The eight figures were struggling against the sandstorm. It had arrived with an intense wind kicking up walls of blinding sand. Captain White and the safety of six other soldiers all rested on one man, Lt. Howard Fisk, a veteran of a savage mêlée at Korhal, and good soldier, for which he earned the Silver Bar, for valor. He was respected by all in the company, and feared as well. Fisk was eyeing his viewer as he held his rifle steady. No life signs for at least 75 meters ahead, which was a good sign and he had hoped it would stay that way, as the compass reading read WSW. The troop had enough bullets to keep alive for maybe two engagements at most. The airstream battered the troops. Still they maintained the course, sometimes aided by the wind and sometimes it was like running into a wall. The sand was irritating to all of them however. Fisk had paced them carefully. Looking at his viewer, and rushed quickly for one hundred yards, then waiting until he could get good visual data, and rushed again. The troop kept up, acknowledging the professional tactics. If all went well they would get to Eagle. However, the sand was not the only problem.
The other enemy, Fisk realized, would be fear. Terror was to be expected in a situation like this, and if it was controlled, it would keep a soldier alive. However, fear could quickly deteriorate into panic. Fisk considered the situation carefully. For a few minutes after the command sphere had crashed, Fisk believed that White had lost it, but the man seemed steady now, in control of his fear. Fisk however had come to the resolution that anyone who panicked would have to be dealt with severely, and for a moment, he thought he was going to have to 'frag' Captain Robert White.
Fisk had judged Captain Robert White as a fair and quick officer, but was never really comfortable with command. The rapport between White and Fisk, while awkward at first, had started to develop. Gradually, White gained experience in authority and Fisk could see the efforts and progress he had made since joining the Lights. Fisk had fought against the Zerg at Korhal, whereas White had little in terms of combat experience against this particular enemy; White acknowledged Fisk as a senior in this regard. He asked his lieutenant many questions about his experience with the Zerg, their tactics, their abilities and how to respond to the threat. Fisk opened up progressively, but he did not regale White with stories of heroism, just blunt facts.
That was exactly what White wanted, and to Fisk, this was a good thing. White did not want stories of greatness, he just focused on the situation at hand, and he never wanted to play hero either. Fisk understood that White just wanted to be good at his job and respected and, for that, Fisk realized that he and Charlie Company had been fortunate in their new captain. He wasn't like the last one, Captain Jacques Vuitton.
Capt. Vuitton only bored Fisk with tales of his military knowledge. "Boldness and superior firepower will always prove decisive Lt. Fisk," Vuitton said to him one day. "Adm. Dugalle is our finest, and I am sure that we will have news of an early victory at Char, if only we could be there. Think of it, we could be heroes." Captain Vuitton sought to transfer himself to the front of the battle. "My talents are wasted here. I am not a logistics person. I want combat. Our marines want to face the Zerg and Mengsk and the Protoss in open battle." Fisk resented the patronizing fool of a captain.
As luck would have it, a few days prior to the battle on Char, White, Vuitton's replacement, arrived and introduced himself to Fisk, with the explanation, "Lt. Fisk, my name is Rob White. I am your new captain. I am replacing Captain Vuitton. Captain Vuitton is now headed towards Dugalle's fleet." Vuitton had never been heard from since. A few in the company had wanted Fisk to take over, but thirty-year-old Captain White was available and the Battle Group Cornerback needed someone. Fisk had deserved promotion on battle merit alone and was at first bitter about being passed over. He decided eventually to make the best of an uncomfortable situation and so made his peace with the new and sincere captain. He quickly realized that White was just as much a victim as he was in the Brood War, a pawn on hideous chessboard.
A thought entered Fisk's mind: thank God that fool Vuitton is no longer here. He would have ordered that we fight to the last man and stayed at the crash site. He chuckled a little as he eyed the zoom viewer carefully. "Keep going," he repeated to himself. Eagle West was over 13 km away. Thirteen kilometers to security. Yet, he had seen something on his viewer. He raised his hand, and the line of soldiers behind him stopped and crouched low acknowledging his hand gesture. "Damn," Fisk thought. The viewer had detected a life form that was large, lumbering and definitely not human.
Fisk pointed his gauss in the direction of the target, yet he did not fire. That would give away his position and perhaps invite more hostiles to enter the area. He heard Capt. White crawling up to meet him.
"What up, LT?" Captain asked, barely audible over the wind
Lt. Fisk answered still looking dead ahead. "Target, 88 meters dead ahead. It's big and it ain't human. It keeps flickering on and off the viewer."
"What do you think? Zerg or is it a native life form? Is it moving towards us?"
"Negative, sir, I am not certain what it is, but my instincts…Zerg" the lieutenant replied.
"Awright…let's head hard west…see if it follows us. We'll know soon enough. I am going to take your advice and avoid any engagement if possible. Do a sensor sweep 90 degrees to your south as you lead us." White was now in complete control.
"I concur, Captain." Fisk was glad that the captain was no fool.
White thought back to his training and his studies of previous battle data. "Awright, if we go 75 meters direct west and that target isn't there, then we can go south again and head back on course. Otherwise, let's give this thing a wide berth. If it's a lurker we got 25 yards to play with. Just lead us around this thing. Gimme two minutes. I'll inform the others then I'll signal you to lead on"
Fisk nodded in acknowledgment. "Thank God Vuitton was not here." Fisk thought. "That SOB would have ordered us to charge." He chuckled at his own malevolence.