Chapter 1: Koprulu Changing

The scenery flies past in Jim Raynor's vision. And that is as it should be, if his hoverbike is in proper working order. Roaring wind he can even hear above the engine whine rushes past his helmet.

Jim glances at his chronometer on the display board and mentally curses. He veers off the smooth black surface of the road and into rocky terrain. A short cut.

Jim turns the 'bike faster as he swerves around the larger boulders. He can no longer hear over the scream of his engine. He dodges a scraggly brush-tree and soars over man-size rocks.

The ravine looms in the distance, a dark brown line breaking up the rocky ground. He narrowly evades another tree and branch strikes his helmet. Close. Jim aims for a large, outward sloping rock at the edge of the ravine. He steadies the yoke and counts down from three… two… one. He squeezes his finger and power bursts to the antigrav unit precisely as the 'bike reaches the sloped rock.

The 'bike heaves upward, the surge from below giving it just enough lift to sail over the craggy ravine. Again three… two… one. He squeezes, this time providing a landing cushion. Jim hears only the faintest scrape of metal on earth.

He laughs and feels the pulse of blood in his ears. The thrill of the ride… The edge of the capitol suddenly appears over the cliff in front of him. The pale tan dust covers the once lustrous neo-steel structures. Billowing clouds wash over the sprawling landing pad. A small transport craft sits amid spiraling dirt. Jim curses again. He's late anyway.

The warm breeze wafts through Liam's sandy blond hair as his guntha trots through the pasture. He basks in the warm sun of late morning. He listens to the swish of the grass under his mount's hooves. The birds in the forest adjacent to the pasture chirp lively and Liam lifts his gaze to stare into the sky soaring overhead. A few puffy white clouds dot the rich blue expanse. Much different from Antiga.

Liam's thoughts turn away from the scenery and onto the daily tasks ahead. His guntha suddenly rears and he clutches the brown shaggy hair to keep his balance.

"Shhh, Gray. Easy boy. What's the matter?" Gray shakes his head with a snort and begins backing up uneasily. "Hold boy." Liam dismounts, lifting his energy gun from its saddle holster.

"What's got you spooked on your own farm?" Liam says even as he slowly circles, gun raised. An eerie silence invades his ears. Not a sound escapes the nearby forest. Gray whines and starts to trot away. Liam grabs his reins. "Shhhh. Stay still. Stay here." He pats the guntha's hairy neck. Gray seems to settle, if only slightly.

Liam continues his circular scanning, finally taking a step towards the crest of a small hillock. The wind shifts slightly and a ripe odor assails Liam's nostrils. He coughs. The smell comes from just over hill. Liam approaches the crest cautiously, with his weapon pointed forward. The short distance elongates with his anxiety.

At last Liam can see over the hill. The fence bordering the pasture sparks blue against a brown carcass tangled in its wires. The neck hangs limply from the otherwise taught form. The wind suddenly blows full force at him and the rotting flesh collapses him into a gagging fit. He turns and staggers back over the hill. Gray had moved some distance away.

"Gray! Hold!" The guntha stops and stares at Liam. "Wait for me, boy."

Janor Hulen strides down the shuttle's ramp with the faintest stumble. He groans at the heavier gravity and glances around him. A breeze blows fine dust at his face. He blinks and looks away, thankful that his long black hair is tucked under his hat. The rest of the town cannot be seen behind the large hanger, making the place feel more desolate than its several thousand inhabitants suggests. Much different from Antiga.

He sighs and coughs continuing his decent all the while concentrating on his leg muscles. He should have had the shuttle crew acclimate the gravity.

A whining sound catches his ears and he looks up and left, seeing a dust cloud rising from behind a distant hoverbike. Janor looks forward again and a man dressed in a lieutenant's blue formal, but faded, dress crisply salutes him. Janor returns it but his stare fixes on two men in dusty gray riding leathers. Dust everywhere. They could have picked a better spot for their damned capitol.

"My brief said there were three marshals here. If you two are whom I assume you are, where is your colleague?"

"Behind ya, sir--- look out," the graying marshal says.

Janor turns quickly to spot the incoming hoverbike. He watches, but does not move. A loud cracking sound comes from the bike as it suddenly slows to a stop mere feet from Janor. A man easily dismounts and removes his helmet to reveal a sweaty bald head. "Howdy. I'm Jim Raynor, marshal of these parts."

Janor's face remains blank and he turns back to the other marshals. The taller man clears his throat to speak. "I'm Lank Tanner, marshal of Backwater and this is Simon Glark, marshal of South Rock." Jim joins his fellows in line.

"Punctuality is necessary even for backwater colonies to operate efficiently," Janor says crisply. "Surely even people here can accomplish this simple task. I'm willing to believe your sustained lack of competent leadership is to blame. That will change quickly." A sudden gust of dust-bearing wind sweeps into Janor's face. The marshals seem undisturbed and Janor stifles a cough. "We will continue this conversation inside and out of the dust."

The militia lieutenant leads the procession inside. Janor follows. A quiet laugh comes from the back. That Marshal Raynor will have to be watched. Closely.

"I don't care. He ain't a local. He'll have to earn our respect," Jim says flatly to the screen.

"Not with you, and after that stunt you pulled," Marshal Tanner says. "I'm your friend but Christ that was pushing it."

"Bull. If a man can't handle a 'bike, he can't handle Mar Sara."

"Putting up with you is hardly handling Mar Sara. That's easy. You're a stubborn, pain in the ass, son of a---"

"Who me?" Jim interrupts. "I'm as easy goin' as a greasy axle."

Marshal Tanner laughs. "As easy as a greasy something..."

Jim joins the laughter. "Don't push me, Stilty."

"Right you hairless twit." Marshal Tanner takes a sobering breath. "You may have a thing against inlanders but I won't deny there's something about this Janor Hulen that bothers me." Jim started to smile but Marshal Tanner cut him off. "I think we should sit and watch before jumping down his throat. Your newfound rivalry or not."

"I never take your words lightly, Lank. I'll let it be for a while, but if our new magistrate doesn't take the stick out of his ass---"

"---Then you'll remove it for him. I know you too well, cowboy."

"My best guess is that it's new," Liam's father says through the respirator. "Mar Sara wasn't settled that long ago. The likelihood isn't as slim as some places."

Jim, also with a respirator and holding a long branch, looks at the rotting corpse. He nods. "I still can't believe that we haven't seen this before, Ulian. Those tusks could rip right through ya. There's no mistaking this for a predator. I would've expected it to prey on livestock before now."

Ulian hums as Jim opens a small box next to him. He takes out a metal instrument and pokes at the fleshy part of a limb. The hide only dimples. He thrusts harder, but the probe won't push through. "Tough skin. This might take a while." He dumps the probe in a bucket of disinfectant and takes out a laser cutter.

"Liam, stay with the marshal," Liam's father says. "I've still got to get that anti-grav unit replaced." Liam nods and his father walks back over the small hill to the gunthas. A crackling sound escapes the laser cutter.

"Why doesn't the probe work?" Liam asks.

Jim doesn't turn away from his work. "Skin's too thick. Not much I've seen that a carbon-tipped neo-steel probe will fight."

Liam looks around, his gun resting muzzle down. The silence from earlier that day still pervades the land. He scans the forest edge. Nothing. He shivers, then turns back to Jim. "Did you meet the new magistrate today?"

"Yeah." Jim says, still focusing on his cutting.

"What's he--- he right?"

"Um…" Jim focuses on his cutting. "Yeah, he's a man."

"What's he like?"

Jim doesn't respond for a moment. "Well… he's uh… he's an inlander. Very sure of himself."

"Oh?" Liam asks. Jim doesn't respond. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't distract you."

"No. I just don't like him."

"Why?"

"Ya know, you are as curious as a three year old boy."

Liam laughs. "My dad says that all the time. Is that as bad as he makes it?"

"Maybe. Depends on how you use it. You ever heard of the curiosity that killed the yanner?"

"All the time. It comes right after 'three year old.'"

Jim chuckles. "Well, if you use it for learning and not doing anything stupid, you'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know."

"Good... Ah." Jim sets the laser cutter back in the box and takes out the metal probe again. He inserts it into the arm and looks at the small screen in the box. "Odd."

"What?"

"Brain hemorrhaging. I would have thought it suffocated with those plas-wires... It'll need to go to Marsa for proper testing." Jim starts packing up the box.

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Won't know more until the biology team gets out here. Tomorrow morning, probably."

"Okay."

"You don't suppose your mother has any of her fresh richlar tea around do you?"

"Always."

"How about we go get some?"

"Sounds good to me."

"We've got to do something about these reports," the raspy voice says. He runs his fingers through his graying, sleeked back hair, staring at the PAD, or personal adjutant device, in his hand.

"Like what?" A heavyset man, with wispy white hair asks. "The last scout group we sent out disappeared."

"Send another one," the first man quips.

"And what good will that do? We keep this up and we'll run out of fighters and pilots. What happens to the capital ships after that?" This came from the one with ebony hair and a uniform to match.

"Send the battlecruisers along with them," the raspy voice replies.

"General Duke, you forget about the situation on Antiga."

"How dare you accuse me of---"

"Enough!" the fourth man yells from the end of the room. His hand slams onto the crimson trimmed ebony table. The Confederate flag hanging directly behind him reinforces his power. "General Duke, the situation on Antiga is getting worse, as you do know. Omega squadron has sent more and more troops to replace your Alpha ones. Yet, you are right in that we need to act." The man's crimson uniform folds as he sits back down in his chair. The two generals sit down, though Duke only after his colleague.

"Mr. Secretary, may we ask what you propose?" the wispy haired general asks.

"The information suggests that whatever is destroying our scouts is heading straight for the Sara system. We will meet it there."

"In a colonized system?" the black-haired man asks incredulously.

"How is that better than sending a capital fleet out?" Duke says over the top of the other.

"We're using Nova," the secretary of defense replies. The room sat silent.

"Frigging Nova," Duke whispers finally. The other two men nod. "Why the hell is Nova involved with this?" Duke's voice grates with irritation. "It's a job better fit for my Alpha boys, or Delta." He gestured to the white haired man.

"The president thinks the subtler approach is better. Should it become necessary, we'll send Alpha in."

"I am not some second hand mopping crew!" Duke bellows. "Especially not to Nova!"

"You are what myself and the president make you, general. Nothing more. You are valuable as a general, Edmund, but I can think of many uses for a colonel." The secretary's voice is like ice to Duke's Fire. Duke turns away from his superior and mumbles under his breath. The rest of the meeting continues without his active participation.

Jim sits on the guntha, watching the team of five people remove the carcass from the fence. Part of the fence would have to be replaced, but that was much better than having a rotten corpse on Ulian's farm.

"Biggest thing that's happened since that meteorite crashed through our barn five years ago," Ulian says, mounted as well. "I'm just glad it'll be gone. I don't like how the animals won't get near it, even the wild ones. It's more than a little creepy."

"The crew's excited, at least," Jim says. "They'd be happy to sit and stare at it here. I explained to them why that can't happen."

"Much obliged, Jim. Liam tells me the new magistrate grates on your nerves. Should I be genuinely worried or is this your normal newcomer harassment?"

Jim looks over at Ulian. "Lank wants me to cool it. I said I would... for a while."

"I trust Marshal Tanner to keep you in line," Ulian laughs, then sobers. "Why can't you leave your past behind you?"

"The man's from, Antiga, Ulian. He was there when it happened."

"He's a magistrate, not the damned Confederate military. It's not the world that exiled us."

"The size of his ego could fill the whole damn sector. He's a prick."

"Jim, this isn't your enmity talking?"

"No. It's the man that bothers me. He wants to destroy the fringe way of life."

"What is he changing? The militia?"

"You haven't agreed to let Liam join have you?"

"No, but his heart doesn't lie in the quite life of a fringe colony. Once he reaches age, he's not staying here. I know it. As much as you're my friend, my family is my own responsibility."

"You forget the Confederacy is everywhere and only on the fringe do they leave people alone. Their betrayal of---"

"Don't accuse me of forgetting," Ulian snaps. "My life was changed as much as yours."

Jim raises his hand. "I know. I know, Ulian. I'm sorry."

"Marshal, we're loaded," a woman's voice issues from one of the white sterile suits. She flips over the gray hood to reveal a young face. "You still following us?"

Jim nods. "I'll be right there." The woman turns and walks towards the bland, gray truck. Jim shifts his gaze back to Ulian. "I'll ride with them to my 'bike."

Jim dismounts. The marshal strides towards the truck then pauses to turn back. "I value your advice, Ulian. I wouldn't be here without it."

Ulian nods. "I know." He smiles.

Dr. Brown stands up stiffly from the small window. "Damn thing is too low," he grumbles. "They're looking good. Have you been able to discern a gender?"

The other man in a white gown shakes his head. "I don't think they have one, not from what I can observe. We have one in dissection now and from what I could see, they don't have any sort of reproductive system at all."

Dr. Brown raises his eyebrows, "You mean to tell me they can't reproduce? The damn things got here somehow."

"Of course, but I can't even begin to guess. Not without them even having a digestive system either."

Dr. Brown's eyes grow wide, "It shouldn't even be alive, from what you're telling me. Let me see this thing." The other scientist leads Dr. Brown down the spartan and utilitarian corridor. No digestive system indeed.

They reach a automated lab door and both men scan their retinas to enter. A cut creature lies in the large table-sink. Dr. Brown approaches it and stares at the flesh.

"There's virtually nothing but a circulator system in this thing. All muscle, bone and blood. Hell, the damn mount is only a cavity for razor sharp teeth. Merely another limb for ripping flesh."

"You see. I don't understand them. They seem to me to simply be a natural predator, but they don't eat what they kill, clearly. Their hid is too tough for osmosis. They do not have excrement. It baffles me."

"A self-sustained natural killing machine..."

"I can't see a thing," Hadder says to the static filled screen in front of him.

"Well hold on." Lars says over the headset. "I swear, it's always some damn thing. Wait, I got it." The video image pops up, but flickers in and out. "Ah, hell, this thing ain't gonna hold!"

"Shut up!" He hears a loud thud and the screen finally clears, revealing Lars' face not more than a few inches in front of the screen.

"Damn you're ugly!" He turns his face and admired his bony jaw-line and stubbed nose.

"Get your ugly ass face out of my pickup." Hadder says. Lars jumps and starts pushing buttons. The screen switches to focus on a pair of hodgepodge extra-vehicular suits.

"You girls strapped in nice and tight?" Lars taunts.

"In you're momma's ass." Joey retorts.

Chico starts laughing hysterically in the other suit. "Good one, man."

The utilitarian vehicles float gently in the bay. The doors hiss open and the two men fire their thrusters.

"Locked in and cruisin'" Joey says as they make for a debris field.

"What you got out there for me, Joey?" Hadder asks.

"We've got terror for sure. I don't know about the rest." He stares at the derelict ship. The damage looks like an asteroid hit. "We gotta big old butt load of floating debris."

"We've hit pay dirt this time for sure!" Chico says from near remaining aft section. A fully intact and highly expensive hyper drive floats a few meters away. "Explain to me, how we gonna get all this home?" Chico asks.

Hadder leans back in his chair, drags on a cigarette, and smirks to himself. His favorite country music plays in the background, completing the mood. He mentally replays his theft of the tractor beam and smirks again.

"I'm detached and moving toward the derelict spacecraft." Joey says as he leaves the vehicle. He activates the thrusters on his environment suit. Hadder concentrates on the video feed, watching intently, along with other the other two of his crew. It is the most dangerous part of scavenging.

The video image flickers and returns to static. "Damn it," Lars curses. "Video's out again."

"Well, quit pickin' at it!" Hadder says.

"I ain't pickin' at it, damn it! I'm down here with a wrench, stuck in---" Hadder shuts off the audio at Lars' station. He is getting a headache from all the screaming. Yet the noise doesn't stop. Chico rattles off something in Spanish. He can't understand it, but the man sounds scared shitless.

"Are you listening to me?!" Chico finally says in English.

Hadder notices the video feed flicker and turns the audio back on.

"---old on. I got visual." The picture that materializes out of the static sends a chill down Hadder's spine. Another ship hovers directly above them. He can't make it out very well and doesn't see any markings. It wasn't there when he entered the Sara system. Chico reverts again to Spanish and Joey curses at the top of his lungs, occasionally screaming Hadder's name. An iris-like hatch opens on the bottom of the strange ship and a massive blue beam of energy erupts out. Hadder begins to hyperventilate.

The beam inches through the ship, tearing apart and vaporizing everything in its path. The bulkhead behind Hadder explodes, piercing his head into multiple oozing pieces of flesh.

Liam's head presses to the eyepiece of the telescope. He pans to follow Dusty's Comet as it soars "towards" the gleaming blue orb of Chau Sara. Mar Sara's sister planet shares the binary star system. Liam watches the comet with fascination.

The comet's reflected light becomes distorted in something like heat waves before it passes behind Chau Sara.

Liam takes his eye away from the telescope for a moment, wondering what he just saw. It can't be, he told himself. Yet, what else could it be? He'd never seen a cloaked ship before, but he knows the Confederate fleets equip them on their wraith fighters. He could have sworn the light distortion was a cloak.

Liam puts his eye back on the piece and focuses the telescope to the other side of the sister planet, where he had figured the comet should emerge. Three seconds… two… one…

"Oh my God," Liam hisses out in a whisper. He draws away from the telescope and looks directly at Chau Sara. He can see the light distort again. No wraith can be seen with the naked eye at that distance.

Liam calls his father in the house but doesn't take his eye off the ships. "Come out here dad. Quick!"

His father walks quickly through the front door. "What's the---"

"Oh my God!" Liam interrupts. Ulian follows his son's gaze in time to see Chau Sara turn from a dull blue to a fiery red and then disappear from sight.

"What was that?" Liam turns to look at his father's pale face.

"I don't know…" he says. "I'll call the marshal."

"The Nova boys get lost now eh?" General Duke smirks.

"Sadly, that's exactly what seems to have happened, General," the defense secretary says. "We lost contact with them as soon as they left the Sara system."

"Pity."

"We've also lost contact with our Chau Sara outpost. It would be safe to assume what ever has disappeared our scouts and the Nova expedition has arrived at the colony. It's your turn now, General. Omega is taking up residence at Antiga. I want you to take your fleet and find out what happened to Chau Sara. If it necessary, quarantine the system. We don't want this enemy escaping us before we find out who they are. Good luck, general."

The screen blanks and General Duke sits back in his hair. So Nova disappeared and now some fringies are getting a taste of action. Now he gets to save the day. His career is looking up.

Janor stands listening to the static then motions to cut it off. He turns to look at the comm officer. "What happened?"

"I don't know sir," the blue uniformed ensign says. "The communication was cut off… I'll try re-establishing." The man taps the buttons and listens. "Nothing, sir." He pauses, then turns to Janor. "It's like they aren't there."

"How can Chau Sara just disappear?"

A man in the blue militia duty-uniform bursts into the control room, his face beat red and his lungs out of breath. "You… wouldn't… believe. Chau Sara… has disappeared."

"I don't believe it," Janor says dryly, frowning at the man.

The soldier simply looks at him quizzically. "No," he says. "It's burned away. I saw burn and then disappear!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Janor says, sarcasm giving way to confusion.

"Go outside. Go look for yourself. It's not there." The soldier leaves the open doorway.

Janor stares at the empty space for a moment, then turns back to his staff. They stare back at him then rush for the door.

"Where the hell are you---" He starts, but then joins the parade out of the command center.

Jim sits up abruptly, knocking his head on the underside of his 'bike. He hisses a curse and slides out from under the machine. He stands, wipes his hands on a nearby rag and grabs the beeping PAD, raising an eyebrow. At this hour…?

"Hello Ulian, what--- are you alright?" Jim stares at the pale face on the screen. Ulian swallows hard before responding.

"I don't think I can believe what I just saw, but Chau Sara is gone."

"What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"Just go outside, Jim. Go look in the sky. It's not there." Ulian says the words slowly and carefully. Jim doesn't hesitate to do as Ulian asks, not with the underlying hysteria behind his words.

Outside, Jim notices the light is not right. He looks all around the sky, but the glowing blue orb of Chau Sara can't be seen. Jim shivers, though it isn't cold.

"It burned away, Jim. I saw the flames with my own eyes."

Jim shakes his head. "I don't know what's happening. Take your family into your basement. I'll find out what's wrong and be out to your place right away. You're not the only one out there."

Ulian nods and cuts the link. Jim immediately calls the magistrate.

"Marshal Raynor," Janor says as soon as his face appears. "I know why you called. I don't know what happened either, but---"

"Greetings Magistrate." The face of a graying man appears on the screen. "I'm General Edmund Duke of the Confederate Security Forces, Alpha Squadron. The Confederacy has quarantined this entire planet and we'll proceed with a lockdown within forty-eight hours. You're to relocate your core colonists to the outlying wastelands. Now, I know there won't be any problems with these arrangements." The screen switches back to Janor.

"Now just what the hell was that?" Jim says right away.

"You saw that too?"

"You bet I saw it. I don't know who they think we are but---"

"I'll deal with it, Marshal. Your job is to look after the farmers. I don't need your temper, ego, and God knows what else in my office right now." Janor says levelly and cuts the link.

Jim stares blankly at the screen and purses his lips. His anger rises as he looks at the eerily black sky. If that's the Confederate idea of quarantine... If that's the magistrate's idea of dealing... His fury overwhelms his thoughts as he bursts back into his garage. He stares around the room without conscious awareness. At last his eyes fall on the 'bike.

"I think you'll want to see this, doctor," the man in a white gown says from the doorway of xenobiology.

"Oh?" Doctor Brown halts in mid stride down the hall. "What is it?"

"You better see for yourself." Dr. Brown raises his eyebrows but walks into the lab. "It's on the terminal there," the other scientist gestures to a bank of screens on one wall.

Dr. Brown walks towards them, then turns. "This is just the DNA sample from X-227."

"Not quite. This sample came from a xenobiology group in Marsa just yesterday. The contact there is reliable. I checked here. There hasn't been a containment breech. All our specimens are accounted for."

Dr. Brown only stares at his college. He opens his mouth, but pauses before saying something. "You're sure? You checked everything?"

"I'm sure. Everything. Are we in danger?"

Dr. Brown hesitates before responding. "No. It's just as hard to get in here as out. I fear more for the colonist's safety than ours. The captivity could be provoking them, but their ferocity seems natural. Did they only have one of the specimens at Marsa?"

"Yes. Just the one."

"But that doesn't guarantee more aren't out there."

"We should inform Tarsonis."

"Yes. I'll do that. Thanks for showing this to me," Dr. Brown says. His colleague nods and Dr. Brown leaves the lab. He walks at a furious pace down the hall. The sudden reassignment out here. The special chain of command set up. The nonchalant requests and repeated predator specimens. Everything makes sense now... and I'll be damned if I'm a part of it.

Liam sits against the neo-crete wall of the basement, waiting along with his mother and father, for some sort of explanation to be given. Reality seems distant and obscure. His body has long since stopped pumping adrenaline and his haze is half caused by the withdrawal of the natural drug.

Liam jerks his head up to see dust falling from the ceiling and he hears pounding above. His father stands, swinging his powered shotgun upwards. The pounding moves across the house and then stops.

"What is it?" Liam asks.

"Shhh... I don't know. I'm going to look."

"I'm going too."

"No. Stay with your mother."

Liam begins to object, but closes his mouth instead. As much as he wants to find out what's upstairs, he loves his mother too much to leave her alone.

His father slowly opens the door at the top of the stairwell. He quickly looks around then closes the door behind him. Liam listens to his father's footfalls around the house above until they leave the house. His mother squeezes him in a sideways hug and he stares at the shotgun beside him.

Suddenly, Liam hears the distinct low whine of a discharging weapon. A second later it discharges again. "Dad!" He yells. He scoops up his weapon and runs for the door.

"Liam!" His mother yells. "No! Don't go out."

"Dad!" Liam yells again, as he bursts out of the basement and into the twilight. He runs around the side of the house towards the barn. His father stands a few meters away, firing into the fields. "Dad!" He yells.

"Liam! Get back---"

The whole side of the barn suddenly explodes, shooting wood fragments towards the two of them. Both throw themselves down onto the ground.

Liam looks up to see two creatures leap out of the barn, one of them grasping a bloodied guntha in its mouth. Ulian fires his shotgun. An energy pulse impacts against one of the creatures, sending it soaring back into the barn. The other attempts to leap at Ulian, but receives an energy pulse as well. Liam rises to his knees, watching the two creatures, badly burned, walk slowly out of the shambles that was the barn.

"Shit," His father swore. He never swore. Liam fires his gun, striking the head. An agonizing scream erupts from the dying creature. The other one races into motion, despite its injuries, and slams into his father. Liam runs for his father

"Da---" He tries to yell, but the creature's tail catches Liam in the arm. He jerks with the impact and screams. A large bony spike rips through his arm as the tail withdraws. His gun flies a few feet away from the impact.

Liam falls onto his back, then rolls over, gagging from the stink of bodily fluids, creature and human alike. He crawls for the shotgun with his good arm and rises to face the creature. Blood flies as the claws razor through his father's body. Liam slams the gun into maximum power and climbs to his feet. He runs at the creature and slams his gun butt-first into its head. He can hear the crack of metal on bone.

The creature lifts its head towards Liam, blood and saliva drip from the nostrils and teeth. A snarled hiss escapes the mouth.

"Die you bastard." His finger squeezes the trigger.

The world becomes a blinding white haze. A sharp pain pulses through his head and back. He tries to move but nothing happens. A woman's face appears before him.

"Mom..." He whispers, before everything fades to black.

Janor pauses in mid-sentence as Jim rushes into the command center. His eyes blaze with anger. Janor dismisses the sergeant he was talking to and moves towards Jim.

"I would strip you of your rank were you not needed, marshal. Not only have you come here despite my orders but you have ignored your duty to the citizens of this colony."

"Duty? My duty sees that they aren't screwed over by the Confederacy and arrogant Magistrates---" Jim starts, but is cut off.

"Your duty is to see to their protection and I have received two calls now from people being attacked by some predator. I may be an inlander but I know frontier people can handle dangerous animals. These people sound panicked and say they could not reach you. Why is that, might I ask?"

Jim slips his hand to his PAD, but only feels an empty holster. His face drains of color and he clenches his jaw.

Janor takes in a breath. "I suggest you find that and head out to a Mr. Mukato in Forest Edge."

Jim simply turns and walks out of the room. Janor releases his clenched fists. It took all his will power to not plant them in the man's face. His brashness and temper would most likely end up getting someone killed. Someone Marshal Raynor was supposed to protect. Maybe such an unfortunate death would knock sense into the man.

Janor shakes his head to clear the thought. Death even to that end would not be justified. He turned back to the survey the room. First a planet is turned to ash, then a mysterious predator starts threatening the citizens, and now he must deal with a rash marshal as well as the Confederacy sticking their fingers in his business yet again.

Forest Edge. Ulian. Forest Edge. Ulian.

The same two thoughts circle in Jim's head, taunting him... haunting him. His 'bike flies over the terrain at full throttle despite his mental distraction. If Ulian... if he... He can't finish the thought.

Ulian's house grows in the distance, a dark box like form against a darker forest. The sun set not long ago. Jim jerks the 'bike to a stop just short of the front porch. He leaps off and runs around the house, but suddenly freezes. In the yard covered in dark mounds and dark splotches, a small black-haired woman wails and clutches a small, limp form.

No... no... no...

Jim finally breaks his paralysis and runs to Helena. He kneels beside her, putting his hand on her back. She raises her head to reveal a tear-stained face. Liam's body moves with shallow breaths. "J-J-Jim..." She says.

"He needs help. He needs to get to Marsa. Where's Ulian?" He asks. She doesn't answer. "Where's Ulian, Helena?"

Helena turns her head away from Jim towards the barn. Yet she jerks it back and fresh screams erupt from her mouth. Jim looks up to the barn, but his gaze stops at a dark lump on the ground roughly man-shaped. Jim's body heaves and he chokes down bile and vomit. His thoughts no longer coherent, his scream pierces the night and echoes in his soul. Ulian!

Alas, this is all you are getting here, but if you go to my website listed in my profile, you will find more of this story. Just look under Featured Stories on the link box, point to StarCraft, and click Rebel Yell.