Magistrate to Commander
Chapter 11: The Vengance Card
"Cloud incoming!" A fellow Goliath pilot shouts.
"Missiles free." I order, we turn in sync and fire indiscriminately at the Zerg suicide fliers with shrapnel rockets.
Each detonation is a chain reaction, the cloud never dies in one or two rockets, they seem to have the knowledge that staying too close when one of them explodes leads to the entire cloud going up in a mist of acid.
It takes over a dozen of goliaths to take out a single cloud without retaliation, and I've got eight of these strewn out across the plains. I haven't heard from Valerian about progress on Boris, but I have faith.
Unfortunately we're stuck here as well, the Confederates have set up orbital cannons aimed at the Hyperion, if it tries taking off it'll be shot out of the sky. All hope of getting off this world lies with Alpha Squadron's general. I don't like it, but I'll deal.
It's been theorized that if the Zerg attack them instead of us we might be able to get out of here during the chaos, but so far we haven't seen the Zerg get near their base. They seem intent on wiping us off of the face of the planet in particular.
"Cloud down! On to the next one!" The ones that don't detonate have been rendered unable to fly due to the shrapnel.
"Zerg 'cloud' detected approaching from the north, Skybreaker team three is enroute to intercept." The Adjutant informs me.
"How's reserves?" I ask my Skybreaker team.
"Could do with a break, but my Goliath's ready to take out another cloud."
"We've been out here for what, four hours now?" Another pilot says while stretching.
"Yeah, I think it's time we took a break." I admit, while we aren't doing much, these seat's aren't the most comfortable. "Turning back now, Adjutant get a team out here to replace us."
"Finally!" he Pilot who pointed out how long we've been out here for lets out a shout of joy.
It's an hour's ride back to the city, but with the area being patrolled constantly we'll be fine.
"Get me Valerian." I tell the Adjutant.
"Opening Transmission."
"Magistrate?" Mengsk's son asks.
"How goes the interrogation?"
I can hear him sigh. "He's stubborn, saying how we'll be wiped out once and for all and that it's for the betterment of Mankind."
"If you need Kerrigan to help out I'm sure she'll be more than willing to-"
"Hold on a moment, what did you say, Mister Farmer?" Valerian's voice softens as he walks away from the device transmitting, getting quieter until all I can hear is mumbling, and then a commotion. "Magistrate you need to get here now." He urges.
"What's up?"
"Boris just admitted to having an active Psi emitter in the manor." Valerian informs me, taking leaving me speechless for a good minute.
"We'll add intentionally endangering his people to the list of crimes, does he know what a Psi Emitter does?" Absolute rage makes my hands shake.
"Everything alright Magistrate?" one of my squadmates asks, noticing that my Goliath's chassis shakes as the hand controlling it shakes almost uncontrollably.
There's a delay. "He was told to activate it if the Sons of Korhal ever arrived, and that he would have the full might of the Confederate fleet to back him up."
"But does he know what it does?"
"No, he thinks it's an emergency transmitter."
I sigh, at least he didn't knowingly sign his people's death warrant. "Unintentionally endangering his people, let your father know, I'll be back at Andasar soon."
"Officer meeting underway." The Adjutant says as I leave the Goliath in the Command Center's entrance.
"Hope I don't miss much." I say briskly walking, my asthma keeping me from breaking out into a run.
"-you darlin? This keeps getting better and better." I can hear Raynor ask jokingly as the Comms room door opens and it's patched into the meeting, I'm the only one in the Command Center.
"Glad you could join us." Mengsk greets warmly.
"I was out with a Skybreaker team keeping the skies clear when I got news of the Psi emitter and came straight back."
"Glad to see you partner." Raynor nods in greeting.
"What did I miss?"
"Lieutenant, mind explaining the findings for the Magistrate?" Mengsk asks.
Kerrigan clears her throat. "The Confederates run a program for psychically gifted humans, training them to become ghosts, those running the program have found that the Zerg are attuned to the psychic emanations of ghosts-"
"Wait, so you're telling me, that the Confederates found a way of replicating a Ghost's Psionic waveform in order to ring the dinner bell for the Zerg!?" I slam my fists on the console.
"We not only found the Psi emitter in the basement, but as we kept looking into the disk you and Raynor stole, we found designs for the Confederate's latest weapon and now we know their motives for creating such a weapon."
I sit down in a chair and lean back, soaking it all in.
Mengsk takes the opportunity. "The Confederates used these Psi Emitters to lure the Zerg to isolated containment areas, the Mar Sara colony was one such location." He begins.
"What are you saying?" Raynor asks, anger rising in both of us.
"I'm saying that the Zerg are a secret weapon developed by the Confederacy. I'm saying that you were all subject of a Confederate, Weapons test!" Mengsk says with anger, resentment, and judgment.
No one says anything, Mengsk gets somber and I can see him letting out a deep breath. "Just as they destroyed Korhal with nuclear weapons to establish dominance a generation ago, they would use the Zerg to put an end to their other rivals, only this time… there would be no outrage, who would suspect the aliens were their creation?" Mengsk poises the metaphorical question for us, but I already know the answer, I'm sure everyone does. "No, they'd be lauded as heroes for coming in and destroying the Zerg, it's time for the Confederacy to pay for their crimes." He then looks at me, and at Raynor. "As victims of this weapon's experiment, I can think of no better judges for use of such weapons, if they aren't stopped they will continue using the Zerg against humanity, and I place my faith in your hands." Mengsk leans back, giving up the center stage.
Kerrigan looks between Raynor and me, while the two of us exchange a silent conversation. Both of us are equally furious for what happened.
He nods to me, and I speak up. "We will use the Psi Emitter to wipe the Confederates off the face of Antiga prime." I announce.
"A bold idea." Mengsk says with shock, and a hidden grin. "How would you propose we get the Psi Emitter into the Confederate base?"
I scratch my chin. "We smuggle it in while the Confederates deal with an assault on their doorstep, Kerrigan can slip it into the confederate base while we distract them, once they're dealing with the Zerg they won't have the chance to stop us from going to orbit."
"I'll round up some men." Raynor tells me before disappearing from the holoscreen.
"The factories will have Siege Tanks added and ready for production." Mengsk promises. "You have the full might of the Sons of Korhal at your disposal, Magistrate."
"Transmission finished." The meeting adjourns, and I stomp out of the Command center. "Adjutant I want Simmons on this mission." I say after I've calmed down a bit. "I want to know what frequency it works on so we can detect it in the future." No wonder the Zerg have been ignoring the Confederates… until now.
They knew we found the Emitter as on the sensors is an assault force enroute to Andasar city, with siege tanks rolling out of the Factories now we'll be fine.
Let them come.
In the background is Arcturus's voice's echoing from several display screens in the city's center, a recording on loop explaining our findings and some propaganda to further bring the people to our side. Kerrigan has her force, Simmons in his SCV and running scans on the transmitter.
It's as standard a transmitter I've ever seen, but to think it's capable of such destruction… the Confederates will pay, there's no way Duke didn't know what was going on when he was told to abandon Mar Sara.
My hatred for that man octuples. Confrontations can come later. "I'm having second thoughts about this Max, no one should have the Zerg brought down on them." Kerrigan says on the local comms, she's sitting on a siege tank a dozen feet away.
"Chau Sara, Mar Sara, and Antiga prime didn't deserve to have the Zerg called down on them, but look at what happened. I agree that no one should have the Zerg brought down on them, but I am fine with turning them back around on the ones who threw them out first." Empathy fills my heart as I speak.
"Contact imminent." The Adjutant interrupts us.
"Show time, open fire." I tell the Siege Tanks, and my Goliath shakes as the shock cannons open fire, putting all the knockback into the ground.
Seconds later the Confederate tanks anchor themselves to fire on our position, and then a chain of explosions tears up the ground. "What idiot thinks that charging entrenched siege tanks on the high ground is a good idea." I say with a satisfied grin.
"Enemy tanks down!" Graves reports as the smoke clears, confederate infantry are still charging. "Realigning next shot."
"Move up! Siege tanks continue bombardment and move up when I tell you to… Stay safe Simmons… Kerrigan."
"Roger."
"Yes Max."
Raynor and another marine grabs hold of my Goliath as I lead the charge down the cliffside, the only spot safe enough to climb in a vehicle. "Time to make these sons of bitches pay." Raynor seethes.
"You and me both." The only downside of having the three of us out here is leaving Andasar's defence in the hands of Edmund Duke.
Once we reach the bottom of the cliff the marines drop off of the Goliaths and charge ahead, using the mechs as cover as the land ahead of us erupts once again as the second volley of Shock Cannons hits their mark, taking out swaths of infantry.
We're just the cleanup. "Area clear, you are free to move up, Shock'n Awe Company."
"Delighted too sir!" it takes a minute for the tanks to unsiege, but with the area clear we have all the time we need.
The strike force continues moving. "How goes the analysis, Simmons?" I ask on a secured channel.
"It's so bizarre, it's like they took a brain scan of someone psionic and amplified it a million times over on top of itself."
"Can you find who the scan is based off of?" I wonder.
"If I had access to the brain scans of everyone in the Confederacy and was immortal, sure." Simmons responds sarcastically.
"We don't have to check everyone, just psionic people."
"If I had access to the brain scans of everyone in the Confed-"
"Haha, I heard you the first time."
"Wraith squadron inbound." The Adjutant informs us.
"Tanks in the center, Skybreakers form a perimeter!" I bark on the local comms, and everyone scrambles to get into position.
"Take cover Rangers!" Raynor yells.
Rangers?
Without my control, my goliath turns and seemingly shoots into the empty sky, the missiles of every goliath makes trails in the sky that would make you think the operators were drunk. But I have faith in the Adjutant.
A flash in the sky followed by an impact on my Goliath's chassis. "Gah!" I let out a startled cry.
"Magistrate! Are you okay?" One of my teammates asks.
"I'm fine, first time fighting a cloaked unit." I admit. "How do you keep your nerve?"
"By shooting blindfolded during bootcamp."
Let out a joke, which slowly dies as my Goliath is struck again. The missiles start detonating in the sky, the chain reaction covering the sky in firey death. "Wait, you're serious?"
Quiet.
"Confederate Wraiths are retreating."
"Put in a request for air support." I tell the Adjutant.
"Request sent."
"Move everyone! The Confederate base isn't that far out."
Kerrigan decloaks just outside the reinforced glass. "If you make a big enough ruckus, Simmons and I can slip by and plant the emitter." She doesn't sound happy.
Hopefully we won't have to, by an unspoken Mutual Destruction pact. She looks confused, probably having neglected her history lessons.
And now she's rolling her eyes at me. "You can stop reading my mind now, it'll only get worse the longer you listen in." I promise her with a humorous smile. "We'll give you your opening, just like last time."
Kerrigan nods and cloaks. The convoy moves once more, the Confederates know we're coming and if we're not careful, we'll be sieged to death.
Simmons and Kerrigan fall behind the tank line and break off as we continue forward.
"Maintain radio contact if possible." I tell Simmons.
"Roger."
Minutes pass, and the tension can be cut with a knife. "There's no going back until we're done boys." Raynor says.
The Confederate base comes into view, probably an hour away but just in range of the Siege tanks. "We hold here, Shock'n Awe, do your thing."
"Absolutely!" The Tanks push ahead and start sieging.
"There's no way they're going to let us throw rocks at their base, look alive." Raynor's Rangers climb onto the tanks with weapons at the ready.
"Defensive formation, Skybreakers." The Goliaths surround the tanks. "Adjutant keep us informed of what's going on… Shock'n Awe, fire when ready."
"Enemy Vultures approaching your position." The Adjutant tells me, just before the transmission turns to static.
"Jammer."
"I didn't know you were a captain, private Obvious." I roll my eyes. "Weapons free, Shock'n Awe ignore the Vultures and focus on the base, we're pulling out as many Confederates as we can."
"Mother of…" A Marine breathes as a Battlecruiser rises from the ground and slowly turns towards us.
"They're bringing out the big guns! Let's hope that Air support comes." The Vultures arrive and circle us, launching grenades into our line, the marines duck behind the tanks for cover while the Skybreakers are pelted, returning fire.
It's not easy to hit high speed targets, but making them evade is better than being pelted by anti infantry grenades.
The Battlecruiser lifts higher as it moves overhead, we're about to come under orbital bombardment. We don't have the ammo to bring down a flagship, but the Zerg do. "Why hasn't the ship opened fire yet?" Raynor asks on the local comms, I can barely hear him over the gunfire and explosions. I open my mouth to respond, but then the question answer's itself. The Cruiser's Yamato cannon opens up and begins charging, pointing straight at us. "Oh hell." Raynor breathes as all gunfire stops to see the massive orange glow of the charging superweapon.
"GET TO COVER!" I scream into the comms, the Siege Tanks hastily unsieging, we can't leave them, and it's impossible to get out of range. I've heard that the Yamato Cannon has a similar blast zone to a Nuke. The Vultures flee back to base, leaving us to marvel at the power that'll be unleashed upon us.
"Anyone else feel that?" I ask feeling Deja'vu, and a tug on my mind.
"I think we all feel the same way." A marine says, resigned to his fate.
Kerrigan Activated the Psi emitter, but there's no way she's in the base already. I can feel the emitter amp up as it starts calling every Psionic being solar systems away.
A shiver goes down my spine as a feral screech echoes across the planet, the Zerg have gone into a frenzy. The ground shakes as billions of Zerg lured here previously storm across the ground.
The terrifying part is that none of us can see… them… yet… That is one massive Zerg rampaging this way. "Shock'n Awe, can you move?" I ask, trying to maintain my cool, the Zerg has two massive blade arms and four legs large enough to stomp on a siege tank and continue at full tilt.
"Almost."
"Almost- Almost isn't fast enough." Raynor's voice cracks, but he corrects it.
"Moving!" The tanks lurch ahead, we follow to reposition out of the way of the Ultra-Zerg. And then the sky, it's just like it was on Mar Sara, I stare helplessly up at the solid mass of airborne Zerg.
"Where the hell is Kerrigan?!" Raynor snaps. "We don't have time to hang around forever!"
There are a series of explosions and the battlecruiser starts to fall as it's Yamato Cannon fires, speeding away from us and into the sky back where we came from, the hole in the Zerg forces is quickly filled back in by incoming Zerg.
A lone Vulture speeds towards the group. "Max, Raynor, can you hear me!?" Kerrigan shouts into the Local Comms.
"Magistrate we need to move!" A Marine shouts at me, but I can't hear him, I'm busy staring up at the clouds, just like Mar Sara… and these things have free roam of the universe.
Kerrigan arrives on a stolen Vulture with Simmons clinging to her for life. "I recommend we get the hell out of here!" Simmons says in a panic. "The Confederates came under attack immediately, there were Zerg burrowed in their base!"
"The Magistrate's in shock!" The Marine trying to get my attention shouts.
"We're getting out of here, Max." The Ghost climbs into the Goliath and takes the controls. "Thank you for visiting me, and for telling me about yourself."
"Good job, Magistrate Maxton." Mengsk clasps my shoulders with a big and bright smile. "You are a fine soldier, when your back is pushed against the wall, your first instinct is to defend the people."
"Mengsk… Please promise me that we won't use a Psi Emitter again." I plead with the man.
"Max, you've already chosen the punishment for using the Zerg as a weapon, what justice is it to go back on what was decided?" He doesn't break his smile.
I don't say anything, still too shaken up by watching the sky and ground turn into seas of fang and claws seconds after activating the Psi Emitter. The Zerg have been on Antiga Prime longer than on Mar Sara, so why did they wait so long before emerging?
"Go get some rest, Duke and I will take care of things for awhile." Mengsk pats me on the shoulder proudly.
I leave the command room as Duke enters, proud. "I might have underestimated you backwater folk." Duke commends me as I pass him, without a word.
"Have a minute?" Kerrigan decloaks in the elevator as the doors close.
I simply nod, and turn to face the Ghost, and she looks worried.