Chapter 45

Derk's POV

"Heh, you won't be waiting much longer, I've almost arrived," I said, speaking through the transmission.

"So you didn't encounter any trouble with either the Blue Zerg or the Mercenaries?" Tenny asked, giving a curious look.

"No, but eh, I got lucky," I said, launching my ship into warp space.

"Well I guess so," my friend replied, folding his arms. "I look forward to seeing you."

"Well good, cause I am approaching the planet now," I said, moving the ship forward. "I'll talk to ya on the ground."

"Alright see ya in a bit," Tenny responded. I nodded and ended the transmission. I yawned and stretched my back. I was exhausted. It didn't matter how well trained any body was, being human, you still need sleep. I landed the ship and to my satisfaction I saw my squad standing in front of me. Tenny and Mark, approached first, while Crip stood near Leary, arms folded. I greeted Tenny with handshake and hit knuckles with Mark.

"So. All you ladies managed to crawl your way down here, huh?" I asked, giving Leary a noogy.

"Yup all us "ladies"," Jenny said, walking up to me. I smiled. It had been a while since I had seen the pilot. A barrage of emotions hit me like a tidal wave. For a second, I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to say anything. Thankfully though, my ghost instincts kicked in.

"Yep and more specifically, my favorite lady," I said, flirting. She gave my shoulder a soft slug, and then proceeded to hug me. After a second or two I let go and glanced over at Nicky and Rod. "Oooh, Rod, finally gettin' some muscle on those bones."

He turned red in embarrassment and mumbled a thank you. Just then I noticed something I hadn't before. Rod had a couple different casts on. In fact he didn't look so good.

"Hey what happened? You okay?" I asked, approaching the private.

"Uh… yeah, I guess," he said shrugging. I glanced back at Crip who was standing off to the side. I let out a snort.

"You can't tell me you did this?" I asked, motioning toward him.

"Well when you put it like that it makes it sound like a bad thing," Crip said, shrugging. "His body will heal twice as fast and he'll be twice as strong now."

"Eh, I suppose that's true," I said, looking back at Rod.

"I'm fine, really," he said. "I'll be ready to go on the next mission with you guys."

"Next mission?" I asked, taken aback.

"Yup Plank's got it all planned out," Mark said, stepping forward. "While the focus on Nartes is up front, he wants us to flank from behind. But we'll leave the details for you when we get on the medivac."

"Okay now wait a minute! I just got back from a forty eight hour trip! I think I deserve a little rest easy," I said, slightly frustrated.

"Plank says you can sleep on the way. He wants you there," Leary said, hands behind his back. "I said different, but he insisted."

"Oh wonderful," I said, throwing my hands in the air. "How in the world does he expect to me sleep just before a mission… and on a medivac?"

"Hey man, it's not my call," Leary said, shrugging. "If it was, I'd be more than happy to wait."

"Yeah well I wouldn't," Crip stepped in, impatiently. "I mean, it's not like you actually did any work? So ya lost some rest, big deal. We shouldn't hold the entire Orange Terran back so Derk Treeton can get his beauty sleep."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. Arguing with the brute wouldn't get us anywhere. I sighed, "Okay so when are we leaving?"

"Ten minutes," Mark said, checking his transmitter. I held back another groan.

"What about my stuff?" I asked an edge to my voice.

"We got ya covered. All your stuff is here," Leary said, pointing toward the ghost academy behind him.

"Ten minutes ya said?" I asked, looking at Mark, who in turn, nodded. "I'll be ready in five."

I irritably headed over to the academy, clenching my fists. This is gonna be fun. I thought, marching into the building. I searched the place with my mind, looking for my things. After successfully finding the correct room, I opened the door and made my way inside. Standing on top of the metal plate, I selected my armor and allowed the machines to equip it.

You know, if Plank would just give me a couple hours to sleep, I would be perfectly fine with going on another mission. Why does this have to be done right away? What's the big deal?

Stepping off of the plate, I opened my receptacle and scanned out my weapons. After hooking my knife to the armor, and swinging my gun over my back, I walked out the door. A medivac was already landing on the ground by the time I had left the ghost academy.

I jogged over to the aircraft and headed inside, following Tenny.

"Alright… Nartes is it then?" I asked, taking a seat next to Mark.

"Yup, Plank said that the line of fighting isn't going anywhere. Neither can push the other back," Mark explained, pulling an apple out of a pouch. "So that's where we come in."

"Oh yeah? And I think it's safe to assume we will be flanking them?" I asked as the aircraft lifted from the ground.

"Basically. Should be a pretty easy mission," Leary said, leaning back in his seat. "So long as people follow orders."

Leary shot Crip a glare, but directed his attention back to me. "The battle will most likely be taking place near the edge of a cavern. It is a long way down, so in case you 're looking to have a really bad day, I'd stay away from it."

"Eh shouldn't be that much of a problem," I replied, getting comfortable. "Now I'm going to get some shut eye, so everyone try to keep your voices down."

I closed my eyes, ignoring the smart remarks coming from my comrades. I was tired and no one was going to stop me from sleeping.

What seemed like seconds later I was being shaken awake by Rod.

"Hey, we've almost arrived," he said, shaking my shoulder. In response I looked out the window and checked the area.

"Holy cow!" I yelled, seeing a chaotic, destructive, scene unravel below me. zerglings swarmed the ground with random, Orange Terran men, running around. "I thought we were supposed to flank them, not run directly into the battle?!"

"Well we're a bit late," Mark said, readying his weapon.

"A bit late?!" I shouted, hurrying to arrange my things. "I thought this was going to be a stealthy mission?"

"It was," Leary said, standing near the back. "Until we found out that the Zerg had already planned for us. Now we are just fighting for ground."

The medivac slowed reaching the cliff.

"And by the way, where is the rest of our squad?" I asked, looking around the medivac. "Where's Nicky and Jenny?"

"Jenny is on her way, and Nicky is driving us," Tenny replied, holding onto a handle, keeping himself steady. "Man you were really out of it weren't you?"

"Hey, I don't wanna hear it," I said, loading my gun.

Nicky beamed us down in a less chaotic area. I looked around to make sure we were all standing there. I was satisfied to see everyone accounted for.

"Okay boys, our objective is fairly simple today," Leary said, stepping forward. "All we need to do is kill all the Zerg on this side of the cavern. We're going to try and get some missile turrets up to keep them from crossing the hollow; so if you see any SCVs, protect them with your life."

The Squad Leader began walking forward, toward the fight.

"I want everyone in teams of two. Mark, Crip," he said, pointing. Derk, Rod; and Myself and Tenny. Everyone understand?"

We all nodded, allowing him to continue.

"Good," Leary said, satisfied. "Crip, you two go up and keep the Zerg from expanding south. Derk, you take Rod and cover the Cliff. Try to shoot down any overlords carrying units. I'll take Tenny and we'll try to direct our comrades into some sort of order."

"Sounds like a plan," Tenny replied, cocking his rifle.

"Alright soldiers… move out!" he commanded, turning and running. I nodded to Rod and sprinted toward the cliff. Time for resting was over. I was ready to go to battle.

It wasn't long until we had to duck for cover. Zerglings and Hydralisks were sprawled out everywhere. I pointed Rod to a wrecked siege tank. It would provide decently good cover, especially when taking fire from Hydras.

"Alright Rod, if you can tell from here, we have quite the field to cross before reaching the ridge," I said, gesturing across the grassy plain.

"Yeah, I can see that," he replied, nervously.

"So we have several options we can take," I said, ducking, barely avoiding a spine needle. "We can take it slow and safe, but risk failing the objective. We can go at a medium pace, which provides us with quick cover and is a bit faster. Or we can run and gun. That way we get there, almost immediately, but there's a 50/50 chance that we leave with tendrils in our backs."

"Uh… I don' t know, what do you think?" Rod replied. Ugh I don't even think he was listening. I sighed.

"Okay… well, medium pace it is," I said, not wishing to waist any more time. I motioned toward a couple trees about twenty yards ahead of us. "Alright that's the next cover. It's a bit of a dash, so you'll have to hustle. I'll cover ya."

Rod nodded, staring forward. After several seconds of nothing I finally lost patience and yelled, "Well get a move on!"

He jumped in surprise, but did as he was told. I aimed my rifle in his direction, searching for a target. Everything I saw was too far away, and not a threat. But suddenly from the side, a Hydralisk came barraging out of the ground. There was so much noise going on, Rod must not have even noticed, because he continued running forward, which in this case, was the smarter option anyway.

I fired rapidly at the monsters head. I could hear the bullets blast through its skull, making a disturbing crack sound. The creature roared in anger and fired spines in my direction. I dodged behind cover watching the tendrils fly by. Not waiting a second more, I immediately jumped out again, firing a couple more shots.

Within two to three bursts the Hydralisk dropped dead, and I quickly scanned the area, searching for more Zerg. Rod nested himself safely against the tree aiming his battle rifle, around wildly.

I sprinted forward, heading for a large boulder passed Rod's tree.

"Cover me!" I yelled, running by. After a couple paces, I slammed against the rock, Rod following close behind. I aimed outward, shooting rapidly at a group of three zerglings, who in turn charged toward us, furiously.

"Ahhh!" Rod screamed, blasting his rifle in their direction.

"Rod! Shoot in bursts! Your bullets are spraying so bad one of them is gonna hit me!" I shouted, picking off the last one. I turned to look at Rod who was breathing heavily in and out. "I know zerglings seem like easy targets, but don't let them fool ya. If one ever gets close enough, it'll tear your throat out so fast you'll still be alive to see it!"

"Oh good," he replied, clutching his weapon.

"Okay, so we're doing good so far, but we can't let up. We're not even half way yet." I scanned the scene, looking for snipe able targets. "Alright you go ahead. Take cover behind that hellion. I'll meet ya there."

Rod nodded, and dashed forward. A couple seconds after he'd left, I surged forward after him. I jogged slower, aiming down my sights. I didn't want to be unexpectedly mauled by a zergling, because I wasn't paying attention.

Seeing a flash in the corner of my eye, I jerked to the left and saw Rod standing stupidly in the open.

"Hey what the heck do you think yo—" but before I could finish, he fired back at me. Instinctively I blasted in retaliation, and ran for cover. I jumped behind a tree and rested my back against it.

I didn't even have to ask. Rod had been nabbed by an investor.

Hey everyone! We're sooooo close to the end! AH AM so excOIted! ... you know to be done.

haha so yeah, sorry about the long wait, but school has started up again, and I have a job now and yata yata yata, I'll spare you the details. Basically I only have time to write on the weekends... yey...

But don't worry! I do not believe in dead stories! Especially this close to the end! Anyways... Enjoy meh story braaaahs

P.S. Soooo, do you guys remember that authors note I did, telling you I might not post the Rod 2 after this... well... You guys have convinced me via reviews to continue posting after Rod 1. I hope your happy. But I am going on a mission after this year so I will be gone for two years. And then I can start my LIFE! hahaahahha