Walk Without Rhythm

A StarCraft: Elizabeth Story

By Violetlight

Disclaimer:StarCraft belongs to Blizzard, blah blah blah. Thanks for reading this!

Part 3: Decisions

After the Scientists heard Atdaias' report on the Dune Runners and the Hunt, they finally agreed to let the rest of us see their research! It's about time! Early the next morning, the other Zealots and I are let into the Observatory for the first time since this mission began. The Scientists have collected a lot of data. Every viewscreen in here, except for the active four Observer trackers, shows different video footage of the Dune Runners. I walk up to one screen and take a look. It shows a cave in a cliff side, surrounded, strangely, by small clumps of minerals. This must be one of the places where Dune Runners live. Sure enough, a group of five Dune Runners emerge from the cave, a rather large female, a male who I assume is her mate, and, oh, by the Swarm, they have babies! They're not slug-like Zerg larvae, but actual baby Dune Runners, perfect little miniatures of their parents! I've never seen anything so…so cute, in all my life. I can hardly take my eyes off them. I can't help but wonder what it's like to have a real family like that; to have little ones of your own? It's something that Protoss and Terrans take for granted, but something that no Zerg, not even the larvae-producing TrueQueens, can ever experience. I feel angry at the Overmind. How dare he take that away from us! What gave him the right? At least I can take comfort in the fact that not all the Dune Runners were assimilated.

Another video shows a pair of Dune Runners in what looks like an oasis. I can see some small, but green bushes and cactus-like plants, and a very small spring in the background, water leaking out of a rock. The Dune Runners take no interest in the water. They appear to be chasing one of the small creatures Atdaias was telling me about. The third video also shows a pair of Dune Runners. They appear to be…

"Hey!" I yell at the nearest Scientist. "Why'd you have to film this? Couldn't you give them a little privacy?"

"Dune Runner mating rituals are an important part of our research," he tries to explain.

Excuses excuses. "Well, if you ask me, you're just being rude. How would you like it if someone watched you while you were getting laid?"

"Well…um…I…"

"See what I mean."

"Yes, um…I see your point."

"Dark Templar Drixis!" another Scientist yells from across the room. "You must see this!" Curious, I walk over to that Scientist's workstation.

"What is it?" Drixis asks.

"We're not the only ones on this planet, sir," the Scientist begins. He then notices me. "Should the Zergling be here?"

"Deekah may be useful in identifying these…visitors. What are they exactly? Not Zerg, I hope?"

"No, not the Zerg, thank Adun," the Scientist sighs, "Look." He turns on his viewscreen, one of the ones that were supposed to be tracking the Observers' movements. "I went to check on this one Observer when it made a startling discovery." He presses a few buttons, and a video starts running. It shows the Observer, flying over a featureless part of the desert. Suddenly, there's a flash of light, then the signal goes dead.

"Slow it down." Drixis commands. The Scientist slows the video to half speed, and Drixis and I can now see what destroyed the Observer, a Terran missile turret, with white paint, and some markings on it. "Deekah, do you recognize those markings?" Drixis asks me.

"Could you please zoom in on the markings more?" I ask the Scientist. During my time with Phoenix Brood and our Terran allies, I learned a how to read a little bit of the Terran language, and to recognize certain symbols. This missile turret however doesn't have the familiar arm-and-whip symbol of the Terrans we usually fought against, the Terran Dominion, or the bird-shaped symbol of the Dominion's elite troops, Alpha Squadron. Instead, I see a bunch of Terran words I can't really understand, and three big letters that stand out. "U…E…D…" I read.

"What does that mean?" Drixis asks.

"Those are the three big symbols. They are Terran letters that I recognize, but the other words are too complicated for me to read. I don't know what they mean, I've never seen Terrans with symbols like that before."

"At least they're using Terran technology that we're familiar with," Drixis muses. "Ready another Observer," he orders the Scientist. "I want to know just what these Terrans think they're doing here."

Drixis, Atdaias, and a few other high-ranking Templar watch the Observer they deployed on one of the Observatory's trackers. I guess that's a good thing about all of the Protoss' robots – although I still think they're annoying and more trouble than they're worth -- they can be sent on suicide missions like this, with no stupid loss of life. Drixis asked me to stay to help translate any Terran markings the little flying camera might see, although I don't think I'll be much help. I couldn't even translate anything more than "UED" on that missile turret, although I suppose having someone around who can somewhat read Terran is better than having no translator at all. At least the Observer has a spoken language translator built into it. Although Protoss can easily understand nearby Terrans by just reading their minds, no matter which one of the various Terran languages they might be speaking, and most have a good grasp of the main Terran language, English, (which, I heard, originated on the planet Englisha, located somewhere near the far-off Terran homeworld of Terra, or "Dirt", as some call it) having the translator is still a good idea. You never know when you'll run into a Terran speaking Japanish, or Russiaese, or something. Why do Terrans always have to complicate things? Why couldn't they just have one language like all the other civilized races in the galaxy?

We watch as the Observer approaches the Terran base, which is defended by a few scattered missile turrets and a bunch of bunkers, a few of which were foolishly built in the sand near the bottom of the hill where the Terrans built, and are now nothing but rubble. Despite the smashed bunkers, however, this is a full Terran base, with all of their buildings; the Command Centre, Barracks, a Factory, Starport, etc. One huge Terran Battlecrusier looms overhead, and we see Wraith fighters and Valkyrie frigates parked near the Starport, and Siege Tanks and Goliath mech walkers scattered throughout the base. They are much better equipped to fight than our little Science team is. The Observer quickly flies between two missile turrets, out of range of each of them. Its cloaking device prevents any Terrans on the ground from seeing or sensing it, so all we have to do now is look and listen.

Drixis directs the Observer over the Terrans' rock and gas lines, where many SCV's, Terrans in worker mech suits, are busy mining. Their mineral field is also bigger than ours, even though it looks like they have been mining much more than we have. "How will we defeat them if they prove to be hostile?" Drixis growls.

"All we have at our disposal are four Scouts, the six Shuttles, twenty Zealots and ourselves, five Dark Templar and two High Templar." One Dark Templar informs Drixis.

"And one Devouring One." I remind them. They ignore me.

"We would be fortunate to defeat one of their bunkers," the second High Templar sighs.

"Wait, we don't know that they're hostile yet. Maybe we can talk to them," Atdaias proposes.

"Let us learn more before we make a decision." Drixis resolves. The Templar turn their attention back to the Observer. It scoots around, past the Command Centre (which, fortunately, does not have a nuke silo attached to it), and then over past their Science Facility, when something catches my eye. "Drixis, could you focus the camera on that spot, right near the doors to the Science Facility?" I ask. "I think I saw something." Drixis moves the Observer towards the spot I was pointing at. When the camera comes into focus, I can't believe what I see...

There are at least twenty small, cramped metal cages stacked up against the wall of the Science Facility, and inside are Dune Runners, crammed sometimes two to a cage that hardly fits one. They look sick, and miserable! I can't allow this! I won't let them treat my ancestors this way! "This proves that they're hostile," I growl. The Protoss nod in agreement. Two of the vile UED Terrans then show up on the screen, one, a very ugly female in a white lab coat, is holding a small computer and appears to be typing something. The second, a male wearing a high-ranking officer's uniform, starts to speak to her. "Audio sensors on," Drixis directs the Observer.

"Is your research complete yet?" the male Terran sneers.

"No, not yet, Captain. We still haven't tested the drugs out on these specimens," the female replies.

"Well hurry up and do so. We have to know for sure that these drugs will work on the Zerg before we can use them in the field; Admiral DuGalle's orders."

"These creatures aren't Zerg. If you'd find me some real Zerg to test, I could work a lot faster."

"They're close enough. Besides, there aren't any Zerg in this area, and you should be damn grateful for that."

"I am the fleet's leading xenobiologist, as you would like to forget, Captain. I don't need to be reminded of what the Zerg are capable of."

"Then do your job and develop your drug."

"That's what I'm trying to do!" the female sighed. "By the way, Captain, what should we do with these little bastards-- if any survive the testing, that is, -- when we're done with them?"

"Kill them, kill them all. They're too close to Zerglings to be allowed to live."

"Drixis, we can't let them do that!" I yell.

"Quiet, Deekah. We must hear what they have planned if we're to have any chance of helping those Dune Runners." Drixis tells me.

"Sorry."

The Terran captain starts to walk away from the female scientist, "oh, and Doctor Thrax?"

"Yes?"

"Whip the Marines up another batch of stimpaks for tomorrow. They'll need it when they go Dune Runner hunting."

"Whatever," she mumbles. The captain glares at her. "I mean, yes sir."

"Drixis, we can't let them kill the Dune Runners!" I yell.

"Deekah, believe me, I want to save them, but be realistic. We won't be able to get anywhere near the base with the forces that we have."

"It's not just the ones in the base I'm worried about. You heard those scum; they want to hunt down all the Dune Runners, every one on Zz'gash. Drixis, the Dune Runners are my ancestors, I can't let anyone harm them."

"That's a weird-looking cloud," we then heard the Terran captain say.

"Get the Observer out of there!" a Templar yells. It's too late. A Terran Science Vessel floats into view and a second later, the viewscreen goes dead.

"We must attack them now," Drixis sighs. "The Terrans now know that we are here, and if they reach our base with their forces, we're as good as dead."

"We must call Shakuras for reinforcements," another Dark Templar states.

"They will take too long to get here," sighs Atdaias. "Our priority is to keep our own forces alive. We should leave this planet while we still can."

"But we cannot just leave the Dune Runners to the mercy of those Terrans."

"What mercy?!"

Great, now they're fighting, I'll never convince them to save the Dune Runners in time now. Why is it that the Protoss only listen to me when it suits their purposes? When there's a big decision to make, don't listen to the Zergling, what would she know? But when I do know something, they won't leave me alone! Deekah, give us more intelligence on the Zerg. Deekah, tell us about the Sandworms. Deekah…wait a second, that's it! The Sandworms! Why didn't I think of it before?! "Um, guys?"

"…Aiur may be under siege but that doesn't mean we should give up the principles of the Great Stewardship, the –"

"Wasn't that duty to protect lower lifeforms what helped the Zerg to get to Aiur in the first place?!"

"Guys?" I try again.

"The Dune Runners' are helpless against the Terrans –"

"We can't fight them, our forces would be slaughtered!"

"GUYS!!" I shout. That got them to shut up.

"What do you want, Zergling?" one of the Dark Templar hisses.

"Just listen up for a minute. I've got a plan."

"This," Drixis begins, "is a Thumper, the key to winning this battle." He showed the small, unimpressive-looking metal rod to the Zealots. We are gathered about half a klick away from the Terran base, behind a small outcropping of rock, readying ourselves for battle. I'm glad the Templar agreed to my idea. However, convincing the Zealots that the Thumpers are our key weapons will not be easy.

"What does it do?" Arvix asks. His long, slim arms are crossed in doubt.

Drixis presses a button on the side of the Thumper, and a tripod of anchor rods shoot out from the bottom. "When activated," Drixis explained, "it will emit a steady, ultrasonic pulse of sound into the ground." he gave Arvix another sample to pass around to the other Zealots.

"A pulse…I get it! This will attract the Sandworms, won't it?" Wenessal speculates.

"In theory, every Sandworm within two kilometres of the Thumper will come to…investigate it." Atdaias explains. "We will have to place the Thumper as close to the Terran base as possible. When the Sandworms emerge, there should be enough confusion created for the Dark Templar to sneak in and free the Dune Runners."

"We predict," Drixis continues, "that the majority of the escaping Terrans will try to run past this rock outcropping. You," he motions towards the Zealots, "will meet them here." A few of the Zealots activate their Psi Blades in anticipation.

"Finally, some action!" Arvix exclaims.

"High Templar Rangal and I will provide you with psionic support." Atdaias adds. Small bolts of psychic energy crackle between his four-fingered hands, empathising the point. Any Terran that came this way would get a nasty surprise from the High Templar's Psionic Storms. The four Scouts zoomed overhead then, and hovered above the Zealots, adding their support.

"Stay near this area until you are given the order to proceed." Drixis ordered. "A Probe is warping in two Shield Batteries and a few Photon Cannons here to assist you. When the Sandworms leave and the Dune Runners are safe, we should be able to attack the remainder of the Terran base with minimal risk. Any questions?"

"Dark Templar Drixis," one Zealot asks. "Who is going to place the Thumpers?"

Drixis motions to me then, so I step forward and take the Thumpers. "I will."