Chapter 4

Soon after the battle of the Dylarian shipyards, Flash was once more stuck in a meeting regarding their next mission.

The Adjutant presented a report of the current situation. "Captain, the Dominion shipyards have been destroyed, and it seems that General Duke has withdrawn his forces from this quadrant. We have impressed most of the remaining Dylarian defense forces into the fleet and stand ready to move to the next phase of our invasion."

At this point, Stukov interjected with some additional news. "We've just received word from our research team that they've uncovered some kind of hidden weapons relay upon the planet Tarsonis. They report that it's called a Psi Disrupter, and that its purpose is somehow connected with the Zerg."

The UED scientists were still unsure of the purpose of this device, but Duran was able to provide an answer. "Admiral, during the Zerg invasion of these colonies, the Confederacy had manufactured a number of portable machines called Psi Emitters which had the uncanny ability to lure Zerg to their signals. It was rumored that they had created a specialized emitter that could disrupt the Zerg's communications, but Emperor Mengsk was able to never find it. It appears that this Psi Disrupter is the machine he was looking for. I must humbly suggest to you, Admiral, that the Disrupter be destroyed as quickly as possible. If it should fall into the hands of the Dominion we could face some very serious problems."

"Hmm…", DuGalle thought for a moment. "A prudent call, Lieutenant. I am inclined to agree."

At this point, Flash spoke up. He knew that the Psi Disruptor was necessary and needed to be protected in order to defeat the Zerg. "Admiral, I must protest most strongly. We need the Psi Disruptor to defeat the Zerg. Otherwise, we would be overwhelmed by their numbers. Besides, we-"

"Know your place Captain!", DuGalle snapped. "I did not give you permission to speak. I am disappointed to see that you doubt the capabilities of our forces and our ability to complete our mission without the need for such tricks. It seems that I have misjudged your wisdom, Captain."

Flash was shocked by the callous dismissal he received. But before he could think of what to say, Vice Admiral Stukov tried to interrupt.

"But Admiral-" Stukov could barely get out a few words before he was cut off by DuGalle.

"This conversation is over, Alexei", DuGalle said. "Given the true nature of our mission to enslave the Overmind, we could hardly stand to have Mengsk control a device of this magnitude. This Psi Disrupter must be destroyed in order to safeguard our mission. Ensign, set your course for Tarsonis."

It was clear that DuGalle would not listen to what they had to say. So, there was nothing Flash could do other than go along with it. He glumly went to organize the men and prepare for the mission.

When the mission was about to commence, DuGalle gave an unexpected order. "Captain, your insolence has made me leery of assigning you to such an important mission. Perhaps it would be better for someone else to take over. Lieutenant Duran, since you have shown such concern for this device's inherent danger, I charge you with finding the Disrupter and securing it. We will commence with its destruction once we've cleared the area."

Flash was aghast with this new development. Would he really fall out of favor so soon?

However, at this moment, Samir Duran spoke up. "I am honored by your confidence in me, Admiral. I will not let you down. There is no need to be so harsh with the good Captain though. I believe that his tactical skill is invaluable. Please, allow him to advise me."

"Very well then", replied DuGalle. "Captain, you will do all you can to assist Lieutenant Duran with his mission. Perhaps you can prove to us your reliability. Be thankful that you have this chance."

"Yes sir", Flash replied. "I won't let you down."

After DuGalle left, Duran turned to Flash and began speaking with him as though he was a good friend.

"Now, don't be so glum Captain", Duran said. "I am sure this bit of unpleasantness will pass. You will be back in the Admiral's good graces in no time, especially with my help. Come now, we have a mission to complete."

Soon, the dropship was on its way to Tarsonis and they established a base near the Psi Disruptor. However, soon after they arrived, an alert blared out from the adjutant. "Captain, our sensors are tracking Zerg signals in every direction. It appears that our intelligence was correct."

It seemed that the entire area was crawling with Zerg. Trying to fight through all of them would surely be a difficult task. Fortunately, Duran had some insight into how they could fight the Zerg.

"If we focus on destroying all of the hives in this area, we may be able to neutralize these Zerg without too much trouble", Duran suggested. So, they decided to focus their attacks on the Zerg Hives to disrupt their hive mind. This way, it would be much easier to deal with them.

There were zerg coming from all directions, so each entrance to the base had to be well defended. Bunkers were set up near the entrances and there was always a SCV on hand to repair the bunkers. Lieutenant Duran led the men on the front lines and he helped to fight the zerg as well, using his rifle to pick off attacking mutalisks.

After the defenses of the base were secured, they began building up a force to attack the zerg hives. The core of the force consisted of marines backed up with medics. Following them were several siege tanks. During this time, the base was constantly harried by zerg attacks, but the well placed defenses allowed them to repel the zerg. As their forces grew in strength, it became easier to deal with the zerg attacks.

Finally, it was time to move out to assault the closest hive cluster, which was to the east. A large force was sent, though there was still a significant amount of units left back at base to defend against attacks from the other hives. The tanks had positioned themselves on a cliff overlooking the zerg hive. From there, they were able to blast away at the hive. There were several attempts by the zerg to dislodge them, but the entrenched position of the tanks was not easily overrun and the zerg could not force the tanks to retreat. Eventually, the hive fell under the bombardment of the tanks.

After the hive was destroyed, the zerg around it went dormant and stopped attacking them. Seeing this, Duran was pleased. "Just as I thought. This brood can't operate without its primary Hive cluster."

Then, they proceeded to attack the hive to the west of them. This time, the hive was located on an elevated plateau. The tanks positioned themselves on the ground below. Scanner sweeps were used to reveal the area above to allow the tanks to target the hives. Like before, the zerg could not attack the tanks with a conventional ground assault. However, there were swarms of overlords flying overhead and some of them began dropping zerg. The marines fired up at the overlords to try to stop them. Although many of the overlords were killed, some still managed to drop their contents on the ground below. Fortunately, their forces were able to kill those zerg before they could reach the tanks. They were able to hold off the zerg just long enough for the tanks to finish destroying the hive.

Reinforcements came to supplement their forces and then they began to push northwards. They came upon several sunken colonies, so the tanks entered siege mode and began bombarding the sunken colonies. The sunken colonies were destroyed, but soon afterwards they were beset upon by a large group of zerg, including some ultralisks.

The tanks dealt some damage to the attacking zerg forces, but soon several dark swarms covered the area and their forces were forced to retreat out of the dark swarm. Fortunately, there were siege tanks prepared behind the main force, just to cover this eventuality. After leaving the dark swarm, the zerg forces were vulnerable and blasted apart by the tanks as well as the marines who turned around once they were out of the covering fog.

The tanks began pushing forward, slowly but surely as they destroyed the sunken colonies in their path. Meanwhile, their attacking force was constantly being reinforced. Finally, they reached the third hive and destroyed it. The final hive proved to not be much of a challenge. The biggest threat was a group of guardians, which the siege tanks couldn't hit, but the accompanying goliaths were able to take care of them.

Once the hives were destroyed, Duran lead a small force to search for the Psi Disruptor. Finally, the Psi Disruptor was located and Duran was in position.

"Captain, we've located the Psi Disrupter. Shall we plant the explosives on it?", Duran asked. However, he was suddenly interrupted.

A ghost uncloaked. "Lieutenant Duran, we're here to relieve you. We've come with orders from Admiral Stukov himself to facilitate the Disrupter's disassembly."

Duran turned away and spoke to Flash. "Captain, it seems that the mission given to us is being changed. What do you think we should do?"

"What can we do?", Flash said. "Vice Admiral Stukov outranks us. We must follow his orders."

Duran turned to speak to the ghost. "Very well. Take it away. Captain, I'll be returning to the command ship presently."

As they departed from Tarsonis, Flash let out a sigh of relief. Everything was still going the way it should be. As long as the Psi Disruptor wasn't destroyed, they could still use it later. Even though he didn't manage to convince DuGalle of its importance now, he was confident that they will be able to in the future once DuGalle sees the magnitude of the zerg threat.