"Hey Vaukel," Daralec grunted as he kicked a zergling in the face and brought it down with two swift, power blows, "is it me, or has the enemy's endless supply of reinforcements of slowly dwindled?"
Vaukel, who had a stopped a hydralisk in its tracks with Force Stasis, took one quick look around the settlement and noticed that the battle started to turn in their favor.
"Now that you mention it," he said as he slowly started to crush the hydralisk with Force Crush, "I don't see any more Zerg coming out of the buildings."
"I say we keep it that way," said Daralec.
He turned to a Revanite Trooper.
"Sergeant, have some of the men sweep the buildings, find out where the enemy's been coming from and cut it off," he ordered.
"Acknowledged," he said.
The Revanite Trooper motioned over to several other troopers and motioned for them to sweep the buildings. The Revanite Troopers obliged, and they began to sweep the buildings.
"Don't know if that's you Kayla… But if it is, keep it up," thought Vaukel.
/\/\/\/\/\
"A sniper?" asked Kayla.
"Yeah, over there on the cliffside by the spire," said Geza.
"We can't get to them with all of these Zerg trying to overwhelm us," said Brodmar grunted as he kicked a zergling in the face and hurled a zergling corpse at a hydralisk.
Kayla looked up at the sky and smiled.
"We won't have to," she said.
The other Hunters looked up and saw several Revanite gunships come flying overhead, firing their cannons and missiles at the Zerg's spore colonies and flyers as they came towards the battle zone.
"Captain, be careful, the zone's hot!" she yelled over the comms.
"I know," he said with a chuckle, "that's why I made a special delivery of shock troopers."
"Wait, what?" asked Kayla.
Up above, Kayla and the other Hunters saw squads after squads of Revanite Shock Troopers, jumped from the gunships as they flew overhead. Using their jet packs, the shock troopers safely made their way to the ground below, all while unleashing a hail of blaster fire from above as to clear themselves a landing zone.
The Revanite stealth troopers cheered at the arrival of the shock troopers, happy to see thee arrival of reinforcements. One of the shock troopers approached the four Revanite Hunters and saluted.
"Commander Shemkurt Markins, Firestorm Division, reporting," he said.
"Glad to have you with us Commander," said Brodmar, "we're going to need all the help we can get."
Brodmar turned.
"All troopers! Push the assault!" he barked.
All four Hunters raised their lightsabers.
"ATTACK!" roared Geza.
And just like that, the Revanite stealth troopers broke formation and joined the shock troopers as they began to push against the Zerg offensive, all while the Mandalorians still worked to gain control of the skies.
Revanite shock troopers moved together in groups of threes, unleashing a volley of blaster fire as they cut down one zergling after another, cutting through their forces as the Revanites moved deeper into the hive cluster. For every hundreds of thousands of zergings slaughtered, they managed to take at least ten to fifteen Revanites with them and ten Mandalorian warriors. Still, these formidable warriors fought on, battling tooth and nail against insurmountable odds.
"We got a sunken colony!" barked Shemkurt.
Three Revanite shock troopers with rocket launchers moved up and fired the projectiles, destroying the Zerg defense structure in a bloodied, fiery explosion, reducing it to a scorched pulp.
"This is gunship number five! We took a nasty hit to the engines! We're going down!" yelled the pilot.
Brodmar and Geza worked together to try and grab the gunship with Force Grip, all while five Revanite shock troopers covered them so they could bring the vehicle down safely. Geza motioned for two Revanite stealth troopers to head over to the downed gunship and retrieve the pilot along with anyone else onboard.
"Hey, look," said Brodmar.
Geza looked and saw two Revanite vehicle transports come in with presents.
"Troop Support Walkers! Hell yeah!" barked Geza.
The Revanite TSWs or Troop Support Walkers, much like their name suggests, were armored quad-walkers that were roughly twice the size of a hover tank and carried gunship grade weapons and armor. Able to hold a pilot, two gunners and two elite engineers, this Revanite vehicle is not to be taken lightly.
Two hydralisks roared and launched a volley of spines at one of the walkers, but the projectiles bounced off, thanks to the reinforced gunship grade armor on the vehicle. The gunner who was manning the twin blaster turret on the walker's back, turned and fired on the hydralisks, blowing off the head of the first walker and punching six holes in the second one.
"About time the heavy armor came in," Orthus said as he came over to Brodmar and Geza, "looks like we're going to win."
But the young Mandalorian's confidence vanished when he picked up the sound of a familiar roar. The boys turned and saw the same Ultralisk come rumbling onto the battlefield.
"Shit! Him again!?" exclaimed Brodmar.
"All gunships, we have a high-priority target on the field, engage, engage, engage!" barked Geza.
"No! Tell the gunships with withdraw," said Orthus, "we'll handle this beast."
Orthus drew his lightsaber.
"OYA!" he roared before taking off on his jet pack.
One of the Mandalorians saw Orthus heading towards the beast and followed behind him, then another, then another.
"…Those guys are crazy," said Brodmar.
Suddenly, Geza shoved Brodmar to the ground and deflected a shot. It was the same sniper.
"Okay! That's it!" he barked.
He got on the comms.
"Gunship seven, this is Geza-"
But Geza stopped and jumped out of the way as an unknown assailant decloaked as he attempted to impale the Qeildral with a bladestaff of some kind.
"Another infected?" asked Brodmar.
"You're all going to die here," said the infested ghost.
Another infested ghost, a female, decloaked and drew a bladestaff as well. Brodmar and Geza stood back-to-back and assumed their respective ready stances.
"Orthus just had to say we were going to win," said Geza.
As the boys engaged the infested ghosts, over with Nezarr, she saw the two-on-two duel going down after she cut down a hydralisk.
"GUYS!" she called out, "hang on I'm coming!"
Suddenly, she felt a bell go off in her head and she evaded a volley of shots coming for her, via backflip as a third infested ghost decloaked after attempting to ambush her from behind.
"They'll die, as will you," said the infested ghost.
Nezarr gritted her teeth and engaged the infested ghost.
Back with the boys, Brodmar and Geza were having a tricky time with their respective adversaries… Though this was merely trivial. The female infested ghost that Geza was facing, Camilla, seemed to be struggling to match the swift, lethal precision of the Qeildral's use of Form II and Form IV; while the male infested ghost, Tristan, could do nothing to outmatch Brodmar's use of Form V.
During their duels, both Geza and Brodmar could sense that something was off about these infested warriors. Not just that they weren't human… But that there was something else about them… Something that Brodmar noticed when he was sent sliding back without so much as laying a hand on him.
"Interesting… They wield power like us… But I sense no connection to the Force from either one of them," thought Brodmar.
Tristan jumped and hurled his bladestaff at Brodmar deflected. Tristan rolled right up to Brodmar and knocked him back with a rising backflip kick, then he pulled his bladestaff into his hand, whipped out his sidearm and started firing off shots. Brodmar, having shook off the blow of the kick just in time, blocked the shots with relative ease and sent the infested ghost flying back with a powerful Force Push, then he grabbed him, pulled him forward and sent the man flying back again with a twist kick to his chest.
"Oof! Gunh!" groaned Camilla.
Brodmar turned and saw Geza delivered an upward slash, a spinning overhead slash and roundhouse kick to her side to knock her off balance. Camilla shrugged off the kick and retaliated after spinning her bladestaff and going for a sweep, Geza evaded with a one-handed backflip and slid to the right, then the left, spun and brought his lightsaber down when Camilla went for another thrust. Camilla took an elbow strike to the face, followed by a kick to the gut to send her stumbling back.
As Camilla struggled to get her bearings, Geza twirled his lightsaber, assumed a ready stance and lunged forward, stabbing the girl right in the heart. Camilla dropped her bladestaff after looking down and seeing the Hunter's blade had penetrated her.
"I-Impossible… The Cerebrate…" she said as Geza pulled out his lightsaber, "…assured us."
Camilla dropped to the ground, dead.
"Cerebrate?" thought Geza.
Over with the Mandalorians, Orthus was… 'Riding' on top of the ultralisk after landing right on top of the beast's head and stabbing it in the head with his lightsaber.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa dewback! Whoa!" he yelled out as the ultralisk bucked and thrashed around the hive cluster, tearing through zerg structures left in right in its pained rage.
"I told you that would just piss it off Orthus!" a Mandalorian warrior called out.
"Oh, shut up, and try to help me! Whoa!" Orthus yelled as the ultralisk reeled back and roared, "before those Zerg try to take it down with me on it!"
"Try to drive your blade in deeper!" the Mandalorian warrior called out.
As Orthus struggled to take down the ultralisk, the infested sniper was busy taking aim at him from her position.
"You're wide open, fool," she said with a smirk.
Suddenly, the sniper was de-cloaked as she went flying and rolled down the hill she was positioned at. When she started to get to her feet, she saw someone sliding down after her.
"I'm coming for you!" yelled Kayla.
The sniper, the infested ghost, grabbed her rifle and started taking shots at the Revanite; but Kayla jumped and began deflecting shots with her lightsabers as she closed the distance and brought her blades down. The ghost gasped and threw up her rifle, letting it get sliced to pieces as she rolled back and drew her sidearm, firing on Kayla as she stuck the landing. Kayla deflected several shots before connecting her lightsabers into a staff and throwing it at the ghost.
The ghost gasped and rolled out of the way, then holstered her sidearm and ejected and ejected a blade from her right arm. The ghost charged, jumped, and went for Kayla's neck, but her attack was deflected, and she took a roundhouse kick to the face, cracking her visor… Maybe even her helmet. The ghost stumbled back and put a hand to her face.
"Damn… That hurt," she thought, "I thought being a part of the swarm would boost my endurance but…"
Kayla got in a ready stance and looked over at Orthus, who was still on the ultralisk.
"Look sister… As much as I'd love to go a few rounds with you… I'd like to make this quick," she said before lunging at the ghost.
Back over with Orthus, he managed to get his footing on the ultralisk and take aim.
"This better work," he said.
Orthus fired a rail shot from his left gauntlet, penetrating the ultralisk's skull and going right through its brain. The ultralisk let out a pained groan, then it stumbled and fell forward. Orthus pulled out his lightsaber and rolled off the massive Zerg, he came to a stop and jumped to his feet.
"Hoo… Mother's not going to believe this," he said as he looked back at the fallen Zerg.
"Orthus!" Duscal called out as he landed right beside him.
Orthus turned and looked at the other Mandalorian.
"We're starting to gain the upperhand in the sky," he said.
"Good, we should let the Revanites-"
But Orthus was cut off as he and Duscal were thrown back by a lurker that erupted from the ground beneath them and roared. Orthus and Duscal hit the ground hard, the lurker charged over to Orthus and roared in his face, the vicious Zerg raised its claws, preparing to impale him when… The creature let out a pained growl and stopped its scythe blades just mere centimeters from impaling Orthus in the chest.
"Huh?" he asked in confusion.
The Zerg fell over revealing Orthus's savior. It was an alien, but one that he didn't recognize. It was about six foot seven, had two glowing green eyes, digitigrade legs, semi-permeable skin covered in scales, and toes, broad chests and shoulders, narrow waists with slim midsections. Beneath the bony crest that extended from the crown of the alien's head, Orthus could make out a set of nerve cords with metallic caps at the end of them.
As for the alien's attire, Orthus could see it resembled something akin to what the Revanite Hunters wore: The attire of an assassin.
"Adun Toridas," said the alien.
/\/\/\/\/\
"These bastards have transportation!?" Vaukel exclaimed as he saw an overlord come, drop off a pack of zerglings and then peaced out.
"They really don't want us to set up a staging point," Daralec grunted as he cut down three more zerglings.
Soon, more overlords started approaching the battle zone, likely to drop off more reinforcements, when suddenly, a squadron of shiny unidentified fighters flew overhead, unleashing a swarm of missiles and reducing the Zerg's 'transports' to a shower of blood and entrails.
"Wait, what?" asked Vaukel.
The Revanites and Mandalorians looked up to see… A fleet. A fleet of unidentified ships de-cloak and begin deploying ships to their position.
"Who the hell are they?" asked Daralec.
The remaining Zerg on the ground, let out roars and screeches before trying to make a break for it as the unidentified ships opened fire on them. A lot of the Revanite troopers ducked down at first, out of fear of getting caught in the crossfire, but they relaxed when they saw the Zerg get gunned down and blown to pieces.
"…Whoever they are, they don't seem to like the Zerg as much as us," said Vaukel.
As the remaining Zerg continued to be gunned down, unidentified alien warriors in shining gold armor appeared.
"En taro Adun! Let us slay these foul beasts!" barked one of the alien warriors.
Daralec and Vaukel looked at each other.
"…They speak telepathically?" he whispered.
"Who cares? No sense in standing around," said Vaukel.
And with that, the Revanites and Mandalorians joined the mysterious aliens in hunting down and killing off the last of the Zerg in the area, securing the staging area for the invasion, once it was established, Vaukel ordered Commander Halbend to contact the fleet and let them know to begin landing the rest of the ships. Zank also made contact with Kovez and told him to send in the rest of the Cold-Blood warriors.
As for Vaukel and Daralec, they were busy meeting their new guests… And their leader. An alien adorned with… elegant, armored robes.
"…Whoa, important guy," whispered Daralec.
"Nothing gets past you, eh Daralec?" Vaukel whispered back, "stay cautious… We don't need a war on two fronts."
The armored robed alien approached the two Revanite warriors and looked at both of them in silence.
"…Who are you?" asked Vaukel.
"Greetings noble warriors," the alien said as he gave a courteous bow, "I am Tassadar, High Templar and Executor of the Protoss Fleet. I come bearing no ill will towards you or your brethren. I have chased this splinter group of Zerg from our galaxy all the way here and prepared to purify the planet; but then I bore witness to your struggle against them."
"Wait… You know these things?" asked Vaukel.
"All too well," said Tassadar, "where I am from, the Zerg have no regard for the sanctity of life. If you would permit me, not only will I share everything I know to your commanding officer, but we shall also aid you in your struggle against them."
Daralec and Vaukel looked at each other for a moment, then they looked back at Tassadar. Daralec opened his mouth to speak when, Vaukel's holocommunicater went off.
"Sorry, could you excuse me?" he asked.
"Of course," Tassadar said with a nod.
Vaukel turned and answered. It was Kayla.
"Now is not a good time Kayla," he said.
"Why? Did you also meet some alien warriors who helped you clear out the Zerg?" she asked.
"No," said Vaukel.
Just then, he did a double take.
"I mean… Yeah… How did you know?" he asked.
Kayla stepped to the right and one of the alien assassins came into view.
"Brother… This is Zeratul. Zeratul, this is my step-brother, Vaukel," said Kayla.
"Well met, noble warrior," said Zeratul.
Vaukel looked at Kayla an Zeratul, then he looked back at Tassadar and then back at Kayla and Zeratul.
"…High Master Callove isn't going to believe this," he said.