and use the rest to mount an attack against the Zerg base. "Commander," the adjutants voice came over his communications device on his arm. "Reports are coming in of Zerg units approaching fast." God save us, Jason thought. Ok maybe the clones would be used for a counter-attack instead. "Tell the troops to fire at will, reinforcements are being cloned as we speak!"