Chapter three

Veronica Barnes

Alpha Base, Shakuras

Medical Division

1534 Hours Local

Now that the pain was gone, and the doctors had told me to get some sleep while they did some tissue tests, I was only too happy to comply. Nothing hurt anymore, and they had taken a few skin samples for study. Laying down on one of the infirmary's many beds; I started to hear that voice again.

You are truly foolish my child. You can't disobey my will forever. You WILL kill the humans and take command of the swarm.

I kept seeing these visions of what the Zerg were. I saw horrible scenes of killing, ripping, eating, and moving onto the next batch of humans to slaughter everyone in that area, and so on for as long as the vision lasted. No. I would NOT join these monsters. After what seemed like hours of resisting the pull from the Overmind, I woke up in a cold sweat.

Getting myself into a sitting position, I tried to get used to my newly heightened senses. My sight was altered slightly so now I could actually see… something when I looked at people. Remembering my High School Biology, I was shocked to realise that what I was seeing was just the faint outlines of organs!

Obviously, my infestation wasn't complete yet and as such, I still had mostly human eyesight. I suspect that if I had actually FINISHED it, I'd be able to easily see every weak point on a human's body with a single glance.

Closing my eyes, I went onto my hearing. Generally, it wasn't too different, but it was just sharper. All the sounds I heard were just slightly louder, and I could tell where they were coming from better, but that was about it.

Moving onto smell, it was again, not too different, but I could pick up more subtle odours, mostly from the rinse stations that the doctors used to wash their hands with before attempting to operate on anybody. The disinfectant was also pretty powerful now, and was starting to get a headache, but I went on to test something else about my new body: my flexibility.

Officially being an invertebrate now, I started doing some stretches to see if being without bones affected me in any way, other then not just being able to feel my skeleton anymore. I still had the full normal range of motion, and I could also go outside it.

Eventually, the doctors came back with a manila folder and they passed it to me. Reading it, I found out what I could and could not do physically. Among the list of the things I couldn't do was being able to lift more then 500 pounds. They explained that because my skeleton was no longer getting in the way of my muscles, I now had more of them to replace the bones making me stronger.

The report also explained that the things in my wrist were in fact spines covered in a deadly poison lethal in just a few seconds to just about anything short of the bigger Zerg strains. They had also found that I could, if I wanted to, launch those spines with enough force to go right through a light tank. And if that wasn't enough, I could apparently re-grow them after I launched them.

After skimming down the report, I found that among other things according to Yuri, I could apparently control a small number of Zerg if I got close enough to them, and could maintain enough control over myself so I wouldn't go insane and be taken over by the Overmind.

Walking out of Medical, I went back onto the main defensive line, and boarded onto one of the many Aircraft Carriers that General Granger had. At that point in my navel career, I was known as after I got my list of paperwork I had missed, I went onto the flight deck to see how everyone was managing. Everything seemed to be in order, varying coloured people in Nomex jerseys doing their respective jobs, Aviators getting into or out of their aircraft, Catapults launching aircraft regularly; yep, everything seemed to be in order.

It was normally my job to do this from the relative safety of Pri-Fly (Primary Flight Control) in the carrier's island, but this time, I wanted to show everybody on the deck that their CO had things well in hand.

Walking back towards the carrier's island, I spotted Elena and Clayton. They kept their distance, and went into their aircraft. Going inside, I found the flight schedule and wasn't surprised that in my absence, the Mini-Boss, my assistant, had taken the liberty of saving me the trouble. I made a mental note to thank him later, and went to get something to eat in the Officer's Mess Hall.

When I entered, everyone in the Mess Hall looked up from their meal or conversation and stared at me for a few seconds before lapsing back into whatever they were doing. It was clear that the medical personnel had notified everyone about me and what had happened. I had the sneaking suspicion that it was going to be a while before anyone except my closest friends deemed me safe to be around.

Supreme Commander Romanov

General's Conference Room

Base Alpha, Shakuras

1712 Hours Local

We were all discussing plans of attack as to how we'd take down the Zerg threat on this planet and prove to the Protoss that they had not made a mistake in sheltering us temporarily. General Tao and Alexander volunteered to simply obliterate the threat with their powerful superweapons, but I had declined on that.

"Commander," Dr. Thrax said suddenly. "I may have a way on how we can destroy the threat. I have been analysing Veronica Barnes' DNA and I have found some interesting anomalies."

I knew what he was going to say, but I said: "Go on."

"The Zerg portions of her DNA consist of several instabilities which I believe the right form of toxin can easily destroy. I need some time to prepare a weapon that will, if successful, kill every Zerg on this entire planet AND not harm a single other living creature."

"But what about Veronica?" General Granger put in. "She's one of my people, and a damn fine aviator when given the chance. So if you ARE going to prepare this weapon of yours, I suggest you talk to her first!"

Thrax nodded, and I glared at him. General Granger couldn't directly order Thrax to do anything, because they both held the same rank of Four-Star General. I however held the rank of Supreme Commander of the Soviet Union, the highest rank in one of the most powerful countries on the planet. (Where I was from, naturally) the only person even I couldn't order directly: AAAA General Leang of the People's Liberation Army of China, but we were more or less friends so she'd act on my suggestions if they were reasonable.

"Kassad," I said after a few seconds. "Have your forces infiltrate one of the Zerg's bases and see if they can find a weakness. Or, if their defences are too thick, General Granger will have the Arkbird spy over the area."

They both nodded, and I knew that one or the other would be able to get the information we needed. I'd also have a talk with Veronica personally to see what she could tell us, but I didn't expect too much from her.

The meeting was concluded, and everyone went to follow their assigned orders. I went into my office, was relieved to find no paperwork for a change, and called Veronica up to my office. She arrived faster then I expected, but then when the Supreme Commander tells you he wants to see you alone in his office, you go as fast as you possible can to get there.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" she asked when my Aide let her in.

"Da, please, have a seat." Once she was sitting down on the chair I had directly in front of my desk, I said: "So Captain tell me everything you remember about your… experience with the Zerg."

She shuddered for a second, and then told me everything she knew, which wasn't a whole lot. Mostly, she described her experience of being infested, but we both knew that that wasn't what I was looking for. Eventually, she got to the part where she broke out, and saw the Main Zerg Base on this planet. That could be a break, in addition to having orbital intelligence from Arkbird; we'd also have an on-the-ground report that was BOUND to come in handy for when we made our later attacks.