-Starcraft
--Dead on Delivery
---Chapter 4: Shadow Play
I didn't know much about Dark Templar. Only that they're Protoss, and apparently they make grown men cower in fear. Now I could see why. They were fuggin' invisible like a Ghost. No doubt they had some colorful way to kill things. Whether it be tearing apart your mind or slicing you in two with those light swords Zealots are sporting all the time. Cept' let me reiterate. You can't see them! Okay... that was mostly for myself. This is probably old news for some of the more active pirates and commanders out there. Cause apparently Scratch knew about them.
He was still pointing his gun at me, no doubt trying to figure out how to move and not get killed. Then there was the little question on why they were out here... stalking around us of all Terrans... Unless this truck was packing something so sensitive we couldn't even imagine... I mean, Zerg are easy to explain. They rampage around the galaxy consuming everything they want to. The Protoss are a little bit more difficult to explain, because the only time they get involved with us is when we involve ourselves with them. They don't go out of their way to go headfirst into a Terran world unless something really pisses them off.
And now we're back to Scratch and I, standing still, just listening to them all walk around us and trudge through the sand... The sand... It struck me like a light bulb turning on, and I glanced downward at the shifting sands around us. You could see it; you could see the footsteps they took. The footsteps didn't stay around long due to the wind, but they were there. No telling if Scratch picked up on my wandering eyes, but from my position with my back to the rear of the trailer, I could count three of them.
"All right Raleigh. Move away from the truck and toward the oasis." Scratch said after a time.
He was resuming our conversation we were having before we picked up on the Dark Templar.
"Okay okay..." I faked in the worst acting voice ever.
What could I say? I was scared out of my wits. But before I could even turn to move toward the oasis, Scratch made this fast move to kick sand into the air. The wind caused the sand to make a rough outline out of one Dark Templar. Then he began to discharge his pistol to cause the shields of the other two to light up. I swear... he must have emptied the clip. Not that you could kill Protoss with a measly pistol... but he managed to mark them for a short time. There were actually five of those things running around out here.
"Come on Raleigh!" Scratch yelled while running back to the oasis to pick up his Canister rifle.
I was shaking like a leaf as I ran to the small pool of water to wake up Orange and Crick. Of course, the gunshots from earlier did the job. I was just a waste of breath.
"Hey... were those gunshots?" Crick asked lazily.
"Dark Templar! Or so Scratch says!" I reported to them.
That got them awake real fast.
"What the #$% are you talking about?" Orange bellowed.
I couldn't really say anymore. I had to start the truck and began to head toward the cab. Or at least that's what I wanted to do. But Scratch had cloaked, and was now firing canister round after canister round everywhere in hopes he could blast his invisible attackers. And when I say everywhere, I meant everywhere. I swear one shot almost blew my head off... From what I could tell, he wasn't having any luck. There was no sudden burst of shield from one of the Dark Templar as he shot at them; he was just... shooting into nowhere now.
It got worse as Crick and Orange joined the chaos and added their own personal touches to the experience. I covered my ears as Crick fired off his deafening Gauss Rifle and peppered the air with lead. Then I had to duck and cover as Orange activated his twin flamethrowers. He nearly cooked my ass well done!
"Hey! What the hells are you tryin' to do?"
"Sorry man." He shouted, and continued to spray the area with flames.
It didn't take too long before they realized the Dark Templar were nowhere near there attacking range.
"Come on! Come on! Let's get the hell out of here!" I shouted.
"Start the truck Raleigh. We'll keep watch!" Crick ordered.
I could hear Orange spray more flames over the place as he desperately tried to mark their invisible attackers. They were crazy. We should have put our hands up and froze like it was a blizzard out there. No way we were going to survive this crap. Heh, I could just picture the Dark Templar standing over by the oasis and watching these three Terrans fire off their weapons like they were in a hot zone. Probably even add commentary if they had a sense of humor!
At any rate, I made it to the truck and got in as fast as I could. It wasn't fast enough as someone grabbed the back of my coat and yanked back with inhuman strength. I ate some sand as I tumbled out and landed face first. Man. that sand was salty... I looked up to see no one in the immediate area... Oh my God... I had a feeling my head was about to jump right off its shoulders when a shot rang out and slammed into some target right in front of me. The shields of a Dark Templar lit up and caused it to turn toward a more pressing target. Scratch, who was still firing off his Canister Rifle like a mad man. I thought Ghosts were supposed to be stealthy? Not trigger-happy!
Before I could get up, someone picked me up, and I could see Crick's white boot moving frantically across the sand. He pretty much threw me into the truck and ran around to the passenger side. Orange got in, and through the rear view mirror I could see Scratch scramble up the side of the trailer to get on top. I didn't have to have anyone tell me it was time to burn out... again. And run like a chicken with its head cut off. Man, we were going to be so lost... But really, that was the least of my worries at the time. I was still frantic from my close encounter with an invisible Toss'.
"What the hell are the Protoss doin' here?"
"You think they want to talk?" I said with a nervous laugh.
"That ain't funny punk." Orange yelled.
The truck let out a roar, as if the engine was angry it had to be abused once again. I put the foot to the pedal and the pedal to the floor to make this thing move like it never moved before. I saw sparks and whooshes of some sword as the Dark Templar cut away at the truck as it rolled past. God, I hope they didn't damage any critical systems... That'd be just our luck. Get so deep into the desert and then run out of gas or get a flat or some cliche automotive difficulty. The Dark Templar were probably running after us... or just watching us get away. Hell, who knew? We needed a Science Vessel. Those things could pick up what was on your breath from the dinner you had yesterday.
I had to turn on the lights as we were speeding through almost perfect darkness. The stars seemed to laugh and point and not even move, as if we were just spinning our wheels in the endless sands of this goddamn desert. First Zerg, then Toss', now this desert. Why me? Why us? Why this stupid truck?
"Can we look at the truck's contents now?" I whined.
"We need a place to hide out first." Crick told me. "Cause we're being chased by Toss' and Zerg."
"Really? Wow. Thanks for that."
"Shut up, boy."
Crick even managed to put on that accent most Confederate Marines used to throw around. Hell, some probably even do now.
"Scratch here. I spot a large mountain to the left. Looks like there's lights. Might be someone we can get help from."
We all looked to our left to see a mountain sticking out of nowhere. Of course, it was dark, so we probably had left the sand behind awhile ago, and reached some new rocky area. My suspicions were confirmed as I turned toward the mountain and began to feel the truck roll through rocks and uneven ground. Probably even squashed some alien cactus while we were at it. This truck wasn't much for maneuverability and conventional size to fit in those hard-to-reach places. No, it was designed to carry an ass load of crap and take none of it while in transport.
It wasn't long until we were in the foothill of this mountain. We hit some incline, and the road had become significantly smoother. Almost as if some team had hammered out some pathway through the field of rocks we just plowed through. Then we saw signs. I could tell we were all simply riveted to find some sign of Terran life so far out in the middle of nowhere, while off the road and being chased by two different alien species.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Bring the truck to a crawl... Just a tad." Orange ordered.
Now the truck was inching along into this cramped base of some sort. There were pipes above us going from one side of this enclosed mountain area to the next. From what the light shown, there was a huge facility built into the side of the mountain. Scratch had to lend the flashlight on his canister rifle to illuminate a marking on the first story of the mountain structure.
"Well, I'll be damned. The Kel-Morian Combine. Always nice to see them around."
Yeah, I could make it out too. Some weird "K" placed over an even stranger "M". People knew that whenever you saw their mark, they were ripping the planet's resources from the inside out. A mining guild they called it. But "Resource Whores" was an even better title I thought. They'd do anything to cash in. And it was said they were pretty tight with the Confederation, which meant they could get away with anything. But now... after the Arcturus capped the Confederacy and the Zerg tore out their hearts. They're a lot less spunky. Still just as dangerous, but not as daring.
This must be one of their more recently abandoned projects. Why would I suspect that? Well, for one, there was no one around. Usually, the Kel-Morian guys liked to deploy their oh-so-famous Goliaths. But there wasn't even an SCV around here. No, this place was dead as a doornail. Probably as dry as a water bottle left out in the desert we just came from. The only thing you could get here now was fumes from depleted Vespine Geysers.
"This is great." Crick decided. "Quick, Raleigh, move in there. Come on man, go go."
He was pointing toward a gaping cave mouth. You could drive a truck through it... Okay, so that's just what I did. The mine was dark, so there was still use for the truck's headlights. Scratch had to lay down on his stomach because the clearance was so low. But once we were inside, he could sit up again and look behind us as we went into the cave. There were heavy pipes running along the ceiling with deactivated lights. Probably to vent anything from excessive Vespine fumes to toilet waste. The Combine were known to dig in deep when it meant riches and wealth.
Pretty soon we got to this huge turntable station that housed a gallery of Spider Trains. Now, don't let your imagination run off with you. Spider Trains didn't look like actual spiders. They still used a rail system dictated by highly energized beams that ran all over mine tunnels like this one. Why they were called Spider Trains, was because it could move vertically, and stick to ceilings and pretty much cling to any surface so long as you had rails running along it. It was ideal technology when the caves got all twisted and unfriendly for tanks and other things that didn't take kindly to sudden drops and shafts that went straight up. Cargo inside was either strapped down, or newer models had some sort of anti-gravity system so it felt like you were still on solid ground.
Crick seemed to be interested in something else as he told me stop the truck and got out. Soon we were all following him over to this maintenance shed were this large plaque held a map of the mine.
"Alright. This is what I'm talking about. We need to go here."
He was pointed to the control room of the mine. Here he said we'd find a good map of the entire area round the mountain. This would help, since I had never gone much more than a mile away from Dry Drop and didn't know a thing about this planet or it's only desert. And this got me thinking while we headed toward a nearby mine elevator and headed upwards.
"Can you believe it guys?" I was laughing at the time. "Arid Col's only desert, and we're stuck in the middle of it. Did you know the rest of the planet is covered in rainforests?"
"Jungle crap huh? Shit. I hate jungles." Orange muttered. "At least in a desert there's nothing your enemy can hide behind."
"Like in Aiur? Goddamn, I hated that operation." Crick began.
Next thing I knew they were talking about their first encounter with Dark Templar. Apparently the UED was after Arcturus. Oh man, I wish I could have watched that scene. And they went to Aiur cause for some reason Raynor and some Protoss kidnapped him or saved him or something. They didn't seem too clear on that issue. But as they continued talking, even Scratch felt inclined to say something.
"You'd be on a smoke break. Or taking a piss. And you'd just hear some guy get slashed in two somewhere out beyond the perimeter. No one would see it coming."
"Pretty ruthless." I commented.
"No, not really. Dark Templar worship their homeland, and we crossed the line. Simple as that. Had those Templar back at the Oasis really been sent to kill us, we wouldn't be here. They don't play with their enemies."
"How do you know?"
I felt Crick slap me in the back of the head.
"He's a Ghost. The better question was what doesn't he know about the Toss'. Yeah, most Ghost guys would get real weird around Protoss guys."
Okay... now our conversation just ran into the "weird zone". They said some more stuff about some people I didn't recognize by name. Like some dude named Duran and another guy named Stukov. And on and on. Seems like the conversation was coming to an end when the elevator came to a stop at the top floor. We stepped off and headed through a door to this huge rotunda place that was set up like a Command Center's main tower. The elevator was in the middle, so you had to walk around to see the whole room. We were near the top of the mountain and could see in every direction through the windows. Too bad it was so dark, and we couldn't really see anything. We would have to wait for sunrise.
While I as looking out into the darkness, Crick and Scratch had moved to start pressing buttons on control panels. The Combine guys must have been in some hurry to leave this operation, cause there was still a sizable generator hooked up to the installation. Lights turned on everywhere and the computer systems turned on like they were just installed.
"Okay..." Orange sang as we moved behind Crick. "Let's find out where the hell we are."
A section of the window became covered as a computer screen slid down and displayed a map of the mountain and the mine shafts that ran all over the underground like roots of a tree. I was right about everything being gone. No minerals, weak Vespine signatures. The Combine got their moneys worth of this operation. Crick began to pound a button to zoom out. The mountain got smaller, the mineshafts disappeared and a wire frame topographical map showed up. He kept hitting the button until both Dry Drop and Anchor Rock were in the picture. And that's when we got the bad news.
"Oh no. We actually lost ground. We're closer to Dry Drop than our stupid destination. Goddamn!"
"The Zerg got us turned around... and the Toss' just pushed us further." I realized.
"Well #$%!" Orange cut in. "Let's just head back to Dry Drop and get the hell off this rock."
"We'd never make it." Scratch explained. "The Zerg already got us marked. They know we're here. Going back would just speed their hunt up."
"No way. See this flat here? We can take a big loop back, stretch it out. Sneak around their forces. Easy." Orange protested.
"Do we even know how many Zerg they got on this world?"
There was a long pause as Orange collapsed into a seat and cursed some more. Scratch was right. We didn't know how many guys they had after us. It could be the entire Brood for all we knew. And when I saw Brood, I'm talking about millions of Zerg. A planet killing size.
"Okay, okay. We'll just leave the truck here. And run for it." I thought aloud.
"Great idea dumb ass. So when the truck is taken away, we'll just wander through the desert and hope someone will pick us up? No, we'll never make it that way either." Crick snapped. "No. We need a foolproof plan..."
"We deliver it." Scratch said suddenly.
"What?" I stuttered.
"No no. He's right." Orange agreed. "It's perfect."
"What did you guys say? We want to willingly run around with... whatever that thing is? I don't think I want money that badly."
"It ain't about the money anymore Raleigh." Crick said while standing up. "We deliver this truck. We hand it off to Derringer's business partners. Now they got it. The Zerg and Toss will pick up right quick when it starts to move off the planet. We're in the clear."
"How do we know Derringer wants it off the planet?"
"If they stay, even better. We get lost. Stay low. When the Zerg or Toss raid the city and find the truck. They'll take off."
"We don't even know what's in the truck!"
There was a long silence as we all exchanged a glance. I knew what was coming next.
"He's right guys." Crick admitted with a cocky smile. "Come on. Let's find out."
-To be continued...
--Next Chapter: Do Not Open
