Starcraft: Clash Potential
By Seraphilim
---
Prologue: Pledge of No Allegiance
Mission Two (Second Half): KD Project
---
The bombardment was swift and deadly, leaving the missile turrets stationed close to the docking bay in smoldering ruins. Four dropships launched, two each from the battlecruisers, and glided on into the docking bay. Immediately, gunfire erupted from the airlocks and behind cover in the bay. The dropship pilots set down quickly and popped their hatches; Confederate marines, firebat troops and medics poured out, responding quickly to the situation. The resulting firefight was brief, and the rebel soldiers in the bay were wiped out with minimal Confederate losses. An officer wearing the rank of Major issued orders to the remaining twenty soldiers.
"There are three terminal stations in this sector, the main computer block and two secondaries. Split up into four teams. Anderson, Lineford, Seiji, you're team leaders. I'll lead First Team. First and Second will head for the main block while Three and Four each go for the secondary stations. One of them has to be able to deactivate the anti-air defenses so the battlecruisers can land the main troops in the primary and secondary docking bays so we can take this facility back from rebel control. Move out."
The soldiers hauled ass, four groups of five, into the corridors leading from the docking bay deeper into the base. Terry lead Team Three; Janus was also part of his group. The other three soldiers were Burke, a typical hotheaded marine; Allison, a medic who toted a flash grenade launcher along with the medic gear; and Gordon, a big man in an equally big Firebat-issue CMC-600 armor suit. The five soldiers delved deeper into the base, walking through empty corridors and passing equally empty rooms; empty except for the presence of corpses - most likely the soldiers who had fought against the revolt.
"Terry, y'know, computers that control base defenses are usually on the OTHER side of said defenses…"
Janus' words rang true as a floor panel before them rose up to reveal a sentry gun. But, before the gun even barked out a single burst of gunfire, Terry had already shredded the weapon with his own storm of Impaler spikes. He shrugged, though the motion was difficult to tell since he was wearing the giant armor standard-issued to marines.
"Then we bust through them."
Burke eyed both Terry and the ruined sentry gun.
"That's pretty fucking good for a birdie…"
Turning back as they continued forward, Terry responded coolly, "A pilot's gotta know how to kick ass in the air AND on ground."
Team Three encountered several more sentry guns that were quickly dispatched with concentrated gunfire. Of course, it was only a matter of time before they ran into LIVE sentries.
The first two were waiting around the next corner, facing off to the other side of the corridor. Janus and Gordon, who were currently leading, opened fire immediately as they saw the white-armored rebels. The enemy soldier on the left died with lifting a finger, but his companion turned and managed a quick burst from his gauss rifle before Gordon's flames ate him away. The rebel's countershot damaged Janus' gun arm, and he told that to Terry.
"Switch places with Burke. Burke, you come up here. Allison, you have any field repair gear?"
As Burke and Janus switched, Allison shook her head, a few wisps of her chestnut brown hair discernable at the edge of the glass on her helmet.
"Damn. Janus, how bad is the damage?"
"Servos are sluggish on the uptake. My responses are going to be slower than I want them to be."
"Stay careful. Let's go."
They came to a large blast door at the end of this corridor. Terry and Gordon stepped up to the door and terry inserted a disc into the controls; the disc held software that would override the locking mechanisms. It took only seconds before the blast doors split down the middle and separated.
On the other side were four rebel soldiers almost waiting for them. They fired as soon as the door opened, and Gordon caught the brunt of the attack. He fell to the floor, dead before he landed. Terry dodged back behind the wall, and made a waving motion towards the others to keep back.
"Shit, they knew we were coming this time…"
Cursing, Terry angled his rifle down at Gordon's corpse as he backed up; the big man had pitched forward upon being shot so his body was now lying in the open doorway.
"Sorry, man. Rest in peace."
With that, Terry fired at Gordon's body, or rather, at the fuel tanks on the CMC-600's back. The fuel lit up immediately and exploded. Terry squeezed his eyes shut as the explosion raged in front of him. As the fireball began to dissipate, he dove forward and swung his gun left and opened up a steady hail of gunfire. The yells and screams signified the rebel soldiers, blinded by the sudden explosion, falling to his attack.
He hit the ground and slid to a stop against one end of the opened blast door. Looking back, he saw four bodies and one scorch mark on the floor. His teammates ran up to him, and Janus shouted, "Terry, you okay!?"
"I'm fine. They got Gordon though."
"I figured that fireball was his suit…"
"Right. Anyway, the path is clear. Let's hurry."
Beyond the blast doors was another, normal door. Beyond THAT was the room that held the computer terminals. The four soldiers performed a brief check; there was nothing but a few bodies. There was also a second door leading into an adjoining room.
"You three check out that room. I'll deal with the computer," said Terry. The others complied and left as Terry hacked into the nearest terminal. After only a minute, he cursed. This was the wrong station. No access to base defenses could be gained from here. He clicked on his suit's radio.
"First, this is Third. This one's a dud. Negative on defense deactivation."
"Understood, Third. We're almost to the main room, we'll try from there. You head back to the docking bay."
"Roger that. Third out."
Turning off the mic, Terry turned back to the computer. 'Maybe there's something else of use I can find in here,' he thought as he searched through the base's databank while he waited for his team to return.
"Damn, this is Epsilon crap alright. They got research on the Protoss and Zerg… Hey, this is info about Protoss tech! Were they studying it so they could incorporate it into Terran use? It's called the Discriminator Development Project…"
Checking further, Terry came across something that snagged his attention.
"More recent files… Weird, there's an old test project that was recently renewed… Project KD… …Oh god, they wouldn't…"
"Sir, you ought to come look at this!"
That was Allison's voice. Logging off the system, Terry grabbed his gun and hurried over to the next room. He got quite a shock when he entered. The room was filled with Protoss technology; psi-blades, disruptors, even the hulking mass of a reaver. He gaped at the scene in disbelief.
"What the hell…?"
"Those were my words too, Terry. This is quite a bit much to have after only a month or so of hostile contact, eh?" stated Janus pointedly.
Burke cursed, "Y'mean they've been in league with the 'Toss all this time!?"
"Maybe. It could be anything. Anyways, you called it right, Terry. Something's going on here."
The four marines looked around the room in silent awe. They'd all heard of Protoss weaponry, but never really saw them up close and personal like this. Terry paused in front of a room-height cylinder filled with green liquid and what seemed to be a body.
"This is the Discriminator Project."
"Huh?"
"Found it on the database. Someone's trying to incorporate Protoss technology and Terran tech together, even down to sticking human brains in Protoss bodies."
"Jesus Christ, what sick bastard…?"
"Seems like they want an ultimate weapon, for human-use."
Janus kicked a half-assembled Protoss probe aside. "God, they'd probably test the weapon on another Korhal IV…"
Terry suddenly brought his head up and looked around with caution.
"Someone's here. I can feel him… her? Burke, to your left! She's cloaked!!"
The brash marine whipped around and emptied a full clip into the hidden assailant. At least, he thought he did. Terry could feel the invisible enemy moving around the room quickly, heading for…
"Allison, she's coming right at you! Move!!"
Too late was his warning. As Allison, her eyes betraying her fear, looked around in panic for the cloaked enemy, she was suddenly hauled off her feet and slammed into the nearby bulkhead. She gasped out a cry of pain; the medic was impaled to the wall through her belly by some sort of blade. Fresh blood dripped along the hazy outline of the weapon. Burke yelled out her name, and Alison could only gasp painfully in response as she dropped her grenade launcher and grasped the now-visible blade with her hands in a futile attempt to pull it out.
'Wait, if the blade is uncloaked…' thought Terry warily as he quickly locked onto the presence of the Ghost. This time, she was running towards Janus and Burke, and was un-slinging the C-10 canister rifle from her back.
"Janus, fire towards the door!"
Without question or pause, Janus complied, raining a deadly hail of spikes at the doorway. This storm of gunfire interposed itself between Burke and the Ghost.
"Burke, she's right in front of you!"
"Got it, Sir!"
Burke brought up his gauss rifle and fired. The rounds never hit, as the Ghost dropped to the floor and rolled under both marines' gunfire. All of a sudden, Burke felt something hard tapped against his chest.
"Oh shi…!"
The Ghost fired up once. The canister round ripped through Burke's face and head, killing him instantly. Before his armored corpse fell to the ground, the Ghost had already rolled over to fire two rounds at Janus, dropping him to the floor also. This left Terry alone against a hidden foe.
Or rather, that's what it would have been with a normal soldier, and Terry would be the first to admit that he was not even close to normal. He dove for the floor, firing Impaler rounds at the Ghost. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized he could see through her cloaking, and she rolled to the side in haste, dropping her canister rifle. Terry grinned ferally as he continued firing, the spike ricocheting off the floor as they drew closer to the woman… they stopped suddenly.
"Oh, fuck, don't go dry now…!"
As he fumbled for a new clip, the Ghost surged to her feet and rushed for him. Knowing that he could never snag the reload in time, he gave up on grabbing the clip and swung his rifle like a club. The Ghost deftly dodged the bludgeoning weapon and kicked his gun hand hard, knocking the gun from his grip. He lunged at her and swung his left arm at her head. She ducked under the arm and used it as leverage to throw him to the ground in an Aikido maneuver despite the massive weight difference. Even then, as he was been tossed down, he was able to manage striking her in the shoulder with his free arm. The blow didn't seem to faze her as she straddled him, locking her toned legs around his armored waist, and hit the visor release button on his helmet. His visor swung up, and he stared at the near black, feminine silhouette he'd been following through the entire struggle. She reached a hand up to her neck and pressed a button; she de-cloaked, allowing him to see her real self. She had oddly colored hair, a mix of red and yellow streaks, that was bound into a long and flowing ponytail. Her eyes were the color of sapphire. Her nose was small and slightly long, and her lips were red and luscious. She fit the "Deadly Beauty" description perfectly. She gave a feral smile, her canines exposed almost as if to give her the look of a wild animal.
"Very, VERY good, my dear prey. That was quite an exhilarating scuffle you gave me, much better than your companions. I will delight greatly in killing such a worthy prey."
Terry grunted as she slowly and almost sexily laced her fingers around his neck. She brought her face close to his, and he could smell her quickened breath. If he'd not been this close to dying, he would have noted that she had a really soft breath that didn't seem to fit her feral attitude. She licked her lips slowly, almost as if savoring the moment, then she went ridged as a board for a moment. She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a sigh, almost as if she had just… 'No way, that's crazy. Nobody gets off on shit like this unless they're completely insane!' screamed Terry's mind.
"Ahhh…"
As she came down from her orgasm (At least, that's what Terry expected.), her hands pressed down slightly, making it harder for Terry to breathe. She opened her eyes and smiled again as she leaned her face down and locked her lips to his briefly. After the kiss, she leaned back and loosened her grip a little.
"You're the first one to give me this rush for quite a while, Prey. It's almost a shame that I'm going to kill you now."
Terry could hear the capital P in Prey as she began tightening her grip. She brought her face close to his, staring into his eyes intensely.
"To watch my prey's expression this closely as I end his life, it gives me such a wonderful feeling…"
'She's completely insane…! And she's killing me!' Terry tried to move, but she locked her legs tighter around him to stop his thrashing, her eyes not leaving his.
Suddenly, she stopped, a puzzled expression on her face. She loosened her grip and peered at Terry's left eye. After just a moment, she reared back and laughed.
"Ahahahaha! Who'd have thought I'd come into this encounter with one of the original KD subjects? Such a surprise!"
She looked down at him, her eyes piercing his gaze.
"Hello KD-0079, I'm KD-0084. I'll think I'll spare you, but we'll meet again."
KD-0084 hopped to her feet lightly and activated her cloak.
"And when we do meet again, I'll be sure to make you mine!"
With that last phrase, she vanished. Completely. Terry, still lying prone, couldn't sense her anymore.
"Jesus…"
Looking down at himself, he saw a patch of shiny liquid on the abdomen of his armor.
"Shit, she really DID get her jollies off on me… But, if she's a KD subject… Oh God, Janus!"
Scrambling to his feet, Terry rushed over to Janus' body.
"Janus, you still with me, man? Come on, say something!"
"…Te… Terry?"
Janus was alive. Somehow he'd managed to take the brunt of the canister rounds on his rifle and gun arm. The rifle was utterly busted, and Janus groaned in pain when he moved his arm.
"God, I think my arm is shredded… I think the auto-painkillers broke."
Terry reached over and hit the manual injection switch, and Janus sighed as the endorphins were injected into his arm. Terry hauled his buddy to his feet, supporting him by his good arm.
"Terry, Allison… I think Allison's still alive…"
The two men trudged past Burke's headless shell to the wall where Allison was still hanging. Terry stared. She'd managed to pull the blade out nearly halfway before her strength must have given out. They could just barely make out her weak and controlled breathing.
"Allison?"
"Sti… still here… Sir."
"Janus, grab the blade with your good hand, I'll hold Allison. Pull that piece of shit out of her!"
The two men swiftly got Allison off of the wall; Janus threw aside the bloodied blade. Terry half-supported, half-carried Allison while Janus led, holding his rifle one-handed in his good hand. They limped back to the docking bay and grabbed the nearest Confederate dropship for an evac back to the Warspite.
---
End Mission Two (Second Half)
---
KD Project. What is it? Terry and the mysterious Ghost woman seem to know, and from her words they are products of the project. Harboring memories of the horrific truth of the project, Terry must now concern himself with the welfare of his two surviving squad mates. He also must face Confederate corruption and internal warfare personally… and make a decision.
Next mission: Pledge of No Allegiance
End note: The KD Project I got from the title of two songs from the SNK fighting game King of Fighters. Both Terry's and the crazy Ghost's subject numbers are named after the two songs, which are "KD-0079" and "KD-0084." Both are excellent techno rock songs that seem to fit more in with something like Starcraft than a fighting game.
Razorclaw X used KD-0079 in a map in one of his custom campaigns found on the fan-site for custom-made campaigns: Campaign Creations.
By Seraphilim
---
Prologue: Pledge of No Allegiance
Mission Two (Second Half): KD Project
---
The bombardment was swift and deadly, leaving the missile turrets stationed close to the docking bay in smoldering ruins. Four dropships launched, two each from the battlecruisers, and glided on into the docking bay. Immediately, gunfire erupted from the airlocks and behind cover in the bay. The dropship pilots set down quickly and popped their hatches; Confederate marines, firebat troops and medics poured out, responding quickly to the situation. The resulting firefight was brief, and the rebel soldiers in the bay were wiped out with minimal Confederate losses. An officer wearing the rank of Major issued orders to the remaining twenty soldiers.
"There are three terminal stations in this sector, the main computer block and two secondaries. Split up into four teams. Anderson, Lineford, Seiji, you're team leaders. I'll lead First Team. First and Second will head for the main block while Three and Four each go for the secondary stations. One of them has to be able to deactivate the anti-air defenses so the battlecruisers can land the main troops in the primary and secondary docking bays so we can take this facility back from rebel control. Move out."
The soldiers hauled ass, four groups of five, into the corridors leading from the docking bay deeper into the base. Terry lead Team Three; Janus was also part of his group. The other three soldiers were Burke, a typical hotheaded marine; Allison, a medic who toted a flash grenade launcher along with the medic gear; and Gordon, a big man in an equally big Firebat-issue CMC-600 armor suit. The five soldiers delved deeper into the base, walking through empty corridors and passing equally empty rooms; empty except for the presence of corpses - most likely the soldiers who had fought against the revolt.
"Terry, y'know, computers that control base defenses are usually on the OTHER side of said defenses…"
Janus' words rang true as a floor panel before them rose up to reveal a sentry gun. But, before the gun even barked out a single burst of gunfire, Terry had already shredded the weapon with his own storm of Impaler spikes. He shrugged, though the motion was difficult to tell since he was wearing the giant armor standard-issued to marines.
"Then we bust through them."
Burke eyed both Terry and the ruined sentry gun.
"That's pretty fucking good for a birdie…"
Turning back as they continued forward, Terry responded coolly, "A pilot's gotta know how to kick ass in the air AND on ground."
Team Three encountered several more sentry guns that were quickly dispatched with concentrated gunfire. Of course, it was only a matter of time before they ran into LIVE sentries.
The first two were waiting around the next corner, facing off to the other side of the corridor. Janus and Gordon, who were currently leading, opened fire immediately as they saw the white-armored rebels. The enemy soldier on the left died with lifting a finger, but his companion turned and managed a quick burst from his gauss rifle before Gordon's flames ate him away. The rebel's countershot damaged Janus' gun arm, and he told that to Terry.
"Switch places with Burke. Burke, you come up here. Allison, you have any field repair gear?"
As Burke and Janus switched, Allison shook her head, a few wisps of her chestnut brown hair discernable at the edge of the glass on her helmet.
"Damn. Janus, how bad is the damage?"
"Servos are sluggish on the uptake. My responses are going to be slower than I want them to be."
"Stay careful. Let's go."
They came to a large blast door at the end of this corridor. Terry and Gordon stepped up to the door and terry inserted a disc into the controls; the disc held software that would override the locking mechanisms. It took only seconds before the blast doors split down the middle and separated.
On the other side were four rebel soldiers almost waiting for them. They fired as soon as the door opened, and Gordon caught the brunt of the attack. He fell to the floor, dead before he landed. Terry dodged back behind the wall, and made a waving motion towards the others to keep back.
"Shit, they knew we were coming this time…"
Cursing, Terry angled his rifle down at Gordon's corpse as he backed up; the big man had pitched forward upon being shot so his body was now lying in the open doorway.
"Sorry, man. Rest in peace."
With that, Terry fired at Gordon's body, or rather, at the fuel tanks on the CMC-600's back. The fuel lit up immediately and exploded. Terry squeezed his eyes shut as the explosion raged in front of him. As the fireball began to dissipate, he dove forward and swung his gun left and opened up a steady hail of gunfire. The yells and screams signified the rebel soldiers, blinded by the sudden explosion, falling to his attack.
He hit the ground and slid to a stop against one end of the opened blast door. Looking back, he saw four bodies and one scorch mark on the floor. His teammates ran up to him, and Janus shouted, "Terry, you okay!?"
"I'm fine. They got Gordon though."
"I figured that fireball was his suit…"
"Right. Anyway, the path is clear. Let's hurry."
Beyond the blast doors was another, normal door. Beyond THAT was the room that held the computer terminals. The four soldiers performed a brief check; there was nothing but a few bodies. There was also a second door leading into an adjoining room.
"You three check out that room. I'll deal with the computer," said Terry. The others complied and left as Terry hacked into the nearest terminal. After only a minute, he cursed. This was the wrong station. No access to base defenses could be gained from here. He clicked on his suit's radio.
"First, this is Third. This one's a dud. Negative on defense deactivation."
"Understood, Third. We're almost to the main room, we'll try from there. You head back to the docking bay."
"Roger that. Third out."
Turning off the mic, Terry turned back to the computer. 'Maybe there's something else of use I can find in here,' he thought as he searched through the base's databank while he waited for his team to return.
"Damn, this is Epsilon crap alright. They got research on the Protoss and Zerg… Hey, this is info about Protoss tech! Were they studying it so they could incorporate it into Terran use? It's called the Discriminator Development Project…"
Checking further, Terry came across something that snagged his attention.
"More recent files… Weird, there's an old test project that was recently renewed… Project KD… …Oh god, they wouldn't…"
"Sir, you ought to come look at this!"
That was Allison's voice. Logging off the system, Terry grabbed his gun and hurried over to the next room. He got quite a shock when he entered. The room was filled with Protoss technology; psi-blades, disruptors, even the hulking mass of a reaver. He gaped at the scene in disbelief.
"What the hell…?"
"Those were my words too, Terry. This is quite a bit much to have after only a month or so of hostile contact, eh?" stated Janus pointedly.
Burke cursed, "Y'mean they've been in league with the 'Toss all this time!?"
"Maybe. It could be anything. Anyways, you called it right, Terry. Something's going on here."
The four marines looked around the room in silent awe. They'd all heard of Protoss weaponry, but never really saw them up close and personal like this. Terry paused in front of a room-height cylinder filled with green liquid and what seemed to be a body.
"This is the Discriminator Project."
"Huh?"
"Found it on the database. Someone's trying to incorporate Protoss technology and Terran tech together, even down to sticking human brains in Protoss bodies."
"Jesus Christ, what sick bastard…?"
"Seems like they want an ultimate weapon, for human-use."
Janus kicked a half-assembled Protoss probe aside. "God, they'd probably test the weapon on another Korhal IV…"
Terry suddenly brought his head up and looked around with caution.
"Someone's here. I can feel him… her? Burke, to your left! She's cloaked!!"
The brash marine whipped around and emptied a full clip into the hidden assailant. At least, he thought he did. Terry could feel the invisible enemy moving around the room quickly, heading for…
"Allison, she's coming right at you! Move!!"
Too late was his warning. As Allison, her eyes betraying her fear, looked around in panic for the cloaked enemy, she was suddenly hauled off her feet and slammed into the nearby bulkhead. She gasped out a cry of pain; the medic was impaled to the wall through her belly by some sort of blade. Fresh blood dripped along the hazy outline of the weapon. Burke yelled out her name, and Alison could only gasp painfully in response as she dropped her grenade launcher and grasped the now-visible blade with her hands in a futile attempt to pull it out.
'Wait, if the blade is uncloaked…' thought Terry warily as he quickly locked onto the presence of the Ghost. This time, she was running towards Janus and Burke, and was un-slinging the C-10 canister rifle from her back.
"Janus, fire towards the door!"
Without question or pause, Janus complied, raining a deadly hail of spikes at the doorway. This storm of gunfire interposed itself between Burke and the Ghost.
"Burke, she's right in front of you!"
"Got it, Sir!"
Burke brought up his gauss rifle and fired. The rounds never hit, as the Ghost dropped to the floor and rolled under both marines' gunfire. All of a sudden, Burke felt something hard tapped against his chest.
"Oh shi…!"
The Ghost fired up once. The canister round ripped through Burke's face and head, killing him instantly. Before his armored corpse fell to the ground, the Ghost had already rolled over to fire two rounds at Janus, dropping him to the floor also. This left Terry alone against a hidden foe.
Or rather, that's what it would have been with a normal soldier, and Terry would be the first to admit that he was not even close to normal. He dove for the floor, firing Impaler rounds at the Ghost. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized he could see through her cloaking, and she rolled to the side in haste, dropping her canister rifle. Terry grinned ferally as he continued firing, the spike ricocheting off the floor as they drew closer to the woman… they stopped suddenly.
"Oh, fuck, don't go dry now…!"
As he fumbled for a new clip, the Ghost surged to her feet and rushed for him. Knowing that he could never snag the reload in time, he gave up on grabbing the clip and swung his rifle like a club. The Ghost deftly dodged the bludgeoning weapon and kicked his gun hand hard, knocking the gun from his grip. He lunged at her and swung his left arm at her head. She ducked under the arm and used it as leverage to throw him to the ground in an Aikido maneuver despite the massive weight difference. Even then, as he was been tossed down, he was able to manage striking her in the shoulder with his free arm. The blow didn't seem to faze her as she straddled him, locking her toned legs around his armored waist, and hit the visor release button on his helmet. His visor swung up, and he stared at the near black, feminine silhouette he'd been following through the entire struggle. She reached a hand up to her neck and pressed a button; she de-cloaked, allowing him to see her real self. She had oddly colored hair, a mix of red and yellow streaks, that was bound into a long and flowing ponytail. Her eyes were the color of sapphire. Her nose was small and slightly long, and her lips were red and luscious. She fit the "Deadly Beauty" description perfectly. She gave a feral smile, her canines exposed almost as if to give her the look of a wild animal.
"Very, VERY good, my dear prey. That was quite an exhilarating scuffle you gave me, much better than your companions. I will delight greatly in killing such a worthy prey."
Terry grunted as she slowly and almost sexily laced her fingers around his neck. She brought her face close to his, and he could smell her quickened breath. If he'd not been this close to dying, he would have noted that she had a really soft breath that didn't seem to fit her feral attitude. She licked her lips slowly, almost as if savoring the moment, then she went ridged as a board for a moment. She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a sigh, almost as if she had just… 'No way, that's crazy. Nobody gets off on shit like this unless they're completely insane!' screamed Terry's mind.
"Ahhh…"
As she came down from her orgasm (At least, that's what Terry expected.), her hands pressed down slightly, making it harder for Terry to breathe. She opened her eyes and smiled again as she leaned her face down and locked her lips to his briefly. After the kiss, she leaned back and loosened her grip a little.
"You're the first one to give me this rush for quite a while, Prey. It's almost a shame that I'm going to kill you now."
Terry could hear the capital P in Prey as she began tightening her grip. She brought her face close to his, staring into his eyes intensely.
"To watch my prey's expression this closely as I end his life, it gives me such a wonderful feeling…"
'She's completely insane…! And she's killing me!' Terry tried to move, but she locked her legs tighter around him to stop his thrashing, her eyes not leaving his.
Suddenly, she stopped, a puzzled expression on her face. She loosened her grip and peered at Terry's left eye. After just a moment, she reared back and laughed.
"Ahahahaha! Who'd have thought I'd come into this encounter with one of the original KD subjects? Such a surprise!"
She looked down at him, her eyes piercing his gaze.
"Hello KD-0079, I'm KD-0084. I'll think I'll spare you, but we'll meet again."
KD-0084 hopped to her feet lightly and activated her cloak.
"And when we do meet again, I'll be sure to make you mine!"
With that last phrase, she vanished. Completely. Terry, still lying prone, couldn't sense her anymore.
"Jesus…"
Looking down at himself, he saw a patch of shiny liquid on the abdomen of his armor.
"Shit, she really DID get her jollies off on me… But, if she's a KD subject… Oh God, Janus!"
Scrambling to his feet, Terry rushed over to Janus' body.
"Janus, you still with me, man? Come on, say something!"
"…Te… Terry?"
Janus was alive. Somehow he'd managed to take the brunt of the canister rounds on his rifle and gun arm. The rifle was utterly busted, and Janus groaned in pain when he moved his arm.
"God, I think my arm is shredded… I think the auto-painkillers broke."
Terry reached over and hit the manual injection switch, and Janus sighed as the endorphins were injected into his arm. Terry hauled his buddy to his feet, supporting him by his good arm.
"Terry, Allison… I think Allison's still alive…"
The two men trudged past Burke's headless shell to the wall where Allison was still hanging. Terry stared. She'd managed to pull the blade out nearly halfway before her strength must have given out. They could just barely make out her weak and controlled breathing.
"Allison?"
"Sti… still here… Sir."
"Janus, grab the blade with your good hand, I'll hold Allison. Pull that piece of shit out of her!"
The two men swiftly got Allison off of the wall; Janus threw aside the bloodied blade. Terry half-supported, half-carried Allison while Janus led, holding his rifle one-handed in his good hand. They limped back to the docking bay and grabbed the nearest Confederate dropship for an evac back to the Warspite.
---
End Mission Two (Second Half)
---
KD Project. What is it? Terry and the mysterious Ghost woman seem to know, and from her words they are products of the project. Harboring memories of the horrific truth of the project, Terry must now concern himself with the welfare of his two surviving squad mates. He also must face Confederate corruption and internal warfare personally… and make a decision.
Next mission: Pledge of No Allegiance
End note: The KD Project I got from the title of two songs from the SNK fighting game King of Fighters. Both Terry's and the crazy Ghost's subject numbers are named after the two songs, which are "KD-0079" and "KD-0084." Both are excellent techno rock songs that seem to fit more in with something like Starcraft than a fighting game.
Razorclaw X used KD-0079 in a map in one of his custom campaigns found on the fan-site for custom-made campaigns: Campaign Creations.
