Chapter 2 – On the Battlefront

Present time, 3045 A.D

"Watch it Mikar, Fade coming down your corridor!" Yelled the Marine
"Got it...got it...hang on." Mikar said, as he prepared for the Fade
As the Fade blinked past the Turrets and the Electric defenses, Mikar sat in the shadows of the hallway, waiting. As the Fade got closer, it started slowing down, aware that something was wrong. All of a sudden, it shrieked and started to go out of control. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped and the Fade was dead.
"Fade down" radioed Mikar to the soldiers at the frontlines.
"Roger that General. Frontline forces, continue advancing, the hive is near. 72nd Marine Regiment, out"

"OK, Demolitions team, follow me!" yelled Mikar to his squad. They were in charge of setting up the Siege Cannons and for providing artillery support.
The first squadron was to provide diversion so that the Demolitions team could set up the artillery in safety. The whole squad consisted of 10 marines, including Mikar. There were 6 Heavy Armors and 3 Jetpacks. The first squadron consisted of many more soldiers, numbering around the 50's. The majority of them were Heavy Armor, and the Jetpacks were used mainly for hunting down Lerks.

Mikar trusted that the 72nd Regiment would do their job, so he started to do his.
"Alright men, time to blow this crap to hell. You three, set up the siege cannons. The rest of you heavy armors, guard them. Jetpacks, with me." Just as he finished giving his orders, the marines started to do them. Mikar led the Jetpackers to clear the area of any aliens and structures.
As they formed a perimeter, Mikar got an urgent radio call from the frontlines.

"General Mikar, requesting immediate backup. Contact the BattleCruiser and tell them we have a level 3 emergency. Set off a distress beacon, and set up a phase gate. We need immediate assistance at the frontlines."
The soldier barely finished his sentence before Mikar barked out his own orders.
"You three, get to the docking area and set off the Distress Beacon. I'll go straight to the frontlines. Go go go!"
Mikar went back quickly to check on the siege cannons, and after making sure the area was all clear for the heavy armors, he set off towards the front. It took him about 2 minutes to get to the front, and from the looks of it, he came just in time. The forward encampment was being ravaged by no less than 5 onos and 20 fades.

"God dammit" cursed Mikar, hoping that the distress beacon would reach them in time. Right now, his sole thoughts were focused on saving what marines were left, and killing whatever aliens stood in his way.
Seeing that the commander was dead, Mikar took charge
"Everyone, form a phalanx behind me. Heavy Armors in the vanguard, Jetpackers in the flank. Grenade Lanchers in the rear. Go now!"
The 20 some remaining soldiers, thankful for a commander, obeyed. Mikar saw that the situation was looking futile, and impossible unless he had more marines, decided on a more evasive plan of attack.
"Split up!" he yelled. "Left side focus on the onos, right side, with me. We're hunting fades boys!"

As he led his team into battle, Mikar shouted his last instructions at them. "Men, don't try and kill them at all costs. I want you to stay alive. That is your main objective, got that? Leave the fades to me"

No sooner had he said it, Mikar faded out of view and he rushed through the alien frontlines. Spotting gorges putting up offense and defense chambers, he decided to kill them first. Sneaking up behind the first one, he disposed of it quickly. The one nearest to it spotted Mikar, and it was dead before it could cry out. The third one, busy building the alien backup defenses, was unaware of his comrades' tragic fate. Mikar smiled a little to himself, and thought it was a shame that he had to kill these cute little creatures. They would make nice pets, if their spit wasn't corrosive enough to kill an unarmed human. Mikar quickly disposed of the last gorges and went to hunt the fades. One by one, Mikar silently took them out. However, there were simply too many aliens. Mikar couldn't take out the whole alien task force by himself. As powerful as he was, he wasn't invincible. Just as he was starting to get exhausted, the backups arrived. Around 60 marines burst through the phase gate, and started laying down supressing fire.

"Team, fall back!" shouted Mikar, and the marines were more than happy to follow his orders. Only 12 marines remained of the 20 some that he had at the beginning, but that was better than having everyone dead.
"Alright everyone" he yelled as the last fades and onos fled "set up the encampment again. The demolitions team are just about ready. Fortify this position and wait for my go."

Mikar appointed a Master Seargant to take command, and rushed back to the HA siege point. As he got there, he discovered a rogue fade trying to take out the sieges. He noticed that none of his rines were dead, and he was thankful for this. The fade was a very pesky one, and hard to kill for the clumsy Heavy Armors, even with the advanced Heavy Machine Guns. Mikar smiled to himself and sent a Psi blast at the fade, killing it instantly. The fade fell down and literally exploded, covering the marines with a green goo. "Now there's something you don't see everyday." said the marine nearest to the fade "Thank god"
Mikar laughed, and double checked to see that the sieges were in perfect working order. As soon as he finished checking, he radioed the front.
"Alright guys, we're ready as soon as you are. On my mark, advance towards the hive in a phalanx formation. I need 5 guys to stay back and scan the area. Over and out"
Mikar then grinned at his rines, and radioed back the Jetpackers. He was glad to see none of them had died either. "Alright boys, this is when the fun begins. Man the siege cannons"

Mikar and his soldiers climbed into the huge cannons, and they were given coordinates by the artillery captain at the front.
"On my mark. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire at will!"
Boom, boom boom went the siege cannons. The deafening roar blocked out the aliens' screams as the hives and structures exploded in a flash of blinding white light.

As the last hive went down, and the last Kharaa exterminated, Mikar gave the signal to recycle the outpost and told his soldiers to join up with the rest of the army.
"Good job today boys, i'm glad to see that you all survived."
"Thank you sir, we're glad to see you survived too" said the soldiers.
As the soldiers went off to join the rest of the marines, Mikar went back to the docking bay and boarded his special ship. He set the coordinates and rocketed away to the command ship orbited outside the planet.
As he took his last look at Tanith, Mikar felt a sense of hatred for the aliens, but this was overshadowed by the surge of pleasure he felt when he saw the dead and dying Kharaa, their guts all over the wall.

End of part 2. Part 3 will explain more about the mysterious Psi Corps.