Chapter 1: The Silence Broken
Location: TORS-8, Terran Delta Oh Six Nine Mining Colony
The glowing yellowish sun of TORS-8 glared down on the jet black visors of four Terran marines. Two of them stood guard over the battered and broken neosteel entrance of the mining colony, while the other two stood atop precariously built missile turrets and manned the anti-air defences. It was a rather ordinary day, and the small and isolated colony served its purpose, mining out precious vespene gas for the greater good of the Dominion. The only contact the colony had was from the forthnightly arrivals of four Dominion transports to ship away the mined vespene, and the Dominion had felt that it was cost ineffective to equipped it with any form of communications equipment. The Dominion went as far as to strip the garrison from ten marines and four firebats to just four marines. Unbeknowningly to them, the Zerg had settled comfortably in the planet, and were currently massing just 50 miles outside the perimeter of the hapless colony.
A vigilant marine up in the missile turret finally took enough notice of the gathering black mass in the distance to radio to his comrades.
"Ah, Tanaka, didja notice the black mass swarmin' out in th' distance," the marine asked hesitantly.
"Yes, friend John. Is another Zerg raid?" A gruff voice with a thick Japanese accent crackled back.
"Ah'd betta notify da guys dow' there. You take ah look out." John answered as he leant out of the windows.
"Ahoy! Zack and Mich! Zerg scum, 12 ah'clock!"
"Another of those stupid raids... aren't the Zerg smart enough to send more than just two zerglings to die?!" Zack switched off the radio he was listening to, and loaded his gauss rifle. To his left, Mich pumped two grenade canister rounds into the rifle, and smacked in another cartridge. He then lazily dragged his body into the only bunker between the two missile turrets. Zack smiled wanly and followed suit. He tried to pull the neosteel doors shut, but the rusty and disjointed hinges just would not allow it. He sighed, thinking of how poor the defence of this colony was.
Tanaka lifted the long range thermal binoculars and scanned the barren landscape, save for the spilling hordes of Zerg. He zeroed in on the milling creatures, and spotted ultralisks and hydralisks in the crowd. Squadrons of mutalisks hovered ominously above the Zerg, but what really caught Tanaka's attention was a svelte and lithe woman – make that creature, standing in the heart of the swarm. Tanaka gasped. Was not she a legendary figure? The one who had her hand in the utter destruction of the Confederacy?! Kerrigan swivelled her head and look directly at Tanaka, and this made the stalwart Japanese tremble with fear. He flung down the binoculars, and frantically flipped on the alert alarms and weapons system. He radioed John in a quavering voice.
"Bad, bad, John! Kerrigan! Kerrigan! She here!"
John spluttered in disbelief and looked into the binoculars to confirm the deadly truth. Kerrigan was there all right, and the Zerg hordes were surging forward like a seething wave of black. John cursed, and radioed Zack and Mich in the downtrodden bunker.
"Guys... tis' bad. We've got Kerrigan out there, and she ain't here to give us presents. We have ah horde, ah repeat, we have ah horde of zergs bearin' down on us. Good luck."
Zack froze on the spot when he heard the resigned transmission. His previous remark resonated again and again in his mind... aren't the Zerg smart enough to send more than just two zerglings to die... He gripped the rifle tightly in his hands, his face stony. His glazed eyes followed Mich's movements, who had hurriedly manned the rapid pulse gun in the bunker. His mouth seemed to be moving, but Zack can't figure out what. An infuriated Mich came and punched him on the face.
"What's wrong with you?!" screamed Mich, returning to his post.
"Nothing." It was Zack's best reply, as he woodenly aimed his gauss rifle into the ever-nearing Zerg hordes.
The thundering ultralisks roared with animalistic fury, as the zerglings sped up in anticipation of a bloodbath. The Terran colony loomed even larger as they covered miles of ground in minutes. Powerful hind legs pistoned them forwards, and their frontal claws twitched with desire. The gates were closing! The zerglings diverted their attention to the three gleaming Terran structures in front of the gate. Kerrigan smiled viciously, as she easily kept pace with her lovely zerglings. With her keen eyes, she spotted a total of four greyish gun barrels pointing out of the assorted defence structures. This was too easy.
"On my command... steady... steady..." whispered Mich through the comm unit. He thumbed the lock of the pulse gun nervously, and squinted into the far. Now he can discern the individual zergs in the sea of black. Zack was trembling visibly, and his rifle aim was a bit wild. Tanaka and John held their rifles in one hand, while the other was hovering just above the fire button to unleash the fury of the longbolt missiles stored in the turrets. The four marines looked death in its eyes, and suddenly, the curt command crackled through the comm link.
"All units, fire at will!"
Suddenly, the noisy chatter of gauss fire and pulse rounds echoed in the terrain, as the four marines dutifully poured lead into the zerg hordes. The missile caches of the turrets opened to launch their devastating salvoes of longbolt missiles, which exploded all around the screeching mutalisks. A couple of the mutalisks burst open as the longbolts penetrated their hides and exploded, while others had wings ripped off or destroyed by the mid-air explosions. Nevertheless, enough mutalisks broke through the longbolt firestorm to directly assault the turrets. On the ground, the first few waves of zerglings were pulverized and mowed down by the hail of pulse rounds and gauss fire. The pathetically few spider mines deployed by the Dominion jumped out of the ground and obliterated an ultralisk. A group of hydralisks managed to destroy one mine en route, but the following mine blown them up to shreds. The wave of zerg finally crashed against the Terran defense line.
Tanaka bravely pumped two grenades into the gaping mouths of the mutalisks, before switching to automatic fire. The surrounding mutalisks shot glave wurms at the turret and blew open an opening. A mutalisk screeched triumphantly as it skewered a hapless Tanaka in his guts. Tanaka gurgled in his blood and detonated a plasma grenade in his hand, perishing with the mutalisk. Meanwhile, John sprayed the mutalisks with a maddened grin, shouting curses and obscenities at the mutalisks. Silently, a hydralisk slithered up behind a laughing John and growled deeply. John turned, and an acidified spine pierced his visor. The gauss rifle fired no more.
Mich jumped out of the way as a blade stuck in and destroyed the pulse gun. He eyed his rifle and the nearby zergling before drawing out his pistol. Blam blam! Blam blam blam blam! The zergling slumped to the ground with six gaping holes in its carapace. Mich retrieved his rifle and started pumping grenades into the mass of zerglings who were trying to scale the mounted dead bodies to enter the bunker. Zack turned around and fired his rifle in two short staccato bursts. A hydralisk fell, writhing without its appendages. He was about to lob a grenade out of the bunker when an ultralisk's kaiser blades caught him full in the torso. His body sliced into two, Zack toppled lifelessly face down. Two zerglings jumped in from the gash created by the ultralisk. Mich whipped around, retreating slowly. Another two crawled in from the front, and from the entrance of the bunker the final two approached Mich ominously. Mich backstepped till he leant against the steel wall, facing six predatory zerglings. He opened fire as the zerglings sprung into action. One zergling died in mid-air from the streak of bullets, while the other five converged on Mich, slashing and jabbing fanatically. Mich's death scream was excruciatingly long.
Ten days had passed when the usual convoy of four Dominion transports entered TORS-8. The charred remains of the mining colony immediately caught the convoy captain's attention and he pulled back the convoy at once. Within the space of four hours, the entire Dominion network had been alerted of the untimely demise of Terran Delta Oh Six Nine Mining Colony, and a probing search was to be launched by the nearest battle group to investigate the cause. The Third Interstellar Wars was about to erupt with full intensity.
Author's note: This is my first ever Starcraft fanfic attempted, do correct me about inaccurate details or weapons. All comments are welcome, and are definitely encouragement for me to update this story. But I will like to inform readers that my updates are irregular, as I'm a 16 year old student studying, and is writing this out of his free time.
Location: TORS-8, Terran Delta Oh Six Nine Mining Colony
The glowing yellowish sun of TORS-8 glared down on the jet black visors of four Terran marines. Two of them stood guard over the battered and broken neosteel entrance of the mining colony, while the other two stood atop precariously built missile turrets and manned the anti-air defences. It was a rather ordinary day, and the small and isolated colony served its purpose, mining out precious vespene gas for the greater good of the Dominion. The only contact the colony had was from the forthnightly arrivals of four Dominion transports to ship away the mined vespene, and the Dominion had felt that it was cost ineffective to equipped it with any form of communications equipment. The Dominion went as far as to strip the garrison from ten marines and four firebats to just four marines. Unbeknowningly to them, the Zerg had settled comfortably in the planet, and were currently massing just 50 miles outside the perimeter of the hapless colony.
A vigilant marine up in the missile turret finally took enough notice of the gathering black mass in the distance to radio to his comrades.
"Ah, Tanaka, didja notice the black mass swarmin' out in th' distance," the marine asked hesitantly.
"Yes, friend John. Is another Zerg raid?" A gruff voice with a thick Japanese accent crackled back.
"Ah'd betta notify da guys dow' there. You take ah look out." John answered as he leant out of the windows.
"Ahoy! Zack and Mich! Zerg scum, 12 ah'clock!"
"Another of those stupid raids... aren't the Zerg smart enough to send more than just two zerglings to die?!" Zack switched off the radio he was listening to, and loaded his gauss rifle. To his left, Mich pumped two grenade canister rounds into the rifle, and smacked in another cartridge. He then lazily dragged his body into the only bunker between the two missile turrets. Zack smiled wanly and followed suit. He tried to pull the neosteel doors shut, but the rusty and disjointed hinges just would not allow it. He sighed, thinking of how poor the defence of this colony was.
Tanaka lifted the long range thermal binoculars and scanned the barren landscape, save for the spilling hordes of Zerg. He zeroed in on the milling creatures, and spotted ultralisks and hydralisks in the crowd. Squadrons of mutalisks hovered ominously above the Zerg, but what really caught Tanaka's attention was a svelte and lithe woman – make that creature, standing in the heart of the swarm. Tanaka gasped. Was not she a legendary figure? The one who had her hand in the utter destruction of the Confederacy?! Kerrigan swivelled her head and look directly at Tanaka, and this made the stalwart Japanese tremble with fear. He flung down the binoculars, and frantically flipped on the alert alarms and weapons system. He radioed John in a quavering voice.
"Bad, bad, John! Kerrigan! Kerrigan! She here!"
John spluttered in disbelief and looked into the binoculars to confirm the deadly truth. Kerrigan was there all right, and the Zerg hordes were surging forward like a seething wave of black. John cursed, and radioed Zack and Mich in the downtrodden bunker.
"Guys... tis' bad. We've got Kerrigan out there, and she ain't here to give us presents. We have ah horde, ah repeat, we have ah horde of zergs bearin' down on us. Good luck."
Zack froze on the spot when he heard the resigned transmission. His previous remark resonated again and again in his mind... aren't the Zerg smart enough to send more than just two zerglings to die... He gripped the rifle tightly in his hands, his face stony. His glazed eyes followed Mich's movements, who had hurriedly manned the rapid pulse gun in the bunker. His mouth seemed to be moving, but Zack can't figure out what. An infuriated Mich came and punched him on the face.
"What's wrong with you?!" screamed Mich, returning to his post.
"Nothing." It was Zack's best reply, as he woodenly aimed his gauss rifle into the ever-nearing Zerg hordes.
The thundering ultralisks roared with animalistic fury, as the zerglings sped up in anticipation of a bloodbath. The Terran colony loomed even larger as they covered miles of ground in minutes. Powerful hind legs pistoned them forwards, and their frontal claws twitched with desire. The gates were closing! The zerglings diverted their attention to the three gleaming Terran structures in front of the gate. Kerrigan smiled viciously, as she easily kept pace with her lovely zerglings. With her keen eyes, she spotted a total of four greyish gun barrels pointing out of the assorted defence structures. This was too easy.
"On my command... steady... steady..." whispered Mich through the comm unit. He thumbed the lock of the pulse gun nervously, and squinted into the far. Now he can discern the individual zergs in the sea of black. Zack was trembling visibly, and his rifle aim was a bit wild. Tanaka and John held their rifles in one hand, while the other was hovering just above the fire button to unleash the fury of the longbolt missiles stored in the turrets. The four marines looked death in its eyes, and suddenly, the curt command crackled through the comm link.
"All units, fire at will!"
Suddenly, the noisy chatter of gauss fire and pulse rounds echoed in the terrain, as the four marines dutifully poured lead into the zerg hordes. The missile caches of the turrets opened to launch their devastating salvoes of longbolt missiles, which exploded all around the screeching mutalisks. A couple of the mutalisks burst open as the longbolts penetrated their hides and exploded, while others had wings ripped off or destroyed by the mid-air explosions. Nevertheless, enough mutalisks broke through the longbolt firestorm to directly assault the turrets. On the ground, the first few waves of zerglings were pulverized and mowed down by the hail of pulse rounds and gauss fire. The pathetically few spider mines deployed by the Dominion jumped out of the ground and obliterated an ultralisk. A group of hydralisks managed to destroy one mine en route, but the following mine blown them up to shreds. The wave of zerg finally crashed against the Terran defense line.
Tanaka bravely pumped two grenades into the gaping mouths of the mutalisks, before switching to automatic fire. The surrounding mutalisks shot glave wurms at the turret and blew open an opening. A mutalisk screeched triumphantly as it skewered a hapless Tanaka in his guts. Tanaka gurgled in his blood and detonated a plasma grenade in his hand, perishing with the mutalisk. Meanwhile, John sprayed the mutalisks with a maddened grin, shouting curses and obscenities at the mutalisks. Silently, a hydralisk slithered up behind a laughing John and growled deeply. John turned, and an acidified spine pierced his visor. The gauss rifle fired no more.
Mich jumped out of the way as a blade stuck in and destroyed the pulse gun. He eyed his rifle and the nearby zergling before drawing out his pistol. Blam blam! Blam blam blam blam! The zergling slumped to the ground with six gaping holes in its carapace. Mich retrieved his rifle and started pumping grenades into the mass of zerglings who were trying to scale the mounted dead bodies to enter the bunker. Zack turned around and fired his rifle in two short staccato bursts. A hydralisk fell, writhing without its appendages. He was about to lob a grenade out of the bunker when an ultralisk's kaiser blades caught him full in the torso. His body sliced into two, Zack toppled lifelessly face down. Two zerglings jumped in from the gash created by the ultralisk. Mich whipped around, retreating slowly. Another two crawled in from the front, and from the entrance of the bunker the final two approached Mich ominously. Mich backstepped till he leant against the steel wall, facing six predatory zerglings. He opened fire as the zerglings sprung into action. One zergling died in mid-air from the streak of bullets, while the other five converged on Mich, slashing and jabbing fanatically. Mich's death scream was excruciatingly long.
Ten days had passed when the usual convoy of four Dominion transports entered TORS-8. The charred remains of the mining colony immediately caught the convoy captain's attention and he pulled back the convoy at once. Within the space of four hours, the entire Dominion network had been alerted of the untimely demise of Terran Delta Oh Six Nine Mining Colony, and a probing search was to be launched by the nearest battle group to investigate the cause. The Third Interstellar Wars was about to erupt with full intensity.
Author's note: This is my first ever Starcraft fanfic attempted, do correct me about inaccurate details or weapons. All comments are welcome, and are definitely encouragement for me to update this story. But I will like to inform readers that my updates are irregular, as I'm a 16 year old student studying, and is writing this out of his free time.