p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strongHello there readers and welcome to my story! Here we have a Starcraft reincarnation AU based on the Dark Templar books and SCII. So, spoiler alert for those things there. Don't need to have read the books to get this, but they probably would help. But so does Google, so heh./strong/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strongOh, and special thanks to some people! Fangtom, who convinced me to turn a joke into a story, PotatoNebula, who has been giving me good drawing tips, Glasses, who has been a good sounding board, J, who who listened to my ideas and thoughts, all of you readers reading this right now, you're awesome, and most of all, my best friend, who has been with me on every step of this and so much more - you are no longer with us, and I'm sorry you won't get to see this posted. Your memory is a blessing, and I will never forget the good and bad times. You were the only person I completely trusted. The one person I felt comfortable being completely open with and had no secrets from. I will miss you. /strong/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strongWith thanks out of the way, enjoy the story!/strong/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"-/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Founded by refugees seeking solace from the zerg onslaught on Terran worlds and denied safety from their own government, Haven has flourished from some random world near protoss space to an asylum for any seeking to survive without turning to crime./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob Jefferson Ramsey and Rosemary Dahl, a xenoarchaeologist and an assassin who have worked together for years, are two such people who came here fleeing from the Swarm, along with their young daughter Teresa Zamara Starke Dahl-Ramsey./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Taking a deep breath, Jake smiled as he looked around the still-growing city of Fjellhavn. Only a few weeks old, it was clear that this would be the major trading center on the planet, where their economy and life bled through to the rest of Haven. Most of the larger towns still had one of the shuttles that brought the original colonists to Haven, a few were dismantled and used to help build the foundation for Fjellhavn, but the rest were repurposed as transport shuttles to quickly move supplies from the towns to Fjellhavn in order to build the city more quickly./spanstrong id="docs-internal-guid-ea40815e-7fff-64d2-a257-56e0246e698e" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-weight: normal;"/strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'This is where so many people fleeing the zerg ended up,'/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" he mused silently. /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'And it's also making a name for itself for anyone who's pissed off the Dominion and needs a safe place.'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are we going to see mom soon?" An innocent voice asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake looked down at his four-year-old daughter holding his hand; the sight of her always made him feel better, and combined with his already good mood, he felt lighter than air. "Sorry Teresa, but she's talking to the new recruits. Wants to make sure they're good enough to keep us safe."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa pouted, "Okay." She dragged the word out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Chuckling, he ruffled her hair, "Hey, don't be like that. Just look around." He gestured with his free hand to the surrounding city, "This is our home now, and it's going to be great."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa looked around at the new bustling city before frowning, "Dad?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked down into her eyes, "Yes?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are…are the zerg going to come here too?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His heart broke a little and the air between them felt heavy for both of them from her question. Not even a generation ago, alien invaders coming to ravage their worlds would be something out of the horror genre. Now, it was simply another fact of life. Something to deny children like Teresa the bliss of a nightmare-free childhood the moment they see one of the vicious predators leave only destruction or use pure technological might that leaves nothing but ashes./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake's free hand clenched so hard his nails would leave an imprint on his palm for a few minutes, while the hand she was holding tightened reassuringly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Teresa," he kept his voice steady, careful not to become too emotional for her sake. "Whatever happens, I promise I will take care of you. I will keep you safe from the zerg or anything else that would hurt you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded without hesitation, smiling like the sun, "I know! You're the best dad in the sector!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They hugged each other, "Want to know a secret? You're the best kid in the sector," he whispered to her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know things are scary, and it's never easy to move to a new place. And well…you saw the zerg already." She shivered at the mention of the predator race. "But this is our home now, and we're going to be safe here."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She held onto him like she thought he hung the stars she saw on their way to this world./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And if you think of the Zerg and get scared, just think of your mom. She's a lot scarier than the Zerg anyway."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They both laughed, /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. narrowed her eyes behind the CMC's visor. She watched as her opponent treaded forward and unleashed a small stream of bullets into the A.R.E.S. warbot./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It moved a few feet closer to her, even with the kinetic force from the projectiles trying to push it back with each hit. The bullets pierced the metal shell and disabled the bot./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Before it even stopped moving, R.M. had already turned towards another one advancing on her. Taking cover beneath some debris, she unleashed another stream of bullets at it. Within moments, sparks were flying off of it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She turned to face her audience, "You see what I did?" She held up her gun, "Six enemies and I still have most of my magazine left. All of you," she gestured with her gauntleted arm, "need to work on your aim. Most of you managed to hit your targets, but you took a lot more shots than you needed." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She pointed at the damaged training bots. "Aiming. You have guns, great weapons. Hit the enemy before they get too close, because if a Protoss goes hand to hand with you? You've already lost. Might as well take your last few thoughts to say goodbye to your limbs." /span/p
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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The recruits looked at each other nervously. "As for the Zerg? If they get close to you, then you can probably forget about aiming. Zerglings and banelings like to come in groups, if they get close enough, you won't have much of a chance, so just /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"shoot." /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She gave them a pointed look, daring them to question such a simple instruction. "Understood?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her ears met with the resounding cries of "Ma'am, yes Ma'am!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She appraised them, pointing at one of them who appeared uninterested in her little show, "You. What's your name and preferred weapon?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyes widened, but his expression returned to a neutral one a moment later; taking a step forward, he answered, "My name is Jesse Holton, Ma'am. I want to become a firebat. Best way to kill them how I see it, ma'am."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Having gone through all the people's files before her, R.M. knew this and memorized their faces before meeting them. Knowledge is power, and the more she had over these people, the better she could train them as fighters and see if they could become more specialized or elite soldiers. She had heard how effective firebats were on Agria against the Zerg, and with so many people here that saw that fighting firsthand, several recruits may be interested in becoming firebats. And as functional as they are in CQC, overly relying on them en masse was a mistake she wouldn't allow anyone learning from her to make, even if she had to club them over the head with a broken flamethrower to do so./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nodding as if his name was new info, "Why are you here?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyes hardened, "The zerg took my home, Dominion said they'd blow up our ships if we got too close, and too many pirates to get anywhere else, Ma'am." The last word was added almost as an afterthought, having only remembered he was speaking to a superior./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nodding, R.M. continued, "Glad you said that. Now, all of you, for better or worse, this is our world now." She gestured out, first at the nearby forest and moving onwards towards the barracks and ending with the city. "We're pretty far from the Swarm, but we don't have anywhere near the defenses the Dominion has for their important worlds." There was some grumbling as memories of Dominion soldiers packing up as many weapons and ammo as they could before the Swarm arrived spread amongst the recruits. "Not going to lie here; just because we're far away doesn't mean we're safe. The zerg move fast, we're probably going to run into them sooner or later."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The recruits looked uncomfortable and did a poor job of hiding their fear thinking about her words, their recent experience with the zerg still haunting them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""BUT! But…this world is proof that we don't need the Dominion to survive. We've all survived the Zerg before when we were lost and scared. Now we have a government behind us! Weapons, armor, money, we've got it." Softly smiling, she spoke softly, but with no less power, "We have a chance."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She paused for a few seconds to let it sink in, "We have a chance, but that's it. If you're not ready to give everything you've got to learn how to fight? Then bye. Don't waste your time here. If you are ready to take a stand and defend this world? These people?" She grinned widely, "Then congratulations! You're in the right place! You're ready to learn how to live for others!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They clapped politely, morale properly raised. R.M.'s grin fell into a smirk; she hoisted her gun and was about to speak when another person spoke up from behind her, "Well said, Dahl. Well said." Another instructor, a man around R.M.'s age wearing an old and slightly torn UED officer's jacket hanging unbuttoned off his broad shoulders, named Tony Alodia smirked as he spoke up until he was standing next to her. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Now, you ready to try again?" He asked the recruits./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sir, yes, sir!" They answered together./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She watched as they marched back to the barracks to get back into their armor, reclaimed their rifles, ready to throw themselves back into training./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She took a deep breath, "God, I really hate giving speeches."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony smiled, "Well, I thought it was a good one."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"– A few hours later/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa was on her bed, staring out her window, entranced by the still-growing city connected to the forest, her breath fogging up the glass a little, absentmindedly drawing little symbols that popped into her mind on the condensed water./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sound of someone knocking on the door caught her attention, and she spun around as Jake opened it. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She grinned upon seeing who it was, "Hi, dad."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grinned back at her, "Hey, kiddo. Ready for bed?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh-huh," she nodded, "but can't I stay up until mom gets back?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Afraid I don't know when she'll be back, and we have a big day tomorrow. You want to explore the forest, right?" She nodded in agreement. "Well, if we're going to do that, we'll have to go out early. Which means you need to go to sleep soon. How about a bedtime story for now? Your mom might be back when we finish."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The child shrugged, "Okay." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa crawled under her blanket, and Jake took a seat on the bed; he smirked, "Hmm, what story should I tell you?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Small blue eyes widened and stared directly at him, "What about Zamara? Can you tell me about her?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake chuckled, "What? You want to hear a story about yourself? All right then. Well, one day Teresa Zamara Starke Dahl-Ramsey-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Dad!" Teresa shoved his arm playfully, laughing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Full-out laughing now, Jake needed a moment to calm down, "All right, all right. Hmm, would you rather hear about a protoss Preserver?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa grinned widely, nodding, "Yeah!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Ruffling her hair, he spoke, "Sounds like a plan. So, the story, a few years ago, before you were born, before I met your mom, I was digging on Gelgaris with some friends, looking for ancient artifacts. Some people were so impressed with our work there, they wanted me to look at a really important temple. To uncover ancient mysteries and discover new history. And do you know who came to get me?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mom. And that's how you met her, right?" Teresa knew the answer to this, but it became part of how the story went; to ask these questions./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake smiled, gently running a hand over his forehead, "That's right, you're so smart." Teresa preened at his compliment, something Jake smiled at before he continued, "Your mom came and told me about this temple that every other person who looked at it, the best and the brightest, couldn't figure out."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So they had to do better." Teresa yawned, fighting off sleep to keep listening./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake chuckled, "Heh, that's right. They needed the best and they came to me. So I looked around the temple, saw beautiful things there. Things that I want to show you one day."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa's eyes closed briefly, picturing the temple in her head./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And I found a /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"riddle."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The small girl giggled at how he emphasized the last word, making Jake smile more, "No one could figure it out, not even your mom. The riddle was made by a protoss, and after I figured it out, your mom and I went deeper into the temple."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He leaned closer and quietly asked, "And do you know what we found?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Zamara! You found Zamara!" Teresa exclaimed excitedly, happy to be at this part./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake was grinning, "That's right!" He ruffled her hair, "We didn't know each other at the time, I had never seen a protoss before, and she'd never seen a terran up-close before. She looked into our minds, saw that we were good people, and asked us for help. Protoss are a psionic species, they can do so much with their minds, and she took her thoughts, her mind, everything that she was, and put it in me."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa's eyes were practically sparkling, "Protoss are so cool! So she found a way to keep living through you, right?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's right, and she told me some important stuff about a bad protoss named Ulrezaj."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Gripping her blanket tightly, Teresa held it close and whispered, "The vampire protoss."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake smirked, once a deadly threat, a cacophony of destructive power unto the world around him, now nothing more than the bad guy in a child's bedtime story./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's right, the vampire protoss. And Zamara was the only one who knew what he was going to do next, and because of that, he wanted her dead, so your mom and I took a ship and flew away. While searching for the protoss, we met something really dangerous."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The zerg," she whispered. "Dad, how did…how did you and mom stop them from infesting you?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake's good mood began to dim as he saw fear take its place on her face. "Teresa, all zerg are dangerous, yes. But not all zerg can infest people. I don't know exactly what will happen in the future, but I know this," he leaned over and hugged her, "as long as I'm here, I will do everything to keep you safe from the zerg. They will never get you, I promise."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa hugged him back, "Thanks, dad. I love you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So then we found it: Aiur. As terrible as they are, the zerg couldn't ruin that beautiful world. Not all of it. Most of the protoss left the world, but two groups stayed behind."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The Tal'darim and Shel'na Kryhas," Teresa spoke with a smug look, proud to remember this, becoming even smugger as Jake looked at her with pride. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's right. The Shel'na Kryhas found us, gave us food and water, and we helped them expose Ulrezaj as a protoss vampire to the Tal'darim. He promised the Tal'darim that he would save them if they served him, but they weren't too happy when they found out their savior would eat them."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa nodded in understanding./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Then the zerg started to act weird, and out came a man commanding them. The strangest infested I've ever seen. He somehow kept his mind, but fell in love with the zerg."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You sure he wasn't crazy?" The thought of feeling anything positive for those predators confused her, no matter how often she heard this story./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake nodded, "I'm sure. He liked power and the zerg made him feel powerful."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's dumb," Teresa frowned./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Some people are dumb," Jake shrugged, "But not you. You're already so smart."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa hugged him, "Thanks dad."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He patted her head, looking down at her with pride until she was released, and looked up at him, silently asking him to continue the story./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So with Ulrezaj exposed and the zerg coming for us, we all ran towards the warp gate. Just imagine how scared we were when we saw the controls were damaged. If it wasn't for Zamara and your mom, that would have been it. They worked together to fix it and we all escaped while Ulrezaj and the zerg were fighting. And that's when things got weird. You see, Zamara took a wrong turn in the warp gate, so while the rest made it to Shakuras, we got stuck on some nameless planet."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa giggled, sure that somehow her dad was the one who got them stuck there./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. walked in, "Hey kid. Jake."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa sat up, moving to get out of bed to greet her mom, but was held down by Jake with a single hand. She glared at her dad for a moment, to which he responded with a lazy but amused smirk, after a few moments of this, in which R.M. walked over, Teresa lied back down against her headboard, "Hi mom. What's going on?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. smiled, "Finished meeting the last of the recruits I'm working with today. Got them started on basic training exercises and reviewed some files." Crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow, "And what's going on here?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa blinked a few times, forcing herself to stay awake, "Dad's telling me about Zamara."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. looked at them both fondly and chuckled, "Again? You really like that story, huh?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"While Teresa nodded happily, Jake blushed in embarrassment, "Well, yeah. It's a good story, right?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked at Teresa at the last word, wanting her to take his side, and she kept nodding to his relief./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""See?" He spoke to R.M., "She still loves this story."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. shook her head in amusement, "Of course she does, She doesn't want to hurt your feelings."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Giggling, Teresa shook her head, "Nope! Dad's just a really good storyteller."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lightly pushing Jake to the side, ignoring his slightly affronted grunt, R.M. bent down and asked, "Really?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not really, but he does know some great stories," Teresa smiled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""HEY!" Jake only partially had to fake his offended expression./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The girls laughed at the look on his face./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry to interrupt this," R.M. began, "but I'm about to send a report to the boss. Wanted to know if you wanted to review it, you grammar nut."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake caught the hidden message, "Of course, right away." He stood up and started walking towards the door, "I'll finish the story tomorrow, ok?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Not wanting to go to sleep yet, Teresa spoke up, "Wait, but mom didn't tell me about her day."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Chuckling, R.M. replied, "You want to know about my day, huh?" Teresa nodded. "All right then, my day…I met with some new cadets, they're all wimps, so I have a lot of work ahead of me to get them ready for any fight."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa nodded sullenly, "All right."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Night, kid." R.M. gave her a one-armed hug./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Seeing her look so down, Jake started to walk back to keep going, but R.M. rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand before he could, and with a slight tug, he followed her out, flicking the lights off as he left./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa yawned before lying down, falling closer to sleep, imagining what it must have been like to be on that adventure in real life, somehow /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"knowing/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" that there were details he was leaving out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And as she slept, images of Aiur at its peak, before the Swarm descended upon it crept through her mind. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"emspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"–/span/em/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""She is such a good kid," Jake smiled contently./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh huh," R.M. nodded as she hit enter, sending the encrypted and coded message to their contact on Tyrador VIII that would later be sent to Valerian. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. stretched her arms, "Valerian should get that info soon enough, until we hear back from him, we can relax a bit more. Just go about our lives."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake rubbed his arm nervously, smile now gone, "No matter how often we've done this already, always makes me nervous."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"In a mix of exasperation and amusement R.M. answered, "Pretty sure our cover hasn't been blown yet if you're worried about that."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Working for Valerian has taken them across the Dominion, gathering information from intellectuals, the criminal underground, and various companies all to find those more likely to support Valerian should he need to expand his intelligence network or find a potential ally and those that would not be likely to work with his plans or would easily turn against him. He had sent them to Haven to start building a spy network here and to keep an eye out for potential political allies./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So, how was your day? She doing all right?" R.M. frowned, concerned that Teresa may be having trouble settling in here./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""She seems to be doing fine. And we have a lot of space between us and the Swarm, so Haven will probably have time to build some defenses before the zerg come around, and since we won't be bothering the Daelaam, the protoss shouldn't do anything. They've got more important matters to deal with."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, Jake," she looked at him, "Do you really think human luck is that good?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- The next day - 0600/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Two air traffic controllers were staring at the screen, normally there would be more people, but this was considered the graveyard shift, no ships were scheduled for a few hours, and so the bare minimum number of people were here./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Controller Lawson, a middle-aged woman with blond hair, frowned as she read a new message, "Damn. Hey, Bailey, you seeing this?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Controller Bailey nodded, "The ship that isn't responding to hails? Yeah. Looks like it was damaged, picking up some zerg residue on the ship. Clearly isn't infested though."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lawson rubbed her chin, "Yeah, but it's coming in fast."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Bailey shrugged, "Not too fast to destroy the ship, and look," he pulled up a map on his screen with a small area highlighted, "It looks like it'll crash here, away from everyone else. At least we don't have to worry about it killing any civvies."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Let's call this in, let the higher ups know where it'll land. They'll probably send some of our new recruits to deal with this. Give them an easy win and all that."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"0900/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Rage…rage and an unending torrent of hate directed at her. Directed at her…at the Daelaam…at those he left behind, and to everyone else. Contempt to all who wouldn't /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-couldn't- /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"understand his goals and to those that did and were still against him. And as the essence of her being was surrounded by this -by him- she couldn't help but wish there was another way./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Teresa, time to wake up." The small girl was ripped from her dreams by her dad shaking her shoulder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No," she whined. "Can I have five more minutes?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She groaned when Jake scooped her up, "Please?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake placed her feet first on the floor, and let her go to make her stand, "We've got a fun day planned, we're going to go hiking today, remember?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah," she rubbed her eye, "But can't that wait a little longer?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She had a wonderful and exciting dream; a golden city filled with tall people whose faces she couldn't make out, then everything changed. She was scared; she had something important to do and was so close to doing it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Nope," Jake shot her request down, "Sorry, but the group's not going to wait on us. The hike's starting in an hour, so hurry up now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa nodded before letting out another yawn, "Okay…" She walked off to her closet to get ready as Jake walked out of her room, her dream already fading from her mind. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Quickly getting ready, she walked out for breakfast with her parents. Twenty minutes later, Jake and Teresa were well-fed and prepared to leave./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Bye mom, have fun teaching those crybabies," Teresa smiled at R.M./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake ruffled her hair, "Hey, that's not very nice."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. set down her coffee, "He's right. Don't call them that." She smirked, "They're wimps."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake groaned while his daughter laughed. Looking at his lover, his voice tired, "Please don't teach her any bad habits."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Laughing, R.M. kissed him, "Never." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sighing overdramatically, Jake looked at Teresa, "Stay how you are, cute and innocent."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa giggled, smiled innocently, and shook her head, enjoying the sound of Jake's exaggerated sigh and R.M.'s laugh./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- Barracks - 0930/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Good morning, Dahl," Tony waved at her, beckoning her closer with coffee./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Tony," she nodded, grabbing the offered drink. "Anything happen yet?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yep," he nodded. "Some ship crashed around an hour ago, our rookies and some medics were sent out to test how they'll hold up taking orders."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. nodded, "Good. I'll set up a training course for them later. Wait, we have any warbots left for training?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony frowned in thought, "Think we have a few left we can use."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. smiled, "Good, I can have something set up for later after they've debriefed."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh!" Tony snapped his fingers, "Almost forgot, going to be some big celebration today. The big veggies the docs were working on are all good, the farmers are real happy about that."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. gave him a wry smile, "'Come to Haven, get the galaxy's best tomatoes,'" she snorted, "Let's see how long it takes for that to catch on."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1030/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strong style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse looked around the silent vehicle, out of the twenty people here, none were talking./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" He shuffled about uncomfortably in place, trying to think of something to break the silence and tension./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Urg, I'm not a social person, how do I start a conversation?' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He thought to himself./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So…" he began, slightly tensing up as all eyes went to him, "Think we'll find anyone alive there?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Immediately after speaking, he mentally kicked himself, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Out of everything I could have said, I said that?!'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well," someone else spoke up in a thick Southern drawl, "I sure hope so. 'therwise we came out here for nothin'."/span/p
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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Before anyone else could speak, or an awkward silence could descend over them, the A.P.C. shook, as if the driver decided to twist the wheel to mess with the rookies./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey!" Jesse yelled into the radio, "What's going on up there?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A moment later, he realized he probably shouldn't have spoken like that to the drivers, the people in charge of watching their progress, but before he could think of what to do, he got a response./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We're here," the driver spoke in a raspy, hoarse tone. "Get out. Now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The doors opened up and the ramp extended./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Friendly, ain't he?" The guy who responded to Jesse earlier grunted./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse nodded, making a mental note to get that guy's name later, and walked out with everyone else./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The recruits in marine armor and the veteran medics looked around in confusion and started talking amongst each other./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Isn't there supposed to be some downed ship here?" Jesse muttered, frowning in confusion./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse gasped in horror, if others did as well, he didn't hear it as a glob of…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"green…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"stuff flew out of the woods and splattered on the ground near some marines. It splattered once it hit the ground, hitting the people./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Can't…move…" One grunted out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hurts…so much…Arg!" Another yelled./spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /br /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse took a step back when tentacles burst out of one of them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then another./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And another until they were all infested and turned their guns on the rest of them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Some fired back, some froze up, but once the APC they came in started shooting at them, what little organization they had broke./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A creature moved into view from the front of the APC, it was a bulbous creature, carried on sturdy-looking legs with writhing tentacles coming from out of the creature's jaw. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It looked like something out of that ancient earth writer's horror books, Jesse thought to himself in that brief moment when his mind went calm from the panic before reality sank in./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He raised his gun, his shaking arms evident even with the power armor coating them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The screams of his fellow cadets filled the comms, and before he managed to pull the trigger, a green blob was shot out of the creature towards him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After that, searing pain as metal and flesh merged into one and new flesh burst from him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The pain was the last thing his conscious mind processed before he stopped thinking. Yet his body, on the other hand, kept moving, shambling alongside the other infested marines towards a nearby town./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1345 - hiking trail/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Shit, shit, shit!' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake thought to himself over and over. Teresa was in his arms, clinging to him as he held her tightly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The other members of their group were panicking, some were screaming as they ran towards the nearest town. They were all panicked and were rushing back since the zerg alert went off./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake would never say this out loud, especially now, but he considered splitting off from this group. They were so loud, that if any zerg was nearby, they'd know exactly where to go and most smaller zerg would be able to sneak up completely undetected./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Shit!' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He screamed in his head, clutching the small child more, more determined than anything else to keep her safe./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His heart stopped for a moment, he heard something. It sounded like someone talking, but it was gargled, as if something was stuck in the speaker's throat./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Someone, Jake didn't know who, nor did he particularly care at that moment, shrieked as several infested terrans shambled out, the others started shrieking and screaming themselves. Trying to hide behind each other if not outright fleeing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Not that it would matter much, whatever they chose. The infested terran's claws could easily pierce through someone and hit whoever was hiding behind them and they had far more endurance and were faster when they ran than their uninfested counterparts./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake turned around, ready to try to run, to hide, and that saved him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An explosion erupted behind him, knocking him forward. A piece of his mind thought he could hear screaming, then he felt the ground meet him as he smashed into it, and a ringing sound filled his ears./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It took him a few seconds to regain his sense of hearing. Teresa's crying was the first thing his mind recognized, the second was the sound of something burning and something mechanical in the air./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He forced himself to turn around and look up, seeing a protoss scout ship moving away from them and the hole left behind from its ordinance that obliterated the infested./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He gulped as he saw a Mothership descending from above in the distance and took off towards the nearest town with Teresa crying in his arms, leaving the rest of the group behind./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1350/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M., in her CMC armor, gripped her gun, barely reacting when the A.P.C. bumped against some large rock or maybe a dead marine, R.M. absently thought./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony, in identical armor, looked over at her, "It's funny, just yesterday you were talking about us running into the zerg sooner or later. You jinx us or somethin'?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. snorted in amusement, "Yep, that's exactly what happened."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony chuckled, "In that case, when this is over, you buy me a drink and we'll call it even. Oh, and that means you're not allowed to die here, got it?"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /br /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Guess that means you're not allowed to die either," she responded./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The A.P.C. stopped and the doors slid open, the soldiers exited quickly and got into the bunkers defending the town, with orders to hold until Haven's goliaths could be sent out to reinforce them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"There was little left to say as they kept their eyes focused and waited for the zerg to show up, and thankfully for their nerves, they did not wait long./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Within minutes, a horde of zerglings and infested terrans came barreling down towards them, the sound of the Gauss rifles spitting out metal finding purchase in the charging zerglings and the infested. But for each one they killed, more were ready to keep charging forward./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then, as it looked like they were going to be overrun, a strike fighter dropped a napalm bomb in front of them, burning many zerglings and partially cooking nearby ones inside their carapaces. The nearby trees violently shook from the explosion, the ones closest burst into flames, igniting a few forest fires that would have to go ignored for the time being./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A few goliaths marched up to provide supporting firepower, their bullets tearing chunks of chitin, flesh, and metal from the infested marines from the attacking zerg./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony laughed, "Ha! Now this is getting fun!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. on the other hand kept a stoic tone, "Things don't typically go so well so quickly, get ready for some famous terran luck to screw us over in some way."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As if acting on her words, everyone winced as their radios were filled with static and the sky lit up with explosions followed up by a bright light slamming into the ground in zerg-controlled territory./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony laughed, "Damn! Looks like the 'toss are joining the fight!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His head moved to look at her, his face obscured by the visor, "You know them better than anyone here. They here to help us or burn us?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Another explosion erupted, it looked like it was close to where they knew a town was located, if not directly at the spot./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Burn us. Definitely burn us." She gripped her gun harder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa was still clinging to Jake with one hand, "Are we going to die?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her eyes were squeezed shut and a few tears had already escaped, with her other hand, she was grasping her head./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake shook his head, "No, no. We'll be fine. You'll see."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"No zerg attacked the small town, but there were times when vehicles drove by with firebat and marine escorts back towards Fjellhavn, and Jake had a suspicion they were taking research subjects back./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For what reason, he didn't care at the moment. His focus was on the girl in his arms./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, hey," he began in a comforting tone, "How are you holding up? How are you feeling?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hurts," she answered. "My head really hurts."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His heart skipped a beat at the answer, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Is she psionic?'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Teresa, just focus on me, can you do that?" His voice and tone was soft, and when she slowly nodded, he continued, "Can you open your eyes for me?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She slowly opened her eyes, her expression one of great pain on her face that tore at his heart./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Can you tell me when your head started to hurt?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""When…when the bright lights and the protoss came."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake gripped her harder in response, "I promise you we will make it through this, alive and well."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She buried her face into his chest, but he heard her say something that he couldn't quite make out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sirens went off again, and everything from phones to TVs in the town went off, repeating the same message, "A protoss terror fleet is heading towards Eski, head towards the colony shuttle."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sirens went off again, and everything from phones to TVs in the town went off, repeating the same message, "A protoss terror fleet is heading towards Eski, head towards the colony shuttle."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"People started rushing towards the shuttle, Jake shoved past a number of them, "Move, move! I have a child here!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"People were shoving each other aside, Jake's calls going unheard, the Marines were able to restore order enough to calm the people enough to stop them from shoving./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Zerg!" Someone screamed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Some looked back to see infested shambling up in large numbers, the marines moved to /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Please," Jake yelled, "I have a child! Save her! I don't care if you leave me behind, just save her!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa let go of her head and his shirt, looking up at him with horror, "No!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It looked like she was about to scream, thankfully the marine guard nodded, "Children go first, you can go with her, sir."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thank you," there were tears in his eyes as he ran into the shuttle./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He quickly ran to the first two available seats and sat down./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You…you were going to send me away." He had never heard her sound so hurt before, so vulnerable. Even over the sounds of all the other crying children in the ship and their parents, her voice reached his ears like a knife./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm your dad, I will do anything to keep you safe," he responded./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He blinked, surprised she would yell at him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With tears threatening to pour from her eyes, she looked at him, "Don't die for me…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"please."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I…" Jake wasn't sure how to respond, was this normal from a kid? Christ, someone in this sector should write a book about how to handle kids in the middle of an alien attack./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I…"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Before he could answer, something hit the shuttle, making it jerk in place, Zamara gasped and pointed at the window, "Ships!"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She grabbed her head again, this time, Jake didn't pay her much mind, staring out the window in horror as protoss ships moved towards them. They barely slowed down to destroy the few flying zerg that remained after their initial assaults and bombardments./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He kept staring as the vikings met them in battle, barely taking it in as the protoss ships started to fall and the ship he was in filled up. When it took off, he calmed down enough and squeezed Teresa's shoulders as he kept staring out the window, waiting with dread for more protoss ships or zerg to show up./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"But Teresa did not notice him staring out the window, nor did she even notice his hand on her shoulder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For her mind was too far gone./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sight of zealots charging into the town, cleaving through civilians who were shoving and trampling each other for safety, marines and marauders doing a mix of shoving people aside and shooting at the protoss warriors. Firebats spraying a fiery death at the lightly armored zealots, only to be struck down by stalkers that would blink away when the marines turned their guns on them. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Temlaa…Khas…no…Savassan…Adun…/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The battle she witnessed for but a few seconds melted away from her mind/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The lives of so many protoss flashed before her eyes, she cried out in pain from the overwhelming information forcing itself into her head./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Explosions shook the ship, she forced her eyes open to see some flying terran mech getting closer, shooting off missiles./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She was able to notice that the ship was nearly full now, and a small piece of her mind wondered how long she was experiencing…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"that./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As if the tangent thought was enough, she was forced back into seeing their lives, it happening too fast to take anything in, yet seeing it all the same./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The memories of the Preserver Zamara were stronger than the rest, more vibrant in comparison to the others, more real. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And she felt what she felt, her irritation towards Jake - her dad - and how it turned into respect and friendship over time, and sacrificing herself to save him at the end. Prepared to die./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'But I didn't die, did I?'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a cry of pain, her skull feeling like it was about to explode, she fell into unconsciousness, the last thing she heard was Jacob calling out, "Teresa!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1700 - Bedroom/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara's hand twitched as consciousness started to return to her, and the first thing she noticed was the all-encompassing migraine./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a small groan, she raised her hand to her hand, and upon feeling the five fingers upon her crest, she jumped a little, opening her eyes before immediately closing them again from the pain./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'That's right, I'm sharing a body with a terran now…and it's causing headaches…killing him. Wait, no…I saved him. He should be fine now.'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She forced her eyes open, pushing through the pain it caused, and got out of her bed, trying to remember how she got here./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'What a strange dream. I dreamt I was Jacob Jefferson Ramsey and Rosemary Dahl's child. How strange. It felt so real.'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara noticed some similarities between this room and her room from her dream, and swallowed her growing anxiety and confusion. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Jacob," her eyes widened. That wasn't his voice, it was the voice she had in her dream as his child./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Avoiding where she somehow knew the mirrors were, not willing to face her reflection just yet, as she thought back to her dream and the memories of the dream felt as real as the memories of her life, as the more she thought on it, the more real it felt./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She opened her mouth, a familiar sensation, yet incredibly alien and strange to her at the same time. "What is going on?" She whispered to herself, heart pounding in her chest, and her migraine getting worse from thinking about what she was experiencing, still unable to will herself to make a conclusion from the pain./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Arg," she grasped her head, soft fingers caressing soft skin as she walked towards the door./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her hand, a small five-fingered hand, grasped the doorknob and pulled it open to see three people sitting at the kitchen table from her dream./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'It wasn't a dream, was it?' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The thought forced itself into her head and she was too overwhelmed to dismiss it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob, Rosemary, and someone else were here in front of her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, Teresa," Jacob smiled awkwardly at her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, kid," R.M.'s smile seemed more natural, but Zamara noticed the nervousness behind it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The unknown man waved at her, "Nice to meet you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Words failed Zamara yet her mouth opened and closed a few times./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And then the floor came up to meet her as she returned to an empty void. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake ran to pick her up as soon as Teresa fell down, "Teresa!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He checked her pulse, and it seemed normal, "I…I think she's all right. Must have just been overwhelmed and still in shock."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. knelt down next to him, giving Teresa a concerned look he's never seen her give anyone else, not even him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"In truth, he didn't know, but he wasn't about to take her to the hospital. If she was psionic, then Haven may try and take her for their first Ghost, and he would rather die than let her live as a weapon./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For now, he'd take care of her here, and if she was still fainting tomorrow, then they'd go to the hospital./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"But for now, she'd stay here. Safe from the zerg, the protoss, and even her fellow terrans if need be./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Is she all right?" Tony slowly walked closer to them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I think so," Jake answered, scooping her up. "I'm just going to bring her back to her bed and put a cup of water by her bed. She'll probably need it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Anything I can do?" Tony asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake sent R.M. a look that she immediately understood, "You think you can try to find some new super food for us? Was excited to see how big they could get and didn't have a chance to get one today."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony raised an eyebrow, obviously recognizing that they wanted him to leave, "I get it, they've been advertising those things since they had the idea. I'll go see if anyplace is selling them."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With that, he waved goodbye and walked out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake put Teresa back in her bed before R.M. asked, "So, what's the problem? You're the kind of person who'd want to take her to the hospital if she had a paper cut. What changed?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake sighed, "Her reaction to when the protoss showed up…she really reacted to them."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You have been telling her stories of heroic protoss her whole life," R.M. pointed out, "When they show up killing people makes sense she'd be shocked."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake shook his head, "No, I mean she grabbed her head. She was in /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"pain."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" He choked on the last word. "I couldn't do anything, and…" He shook his head, "If she is psionic, I won't let her be a weapon. Not for Haven, not for the Dominion, not even for Valerian."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. nodded in approval, "If she is, we won't let her be anyone's weapon."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1840/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara woke up again, her headache thankfully greatly diminished, but unfortunately not gone./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her throat felt dry and on her dresser, she saw a cup of water, she wasted no time in getting up and walking over to it. This time she looked into the mirror on top of it. It just showed her face. Her human face./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She stared at the reflection, too many thoughts to keep track of crossing her mind a second. Unconsciously, she reached out and touched her reflection. The moment her fingers touched the reflection, slightly chilled to the touch, she jumped in surprise./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What?" Her eyes widened, as did the reflections. She swallowed, a familiar yet completely alien sensation./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her door opened up, and she heard Jacob (dad?) speak. "Oh, you're up."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hello," she hesitated, not sure how to address him. "Hi," she said quietly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob walked over to her bed and sat down, "Look, I know you must have a lot of questions."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /br /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A piece of her wanted to scream every question, make demands for answers, another pushed for her to hyperventilate, panicked and confused as she was. It was only the centuries of controlling herself that prevented her from doing so and instead just nodded slowly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked away, "This isn't something easy to say, but…"/span/p
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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her first thought was that he would demand to know what she had down with his child, with Teresa. Asking, demanding to know, how she could take this body, put his child's life at risk like this like she unintentionally did to him all those years ago. She frowned, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'I'm sure it had been years, but why am I so sure?'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Look, the stuff about the protoss, every good thing? It was true, just…just not the whole story." He looked ashamed. "It's a complicated topic. A lot of people hate the protoss…they have reason to, but they're not all bad. I wanted you to know my experience with them, good, and when you got older, I'd share everything."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He kept rambling, but Zamara couldn't hear him, her thoughts moving a lightyear a second./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"What had happened? The last thing she remembered was sacrificing herself to stop Ulrezaj. No…the last thing she remembered was her head hurting as her…dad(?), no Jacob carrying her into that shuttle. The protoss attacking, how scared she was, the infested terrans, that last thought made her shudder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""-sa? Teresa, are you listening?" Jacob sounded concerned./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Huh? Oh, yes." Zamara nodded, still collecting herself./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob swallowed, "Look, I need to know. When the protoss showed up…did you feel anything? I mean, in your head? Any…pressure? Or did you hear something?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara shook her head, "No. Nothing."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It was only after she answered did she realize that she felt nothing, that even now, the familiar sense of psionics was lost to her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Look," he looked and sounded conflicted. "If…if you feel anything strange soon, just let me know. Me or your mom, please."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He bent down so they were looking at each other in the eyes, "I just want to keep you safe and happy, and this won't be easy, but please don't hesitate. If…if you want to talk about anything, just tell us, ok?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara stared into his eyes, feeling lost and worse than ever, like every second was another lie to a man she knew was good, "I…I promise."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She wouldn't let this continue. She would be honest with him, if that meant saving his child by killing her, she would accept that. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She had already died twice now. Ulrezaj was contained and she had no great mission to accomplish. She would not be selfish./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She would not lie and hurt those she cared for./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Great," he smiled. "So…you want some dinner? After today, you-"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No. No thank you." She shook her head, "I…I just want to rest now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He hesitated, "You've been asleep for awhile now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I…I think I need to…take everything in right now." She looked down, closing her eyes. "Please."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He nodded, "All right…but just for tonight. Can't skip any meals tomorrow, deal?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded, saying nothing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked pained, "Well…I love you, Teresa."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He reached out and pulled her in for a hug./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Almost instinctually, she reached out and hugged him back, "I love you too." The words were almost automatic, but no less true, during their time sharing his body, she had come to greatly care for him, and now, with the memories of being Teresa fresh and clear in her mind, it was impossible for her not to feel this./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They stayed like that for almost a minute./span/p
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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I think I want to sleep now," she said, and it was true, despite her body being unconscious for awhile, she was still tired./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He nodded, "All right, do you want a bed time story first?"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She shook her head, "No."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She knew he would tell her the same story he loved to tell her - Teresa - the same story she - Teresa - loved to hear. But tonight, she didn't think she could handle tales of how great she was, not when she felt like this for sure./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As she crawled into her bed and watched him leave, once again reiterating he loved her (/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Teresa. He wouldn't mean that if he knew.' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She thought), she allowed herself a small smile./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Somehow, she felt secure in the knowledge that so long as she was with him and R.M., things would work out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And it was with that thought, firm in her mind, that she once again drifted off to sleep./span/p
div id="chapters" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"
div id="chapter-1" class="chapter" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"
div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 1088.625px; float: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;" role="article"
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"strongNot too thrilled with the ending and some parts of this, but I've wanted to post this for awhile now and was getting tired of putting it off. So, may be some changes to this in the near future, but here you go! Please share any thoughts, always happy to hear from people! Flames will be used to bake cookies, critisism is welcome, but constructive cristisism only. And with that...bye! See you next chapter! /strong/p
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p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strongOh, and special thanks to some people! Fangtom, who convinced me to turn a joke into a story, PotatoNebula, who has been giving me good drawing tips, Glasses, who has been a good sounding board, J, who who listened to my ideas and thoughts, all of you readers reading this right now, you're awesome, and most of all, my best friend, who has been with me on every step of this and so much more - you are no longer with us, and I'm sorry you won't get to see this posted. Your memory is a blessing, and I will never forget the good and bad times. You were the only person I completely trusted. The one person I felt comfortable being completely open with and had no secrets from. I will miss you. /strong/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strongWith thanks out of the way, enjoy the story!/strong/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"-/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Founded by refugees seeking solace from the zerg onslaught on Terran worlds and denied safety from their own government, Haven has flourished from some random world near protoss space to an asylum for any seeking to survive without turning to crime./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob Jefferson Ramsey and Rosemary Dahl, a xenoarchaeologist and an assassin who have worked together for years, are two such people who came here fleeing from the Swarm, along with their young daughter Teresa Zamara Starke Dahl-Ramsey./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Taking a deep breath, Jake smiled as he looked around the still-growing city of Fjellhavn. Only a few weeks old, it was clear that this would be the major trading center on the planet, where their economy and life bled through to the rest of Haven. Most of the larger towns still had one of the shuttles that brought the original colonists to Haven, a few were dismantled and used to help build the foundation for Fjellhavn, but the rest were repurposed as transport shuttles to quickly move supplies from the towns to Fjellhavn in order to build the city more quickly./spanstrong id="docs-internal-guid-ea40815e-7fff-64d2-a257-56e0246e698e" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-weight: normal;"/strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'This is where so many people fleeing the zerg ended up,'/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" he mused silently. /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'And it's also making a name for itself for anyone who's pissed off the Dominion and needs a safe place.'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are we going to see mom soon?" An innocent voice asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake looked down at his four-year-old daughter holding his hand; the sight of her always made him feel better, and combined with his already good mood, he felt lighter than air. "Sorry Teresa, but she's talking to the new recruits. Wants to make sure they're good enough to keep us safe."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa pouted, "Okay." She dragged the word out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Chuckling, he ruffled her hair, "Hey, don't be like that. Just look around." He gestured with his free hand to the surrounding city, "This is our home now, and it's going to be great."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa looked around at the new bustling city before frowning, "Dad?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked down into her eyes, "Yes?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are…are the zerg going to come here too?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His heart broke a little and the air between them felt heavy for both of them from her question. Not even a generation ago, alien invaders coming to ravage their worlds would be something out of the horror genre. Now, it was simply another fact of life. Something to deny children like Teresa the bliss of a nightmare-free childhood the moment they see one of the vicious predators leave only destruction or use pure technological might that leaves nothing but ashes./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake's free hand clenched so hard his nails would leave an imprint on his palm for a few minutes, while the hand she was holding tightened reassuringly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Teresa," he kept his voice steady, careful not to become too emotional for her sake. "Whatever happens, I promise I will take care of you. I will keep you safe from the zerg or anything else that would hurt you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded without hesitation, smiling like the sun, "I know! You're the best dad in the sector!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They hugged each other, "Want to know a secret? You're the best kid in the sector," he whispered to her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know things are scary, and it's never easy to move to a new place. And well…you saw the zerg already." She shivered at the mention of the predator race. "But this is our home now, and we're going to be safe here."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She held onto him like she thought he hung the stars she saw on their way to this world./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And if you think of the Zerg and get scared, just think of your mom. She's a lot scarier than the Zerg anyway."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They both laughed, /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. narrowed her eyes behind the CMC's visor. She watched as her opponent treaded forward and unleashed a small stream of bullets into the A.R.E.S. warbot./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It moved a few feet closer to her, even with the kinetic force from the projectiles trying to push it back with each hit. The bullets pierced the metal shell and disabled the bot./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Before it even stopped moving, R.M. had already turned towards another one advancing on her. Taking cover beneath some debris, she unleashed another stream of bullets at it. Within moments, sparks were flying off of it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She turned to face her audience, "You see what I did?" She held up her gun, "Six enemies and I still have most of my magazine left. All of you," she gestured with her gauntleted arm, "need to work on your aim. Most of you managed to hit your targets, but you took a lot more shots than you needed." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She pointed at the damaged training bots. "Aiming. You have guns, great weapons. Hit the enemy before they get too close, because if a Protoss goes hand to hand with you? You've already lost. Might as well take your last few thoughts to say goodbye to your limbs." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The recruits looked at each other nervously. "As for the Zerg? If they get close to you, then you can probably forget about aiming. Zerglings and banelings like to come in groups, if they get close enough, you won't have much of a chance, so just /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"shoot." /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She gave them a pointed look, daring them to question such a simple instruction. "Understood?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her ears met with the resounding cries of "Ma'am, yes Ma'am!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She appraised them, pointing at one of them who appeared uninterested in her little show, "You. What's your name and preferred weapon?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyes widened, but his expression returned to a neutral one a moment later; taking a step forward, he answered, "My name is Jesse Holton, Ma'am. I want to become a firebat. Best way to kill them how I see it, ma'am."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Having gone through all the people's files before her, R.M. knew this and memorized their faces before meeting them. Knowledge is power, and the more she had over these people, the better she could train them as fighters and see if they could become more specialized or elite soldiers. She had heard how effective firebats were on Agria against the Zerg, and with so many people here that saw that fighting firsthand, several recruits may be interested in becoming firebats. And as functional as they are in CQC, overly relying on them en masse was a mistake she wouldn't allow anyone learning from her to make, even if she had to club them over the head with a broken flamethrower to do so./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nodding as if his name was new info, "Why are you here?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His eyes hardened, "The zerg took my home, Dominion said they'd blow up our ships if we got too close, and too many pirates to get anywhere else, Ma'am." The last word was added almost as an afterthought, having only remembered he was speaking to a superior./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nodding, R.M. continued, "Glad you said that. Now, all of you, for better or worse, this is our world now." She gestured out, first at the nearby forest and moving onwards towards the barracks and ending with the city. "We're pretty far from the Swarm, but we don't have anywhere near the defenses the Dominion has for their important worlds." There was some grumbling as memories of Dominion soldiers packing up as many weapons and ammo as they could before the Swarm arrived spread amongst the recruits. "Not going to lie here; just because we're far away doesn't mean we're safe. The zerg move fast, we're probably going to run into them sooner or later."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The recruits looked uncomfortable and did a poor job of hiding their fear thinking about her words, their recent experience with the zerg still haunting them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""BUT! But…this world is proof that we don't need the Dominion to survive. We've all survived the Zerg before when we were lost and scared. Now we have a government behind us! Weapons, armor, money, we've got it." Softly smiling, she spoke softly, but with no less power, "We have a chance."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She paused for a few seconds to let it sink in, "We have a chance, but that's it. If you're not ready to give everything you've got to learn how to fight? Then bye. Don't waste your time here. If you are ready to take a stand and defend this world? These people?" She grinned widely, "Then congratulations! You're in the right place! You're ready to learn how to live for others!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They clapped politely, morale properly raised. R.M.'s grin fell into a smirk; she hoisted her gun and was about to speak when another person spoke up from behind her, "Well said, Dahl. Well said." Another instructor, a man around R.M.'s age wearing an old and slightly torn UED officer's jacket hanging unbuttoned off his broad shoulders, named Tony Alodia smirked as he spoke up until he was standing next to her. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Now, you ready to try again?" He asked the recruits./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sir, yes, sir!" They answered together./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She watched as they marched back to the barracks to get back into their armor, reclaimed their rifles, ready to throw themselves back into training./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She took a deep breath, "God, I really hate giving speeches."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony smiled, "Well, I thought it was a good one."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"– A few hours later/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa was on her bed, staring out her window, entranced by the still-growing city connected to the forest, her breath fogging up the glass a little, absentmindedly drawing little symbols that popped into her mind on the condensed water./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sound of someone knocking on the door caught her attention, and she spun around as Jake opened it. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She grinned upon seeing who it was, "Hi, dad."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grinned back at her, "Hey, kiddo. Ready for bed?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh-huh," she nodded, "but can't I stay up until mom gets back?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Afraid I don't know when she'll be back, and we have a big day tomorrow. You want to explore the forest, right?" She nodded in agreement. "Well, if we're going to do that, we'll have to go out early. Which means you need to go to sleep soon. How about a bedtime story for now? Your mom might be back when we finish."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The child shrugged, "Okay." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa crawled under her blanket, and Jake took a seat on the bed; he smirked, "Hmm, what story should I tell you?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Small blue eyes widened and stared directly at him, "What about Zamara? Can you tell me about her?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake chuckled, "What? You want to hear a story about yourself? All right then. Well, one day Teresa Zamara Starke Dahl-Ramsey-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Dad!" Teresa shoved his arm playfully, laughing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Full-out laughing now, Jake needed a moment to calm down, "All right, all right. Hmm, would you rather hear about a protoss Preserver?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa grinned widely, nodding, "Yeah!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Ruffling her hair, he spoke, "Sounds like a plan. So, the story, a few years ago, before you were born, before I met your mom, I was digging on Gelgaris with some friends, looking for ancient artifacts. Some people were so impressed with our work there, they wanted me to look at a really important temple. To uncover ancient mysteries and discover new history. And do you know who came to get me?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Mom. And that's how you met her, right?" Teresa knew the answer to this, but it became part of how the story went; to ask these questions./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake smiled, gently running a hand over his forehead, "That's right, you're so smart." Teresa preened at his compliment, something Jake smiled at before he continued, "Your mom came and told me about this temple that every other person who looked at it, the best and the brightest, couldn't figure out."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So they had to do better." Teresa yawned, fighting off sleep to keep listening./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake chuckled, "Heh, that's right. They needed the best and they came to me. So I looked around the temple, saw beautiful things there. Things that I want to show you one day."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa's eyes closed briefly, picturing the temple in her head./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And I found a /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"riddle."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The small girl giggled at how he emphasized the last word, making Jake smile more, "No one could figure it out, not even your mom. The riddle was made by a protoss, and after I figured it out, your mom and I went deeper into the temple."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He leaned closer and quietly asked, "And do you know what we found?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Zamara! You found Zamara!" Teresa exclaimed excitedly, happy to be at this part./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake was grinning, "That's right!" He ruffled her hair, "We didn't know each other at the time, I had never seen a protoss before, and she'd never seen a terran up-close before. She looked into our minds, saw that we were good people, and asked us for help. Protoss are a psionic species, they can do so much with their minds, and she took her thoughts, her mind, everything that she was, and put it in me."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa's eyes were practically sparkling, "Protoss are so cool! So she found a way to keep living through you, right?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's right, and she told me some important stuff about a bad protoss named Ulrezaj."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Gripping her blanket tightly, Teresa held it close and whispered, "The vampire protoss."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake smirked, once a deadly threat, a cacophony of destructive power unto the world around him, now nothing more than the bad guy in a child's bedtime story./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's right, the vampire protoss. And Zamara was the only one who knew what he was going to do next, and because of that, he wanted her dead, so your mom and I took a ship and flew away. While searching for the protoss, we met something really dangerous."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The zerg," she whispered. "Dad, how did…how did you and mom stop them from infesting you?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake's good mood began to dim as he saw fear take its place on her face. "Teresa, all zerg are dangerous, yes. But not all zerg can infest people. I don't know exactly what will happen in the future, but I know this," he leaned over and hugged her, "as long as I'm here, I will do everything to keep you safe from the zerg. They will never get you, I promise."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa hugged him back, "Thanks, dad. I love you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So then we found it: Aiur. As terrible as they are, the zerg couldn't ruin that beautiful world. Not all of it. Most of the protoss left the world, but two groups stayed behind."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""The Tal'darim and Shel'na Kryhas," Teresa spoke with a smug look, proud to remember this, becoming even smugger as Jake looked at her with pride. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's right. The Shel'na Kryhas found us, gave us food and water, and we helped them expose Ulrezaj as a protoss vampire to the Tal'darim. He promised the Tal'darim that he would save them if they served him, but they weren't too happy when they found out their savior would eat them."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa nodded in understanding./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Then the zerg started to act weird, and out came a man commanding them. The strangest infested I've ever seen. He somehow kept his mind, but fell in love with the zerg."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You sure he wasn't crazy?" The thought of feeling anything positive for those predators confused her, no matter how often she heard this story./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake nodded, "I'm sure. He liked power and the zerg made him feel powerful."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's dumb," Teresa frowned./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Some people are dumb," Jake shrugged, "But not you. You're already so smart."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa hugged him, "Thanks dad."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He patted her head, looking down at her with pride until she was released, and looked up at him, silently asking him to continue the story./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So with Ulrezaj exposed and the zerg coming for us, we all ran towards the warp gate. Just imagine how scared we were when we saw the controls were damaged. If it wasn't for Zamara and your mom, that would have been it. They worked together to fix it and we all escaped while Ulrezaj and the zerg were fighting. And that's when things got weird. You see, Zamara took a wrong turn in the warp gate, so while the rest made it to Shakuras, we got stuck on some nameless planet."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa giggled, sure that somehow her dad was the one who got them stuck there./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. walked in, "Hey kid. Jake."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa sat up, moving to get out of bed to greet her mom, but was held down by Jake with a single hand. She glared at her dad for a moment, to which he responded with a lazy but amused smirk, after a few moments of this, in which R.M. walked over, Teresa lied back down against her headboard, "Hi mom. What's going on?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. smiled, "Finished meeting the last of the recruits I'm working with today. Got them started on basic training exercises and reviewed some files." Crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow, "And what's going on here?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa blinked a few times, forcing herself to stay awake, "Dad's telling me about Zamara."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. looked at them both fondly and chuckled, "Again? You really like that story, huh?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"While Teresa nodded happily, Jake blushed in embarrassment, "Well, yeah. It's a good story, right?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked at Teresa at the last word, wanting her to take his side, and she kept nodding to his relief./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""See?" He spoke to R.M., "She still loves this story."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. shook her head in amusement, "Of course she does, She doesn't want to hurt your feelings."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Giggling, Teresa shook her head, "Nope! Dad's just a really good storyteller."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lightly pushing Jake to the side, ignoring his slightly affronted grunt, R.M. bent down and asked, "Really?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Not really, but he does know some great stories," Teresa smiled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""HEY!" Jake only partially had to fake his offended expression./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The girls laughed at the look on his face./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry to interrupt this," R.M. began, "but I'm about to send a report to the boss. Wanted to know if you wanted to review it, you grammar nut."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake caught the hidden message, "Of course, right away." He stood up and started walking towards the door, "I'll finish the story tomorrow, ok?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Not wanting to go to sleep yet, Teresa spoke up, "Wait, but mom didn't tell me about her day."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Chuckling, R.M. replied, "You want to know about my day, huh?" Teresa nodded. "All right then, my day…I met with some new cadets, they're all wimps, so I have a lot of work ahead of me to get them ready for any fight."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa nodded sullenly, "All right."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Night, kid." R.M. gave her a one-armed hug./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Seeing her look so down, Jake started to walk back to keep going, but R.M. rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand before he could, and with a slight tug, he followed her out, flicking the lights off as he left./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa yawned before lying down, falling closer to sleep, imagining what it must have been like to be on that adventure in real life, somehow /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"knowing/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" that there were details he was leaving out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And as she slept, images of Aiur at its peak, before the Swarm descended upon it crept through her mind. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"emspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"–/span/em/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""She is such a good kid," Jake smiled contently./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh huh," R.M. nodded as she hit enter, sending the encrypted and coded message to their contact on Tyrador VIII that would later be sent to Valerian. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. stretched her arms, "Valerian should get that info soon enough, until we hear back from him, we can relax a bit more. Just go about our lives."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake rubbed his arm nervously, smile now gone, "No matter how often we've done this already, always makes me nervous."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"In a mix of exasperation and amusement R.M. answered, "Pretty sure our cover hasn't been blown yet if you're worried about that."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Working for Valerian has taken them across the Dominion, gathering information from intellectuals, the criminal underground, and various companies all to find those more likely to support Valerian should he need to expand his intelligence network or find a potential ally and those that would not be likely to work with his plans or would easily turn against him. He had sent them to Haven to start building a spy network here and to keep an eye out for potential political allies./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So, how was your day? She doing all right?" R.M. frowned, concerned that Teresa may be having trouble settling in here./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""She seems to be doing fine. And we have a lot of space between us and the Swarm, so Haven will probably have time to build some defenses before the zerg come around, and since we won't be bothering the Daelaam, the protoss shouldn't do anything. They've got more important matters to deal with."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, Jake," she looked at him, "Do you really think human luck is that good?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- The next day - 0600/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Two air traffic controllers were staring at the screen, normally there would be more people, but this was considered the graveyard shift, no ships were scheduled for a few hours, and so the bare minimum number of people were here./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Controller Lawson, a middle-aged woman with blond hair, frowned as she read a new message, "Damn. Hey, Bailey, you seeing this?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Controller Bailey nodded, "The ship that isn't responding to hails? Yeah. Looks like it was damaged, picking up some zerg residue on the ship. Clearly isn't infested though."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lawson rubbed her chin, "Yeah, but it's coming in fast."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Bailey shrugged, "Not too fast to destroy the ship, and look," he pulled up a map on his screen with a small area highlighted, "It looks like it'll crash here, away from everyone else. At least we don't have to worry about it killing any civvies."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Let's call this in, let the higher ups know where it'll land. They'll probably send some of our new recruits to deal with this. Give them an easy win and all that."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"0900/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Rage…rage and an unending torrent of hate directed at her. Directed at her…at the Daelaam…at those he left behind, and to everyone else. Contempt to all who wouldn't /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-couldn't- /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"understand his goals and to those that did and were still against him. And as the essence of her being was surrounded by this -by him- she couldn't help but wish there was another way./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Teresa, time to wake up." The small girl was ripped from her dreams by her dad shaking her shoulder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No," she whined. "Can I have five more minutes?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She groaned when Jake scooped her up, "Please?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake placed her feet first on the floor, and let her go to make her stand, "We've got a fun day planned, we're going to go hiking today, remember?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah," she rubbed her eye, "But can't that wait a little longer?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She had a wonderful and exciting dream; a golden city filled with tall people whose faces she couldn't make out, then everything changed. She was scared; she had something important to do and was so close to doing it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Nope," Jake shot her request down, "Sorry, but the group's not going to wait on us. The hike's starting in an hour, so hurry up now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa nodded before letting out another yawn, "Okay…" She walked off to her closet to get ready as Jake walked out of her room, her dream already fading from her mind. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Quickly getting ready, she walked out for breakfast with her parents. Twenty minutes later, Jake and Teresa were well-fed and prepared to leave./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Bye mom, have fun teaching those crybabies," Teresa smiled at R.M./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake ruffled her hair, "Hey, that's not very nice."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. set down her coffee, "He's right. Don't call them that." She smirked, "They're wimps."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake groaned while his daughter laughed. Looking at his lover, his voice tired, "Please don't teach her any bad habits."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Laughing, R.M. kissed him, "Never." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sighing overdramatically, Jake looked at Teresa, "Stay how you are, cute and innocent."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa giggled, smiled innocently, and shook her head, enjoying the sound of Jake's exaggerated sigh and R.M.'s laugh./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- Barracks - 0930/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Good morning, Dahl," Tony waved at her, beckoning her closer with coffee./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Tony," she nodded, grabbing the offered drink. "Anything happen yet?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yep," he nodded. "Some ship crashed around an hour ago, our rookies and some medics were sent out to test how they'll hold up taking orders."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. nodded, "Good. I'll set up a training course for them later. Wait, we have any warbots left for training?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony frowned in thought, "Think we have a few left we can use."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. smiled, "Good, I can have something set up for later after they've debriefed."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh!" Tony snapped his fingers, "Almost forgot, going to be some big celebration today. The big veggies the docs were working on are all good, the farmers are real happy about that."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. gave him a wry smile, "'Come to Haven, get the galaxy's best tomatoes,'" she snorted, "Let's see how long it takes for that to catch on."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1030/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strong style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse looked around the silent vehicle, out of the twenty people here, none were talking./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" He shuffled about uncomfortably in place, trying to think of something to break the silence and tension./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Urg, I'm not a social person, how do I start a conversation?' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He thought to himself./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So…" he began, slightly tensing up as all eyes went to him, "Think we'll find anyone alive there?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Immediately after speaking, he mentally kicked himself, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Out of everything I could have said, I said that?!'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well," someone else spoke up in a thick Southern drawl, "I sure hope so. 'therwise we came out here for nothin'."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Before anyone else could speak, or an awkward silence could descend over them, the A.P.C. shook, as if the driver decided to twist the wheel to mess with the rookies./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey!" Jesse yelled into the radio, "What's going on up there?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A moment later, he realized he probably shouldn't have spoken like that to the drivers, the people in charge of watching their progress, but before he could think of what to do, he got a response./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We're here," the driver spoke in a raspy, hoarse tone. "Get out. Now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The doors opened up and the ramp extended./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Friendly, ain't he?" The guy who responded to Jesse earlier grunted./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse nodded, making a mental note to get that guy's name later, and walked out with everyone else./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The recruits in marine armor and the veteran medics looked around in confusion and started talking amongst each other./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Isn't there supposed to be some downed ship here?" Jesse muttered, frowning in confusion./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse gasped in horror, if others did as well, he didn't hear it as a glob of…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"green…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"stuff flew out of the woods and splattered on the ground near some marines. It splattered once it hit the ground, hitting the people./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Can't…move…" One grunted out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hurts…so much…Arg!" Another yelled./spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /br /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jesse took a step back when tentacles burst out of one of them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then another./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And another until they were all infested and turned their guns on the rest of them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Some fired back, some froze up, but once the APC they came in started shooting at them, what little organization they had broke./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A creature moved into view from the front of the APC, it was a bulbous creature, carried on sturdy-looking legs with writhing tentacles coming from out of the creature's jaw. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It looked like something out of that ancient earth writer's horror books, Jesse thought to himself in that brief moment when his mind went calm from the panic before reality sank in./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He raised his gun, his shaking arms evident even with the power armor coating them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The screams of his fellow cadets filled the comms, and before he managed to pull the trigger, a green blob was shot out of the creature towards him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"After that, searing pain as metal and flesh merged into one and new flesh burst from him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The pain was the last thing his conscious mind processed before he stopped thinking. Yet his body, on the other hand, kept moving, shambling alongside the other infested marines towards a nearby town./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1345 - hiking trail/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Shit, shit, shit!' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake thought to himself over and over. Teresa was in his arms, clinging to him as he held her tightly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The other members of their group were panicking, some were screaming as they ran towards the nearest town. They were all panicked and were rushing back since the zerg alert went off./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake would never say this out loud, especially now, but he considered splitting off from this group. They were so loud, that if any zerg was nearby, they'd know exactly where to go and most smaller zerg would be able to sneak up completely undetected./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Shit!' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He screamed in his head, clutching the small child more, more determined than anything else to keep her safe./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His heart stopped for a moment, he heard something. It sounded like someone talking, but it was gargled, as if something was stuck in the speaker's throat./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Someone, Jake didn't know who, nor did he particularly care at that moment, shrieked as several infested terrans shambled out, the others started shrieking and screaming themselves. Trying to hide behind each other if not outright fleeing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Not that it would matter much, whatever they chose. The infested terran's claws could easily pierce through someone and hit whoever was hiding behind them and they had far more endurance and were faster when they ran than their uninfested counterparts./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake turned around, ready to try to run, to hide, and that saved him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An explosion erupted behind him, knocking him forward. A piece of his mind thought he could hear screaming, then he felt the ground meet him as he smashed into it, and a ringing sound filled his ears./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It took him a few seconds to regain his sense of hearing. Teresa's crying was the first thing his mind recognized, the second was the sound of something burning and something mechanical in the air./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He forced himself to turn around and look up, seeing a protoss scout ship moving away from them and the hole left behind from its ordinance that obliterated the infested./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He gulped as he saw a Mothership descending from above in the distance and took off towards the nearest town with Teresa crying in his arms, leaving the rest of the group behind./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1350/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M., in her CMC armor, gripped her gun, barely reacting when the A.P.C. bumped against some large rock or maybe a dead marine, R.M. absently thought./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony, in identical armor, looked over at her, "It's funny, just yesterday you were talking about us running into the zerg sooner or later. You jinx us or somethin'?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. snorted in amusement, "Yep, that's exactly what happened."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony chuckled, "In that case, when this is over, you buy me a drink and we'll call it even. Oh, and that means you're not allowed to die here, got it?"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /br /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Guess that means you're not allowed to die either," she responded./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The A.P.C. stopped and the doors slid open, the soldiers exited quickly and got into the bunkers defending the town, with orders to hold until Haven's goliaths could be sent out to reinforce them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"There was little left to say as they kept their eyes focused and waited for the zerg to show up, and thankfully for their nerves, they did not wait long./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Within minutes, a horde of zerglings and infested terrans came barreling down towards them, the sound of the Gauss rifles spitting out metal finding purchase in the charging zerglings and the infested. But for each one they killed, more were ready to keep charging forward./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then, as it looked like they were going to be overrun, a strike fighter dropped a napalm bomb in front of them, burning many zerglings and partially cooking nearby ones inside their carapaces. The nearby trees violently shook from the explosion, the ones closest burst into flames, igniting a few forest fires that would have to go ignored for the time being./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A few goliaths marched up to provide supporting firepower, their bullets tearing chunks of chitin, flesh, and metal from the infested marines from the attacking zerg./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony laughed, "Ha! Now this is getting fun!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. on the other hand kept a stoic tone, "Things don't typically go so well so quickly, get ready for some famous terran luck to screw us over in some way."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As if acting on her words, everyone winced as their radios were filled with static and the sky lit up with explosions followed up by a bright light slamming into the ground in zerg-controlled territory./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony laughed, "Damn! Looks like the 'toss are joining the fight!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His head moved to look at her, his face obscured by the visor, "You know them better than anyone here. They here to help us or burn us?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Another explosion erupted, it looked like it was close to where they knew a town was located, if not directly at the spot./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Burn us. Definitely burn us." She gripped her gun harder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa was still clinging to Jake with one hand, "Are we going to die?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her eyes were squeezed shut and a few tears had already escaped, with her other hand, she was grasping her head./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake shook his head, "No, no. We'll be fine. You'll see."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"No zerg attacked the small town, but there were times when vehicles drove by with firebat and marine escorts back towards Fjellhavn, and Jake had a suspicion they were taking research subjects back./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For what reason, he didn't care at the moment. His focus was on the girl in his arms./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, hey," he began in a comforting tone, "How are you holding up? How are you feeling?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hurts," she answered. "My head really hurts."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His heart skipped a beat at the answer, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Is she psionic?'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Teresa, just focus on me, can you do that?" His voice and tone was soft, and when she slowly nodded, he continued, "Can you open your eyes for me?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She slowly opened her eyes, her expression one of great pain on her face that tore at his heart./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Can you tell me when your head started to hurt?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""When…when the bright lights and the protoss came."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake gripped her harder in response, "I promise you we will make it through this, alive and well."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She buried her face into his chest, but he heard her say something that he couldn't quite make out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sirens went off again, and everything from phones to TVs in the town went off, repeating the same message, "A protoss terror fleet is heading towards Eski, head towards the colony shuttle."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sirens went off again, and everything from phones to TVs in the town went off, repeating the same message, "A protoss terror fleet is heading towards Eski, head towards the colony shuttle."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"People started rushing towards the shuttle, Jake shoved past a number of them, "Move, move! I have a child here!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"People were shoving each other aside, Jake's calls going unheard, the Marines were able to restore order enough to calm the people enough to stop them from shoving./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Zerg!" Someone screamed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Some looked back to see infested shambling up in large numbers, the marines moved to /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Please," Jake yelled, "I have a child! Save her! I don't care if you leave me behind, just save her!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Teresa let go of her head and his shirt, looking up at him with horror, "No!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It looked like she was about to scream, thankfully the marine guard nodded, "Children go first, you can go with her, sir."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thank you," there were tears in his eyes as he ran into the shuttle./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He quickly ran to the first two available seats and sat down./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You…you were going to send me away." He had never heard her sound so hurt before, so vulnerable. Even over the sounds of all the other crying children in the ship and their parents, her voice reached his ears like a knife./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm your dad, I will do anything to keep you safe," he responded./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He blinked, surprised she would yell at him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With tears threatening to pour from her eyes, she looked at him, "Don't die for me…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"please."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I…" Jake wasn't sure how to respond, was this normal from a kid? Christ, someone in this sector should write a book about how to handle kids in the middle of an alien attack./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I…"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Before he could answer, something hit the shuttle, making it jerk in place, Zamara gasped and pointed at the window, "Ships!"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She grabbed her head again, this time, Jake didn't pay her much mind, staring out the window in horror as protoss ships moved towards them. They barely slowed down to destroy the few flying zerg that remained after their initial assaults and bombardments./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He kept staring as the vikings met them in battle, barely taking it in as the protoss ships started to fall and the ship he was in filled up. When it took off, he calmed down enough and squeezed Teresa's shoulders as he kept staring out the window, waiting with dread for more protoss ships or zerg to show up./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"But Teresa did not notice him staring out the window, nor did she even notice his hand on her shoulder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For her mind was too far gone./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sight of zealots charging into the town, cleaving through civilians who were shoving and trampling each other for safety, marines and marauders doing a mix of shoving people aside and shooting at the protoss warriors. Firebats spraying a fiery death at the lightly armored zealots, only to be struck down by stalkers that would blink away when the marines turned their guns on them. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Temlaa…Khas…no…Savassan…Adun…/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The battle she witnessed for but a few seconds melted away from her mind/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The lives of so many protoss flashed before her eyes, she cried out in pain from the overwhelming information forcing itself into her head./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Explosions shook the ship, she forced her eyes open to see some flying terran mech getting closer, shooting off missiles./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She was able to notice that the ship was nearly full now, and a small piece of her mind wondered how long she was experiencing…/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"that./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As if the tangent thought was enough, she was forced back into seeing their lives, it happening too fast to take anything in, yet seeing it all the same./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The memories of the Preserver Zamara were stronger than the rest, more vibrant in comparison to the others, more real. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And she felt what she felt, her irritation towards Jake - her dad - and how it turned into respect and friendship over time, and sacrificing herself to save him at the end. Prepared to die./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'But I didn't die, did I?'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a cry of pain, her skull feeling like it was about to explode, she fell into unconsciousness, the last thing she heard was Jacob calling out, "Teresa!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1700 - Bedroom/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara's hand twitched as consciousness started to return to her, and the first thing she noticed was the all-encompassing migraine./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With a small groan, she raised her hand to her hand, and upon feeling the five fingers upon her crest, she jumped a little, opening her eyes before immediately closing them again from the pain./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'That's right, I'm sharing a body with a terran now…and it's causing headaches…killing him. Wait, no…I saved him. He should be fine now.'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She forced her eyes open, pushing through the pain it caused, and got out of her bed, trying to remember how she got here./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'What a strange dream. I dreamt I was Jacob Jefferson Ramsey and Rosemary Dahl's child. How strange. It felt so real.'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara noticed some similarities between this room and her room from her dream, and swallowed her growing anxiety and confusion. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Jacob," her eyes widened. That wasn't his voice, it was the voice she had in her dream as his child./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Avoiding where she somehow knew the mirrors were, not willing to face her reflection just yet, as she thought back to her dream and the memories of the dream felt as real as the memories of her life, as the more she thought on it, the more real it felt./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She opened her mouth, a familiar sensation, yet incredibly alien and strange to her at the same time. "What is going on?" She whispered to herself, heart pounding in her chest, and her migraine getting worse from thinking about what she was experiencing, still unable to will herself to make a conclusion from the pain./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Arg," she grasped her head, soft fingers caressing soft skin as she walked towards the door./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her hand, a small five-fingered hand, grasped the doorknob and pulled it open to see three people sitting at the kitchen table from her dream./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'It wasn't a dream, was it?' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The thought forced itself into her head and she was too overwhelmed to dismiss it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob, Rosemary, and someone else were here in front of her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, Teresa," Jacob smiled awkwardly at her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hey, kid," R.M.'s smile seemed more natural, but Zamara noticed the nervousness behind it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The unknown man waved at her, "Nice to meet you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Words failed Zamara yet her mouth opened and closed a few times./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And then the floor came up to meet her as she returned to an empty void. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"-/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake ran to pick her up as soon as Teresa fell down, "Teresa!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He checked her pulse, and it seemed normal, "I…I think she's all right. Must have just been overwhelmed and still in shock."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. knelt down next to him, giving Teresa a concerned look he's never seen her give anyone else, not even him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"In truth, he didn't know, but he wasn't about to take her to the hospital. If she was psionic, then Haven may try and take her for their first Ghost, and he would rather die than let her live as a weapon./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For now, he'd take care of her here, and if she was still fainting tomorrow, then they'd go to the hospital./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"But for now, she'd stay here. Safe from the zerg, the protoss, and even her fellow terrans if need be./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Is she all right?" Tony slowly walked closer to them./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I think so," Jake answered, scooping her up. "I'm just going to bring her back to her bed and put a cup of water by her bed. She'll probably need it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Anything I can do?" Tony asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake sent R.M. a look that she immediately understood, "You think you can try to find some new super food for us? Was excited to see how big they could get and didn't have a chance to get one today."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Tony raised an eyebrow, obviously recognizing that they wanted him to leave, "I get it, they've been advertising those things since they had the idea. I'll go see if anyplace is selling them."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"With that, he waved goodbye and walked out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake put Teresa back in her bed before R.M. asked, "So, what's the problem? You're the kind of person who'd want to take her to the hospital if she had a paper cut. What changed?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake sighed, "Her reaction to when the protoss showed up…she really reacted to them."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You have been telling her stories of heroic protoss her whole life," R.M. pointed out, "When they show up killing people makes sense she'd be shocked."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jake shook his head, "No, I mean she grabbed her head. She was in /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"pain."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" He choked on the last word. "I couldn't do anything, and…" He shook his head, "If she is psionic, I won't let her be a weapon. Not for Haven, not for the Dominion, not even for Valerian."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"R.M. nodded in approval, "If she is, we won't let her be anyone's weapon."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"- 1840/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara woke up again, her headache thankfully greatly diminished, but unfortunately not gone./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her throat felt dry and on her dresser, she saw a cup of water, she wasted no time in getting up and walking over to it. This time she looked into the mirror on top of it. It just showed her face. Her human face./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She stared at the reflection, too many thoughts to keep track of crossing her mind a second. Unconsciously, she reached out and touched her reflection. The moment her fingers touched the reflection, slightly chilled to the touch, she jumped in surprise./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What?" Her eyes widened, as did the reflections. She swallowed, a familiar yet completely alien sensation./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her door opened up, and she heard Jacob (dad?) speak. "Oh, you're up."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Hello," she hesitated, not sure how to address him. "Hi," she said quietly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob walked over to her bed and sat down, "Look, I know you must have a lot of questions."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /br /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A piece of her wanted to scream every question, make demands for answers, another pushed for her to hyperventilate, panicked and confused as she was. It was only the centuries of controlling herself that prevented her from doing so and instead just nodded slowly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked away, "This isn't something easy to say, but…"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her first thought was that he would demand to know what she had down with his child, with Teresa. Asking, demanding to know, how she could take this body, put his child's life at risk like this like she unintentionally did to him all those years ago. She frowned, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'I'm sure it had been years, but why am I so sure?'/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Look, the stuff about the protoss, every good thing? It was true, just…just not the whole story." He looked ashamed. "It's a complicated topic. A lot of people hate the protoss…they have reason to, but they're not all bad. I wanted you to know my experience with them, good, and when you got older, I'd share everything."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He kept rambling, but Zamara couldn't hear him, her thoughts moving a lightyear a second./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"What had happened? The last thing she remembered was sacrificing herself to stop Ulrezaj. No…the last thing she remembered was her head hurting as her…dad(?), no Jacob carrying her into that shuttle. The protoss attacking, how scared she was, the infested terrans, that last thought made her shudder./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""-sa? Teresa, are you listening?" Jacob sounded concerned./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Huh? Oh, yes." Zamara nodded, still collecting herself./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jacob swallowed, "Look, I need to know. When the protoss showed up…did you feel anything? I mean, in your head? Any…pressure? Or did you hear something?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara shook her head, "No. Nothing."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It was only after she answered did she realize that she felt nothing, that even now, the familiar sense of psionics was lost to her./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Look," he looked and sounded conflicted. "If…if you feel anything strange soon, just let me know. Me or your mom, please."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He bent down so they were looking at each other in the eyes, "I just want to keep you safe and happy, and this won't be easy, but please don't hesitate. If…if you want to talk about anything, just tell us, ok?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Zamara stared into his eyes, feeling lost and worse than ever, like every second was another lie to a man she knew was good, "I…I promise."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She wouldn't let this continue. She would be honest with him, if that meant saving his child by killing her, she would accept that. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She had already died twice now. Ulrezaj was contained and she had no great mission to accomplish. She would not be selfish./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She would not lie and hurt those she cared for./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Great," he smiled. "So…you want some dinner? After today, you-"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No. No thank you." She shook her head, "I…I just want to rest now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He hesitated, "You've been asleep for awhile now."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I…I think I need to…take everything in right now." She looked down, closing her eyes. "Please."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He nodded, "All right…but just for tonight. Can't skip any meals tomorrow, deal?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She nodded, saying nothing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He looked pained, "Well…I love you, Teresa."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He reached out and pulled her in for a hug./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Almost instinctually, she reached out and hugged him back, "I love you too." The words were almost automatic, but no less true, during their time sharing his body, she had come to greatly care for him, and now, with the memories of being Teresa fresh and clear in her mind, it was impossible for her not to feel this./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They stayed like that for almost a minute./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I think I want to sleep now," she said, and it was true, despite her body being unconscious for awhile, she was still tired./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He nodded, "All right, do you want a bed time story first?"/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She shook her head, "No."/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She knew he would tell her the same story he loved to tell her - Teresa - the same story she - Teresa - loved to hear. But tonight, she didn't think she could handle tales of how great she was, not when she felt like this for sure./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As she crawled into her bed and watched him leave, once again reiterating he loved her (/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"'Teresa. He wouldn't mean that if he knew.' /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She thought), she allowed herself a small smile./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Somehow, she felt secure in the knowledge that so long as she was with him and R.M., things would work out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And it was with that thought, firm in her mind, that she once again drifted off to sleep./span/p
div id="chapters" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"
div id="chapter-1" class="chapter" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"
div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 1088.625px; float: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;" role="article"
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"strongNot too thrilled with the ending and some parts of this, but I've wanted to post this for awhile now and was getting tired of putting it off. So, may be some changes to this in the near future, but here you go! Please share any thoughts, always happy to hear from people! Flames will be used to bake cookies, critisism is welcome, but constructive cristisism only. And with that...bye! See you next chapter! /strong/p
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