15th of September, 3748
Fleetbase Korus, Phobos

Dust kicked up behind Interceptors. Cra'tar didn't think they'd get far. Best the Psions could hope for was another couple of hours of living. Transports were either shot or gone - nothing left to get off their forsaken rock. He didn't care. Cra'tar braced his shield against the hanger's door and held. Just to buy the little 'uns and the calves some time. Time was all they had, in the end.

Time to breath and shout and fight and laugh. Time to live. Few hours, few years - what did it matter?

Enough to keep him at the door, apparently.

"Radio's gone," Tiliq reported miserably. He tossed aside a dull grey object: their last communicator.

Cra'tar jutted his head towards the open fields of grey rock. "Get a move on."

The Psion operant shook his head. Shook his arms too, but that was pure terror. "Can't leave. No point."

"Every point. Get out there. Go live for as long as you can."

"And you?"

"I'll hold the line."

A scream split the air. It wasn't Cabal. Not Psion either. Something... other.

"They're coming," Tiliq whispered. His whole body was trembling by then.

Cra'tar grunted. His helm's HUD fizzled out. Battlenet was collapsing around them; the Dark King was tearing it asunder. It filled his ears with static shrieks. "Go. Move."

"No." Tiliq hefted his rifle. It was half his size. "I'm... I'm with you."

"I'm dying here, flea. Get hopping."

"We're all dying."

"Some sooner than others. I'm telling you to hop."

"Can't shake me loose." Tiliq took up position behind the shield. He was stretched taut with terror.

"I could kick you," Cra'tar told him.

"You could. It might be quicker."

"Oh, it will be. Hear that? Hear them? That's our squad. And they're coming for us, flea. They're coming for our souls."

"My ancestors will protect me. I will see them soon."

Cra'tar huffed, unimpressed. "Forget your ancestors and leave. Now. That's an order."

"You can't think I'd just abandon you h-"

A dark shape hurtled around the corner ahead of them. Their former Bracus twisted around and settled her big glowing eye on them. Cra'tar's fingers tightened around his shield's handhold. "Guess no one's hopping now. Buckle up flea; we're the line."

Muzzles flashed. Microrockets flew. The Bracus fell, but there were more behind her; a veritable horde of hungry stars in an ocean of black.

"We're the line," Tiliq whimpered.

Cra'tar laughed.