Episode 17- Let's skip a bit.
A dropship landed, and the remaining soldiers from the surface walked down the ramp, and vanished deeper in the corridors of the Hyperion. Some siege tanks rolled to their destinations, and the gholiats pilots were already leaving their machines.
Wraith were docking on their higher positions, and dropships were stationed in columns, in the middle of the hangar.
The tumult raised by so many engines working, and people walking & talking, were honey for someone's ears.
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One unique ship, or rather boat, was sitting calmly in a corner, not far from vultures, which were organized and left first among all the equipment. The starship was balanced by four small legs, its sail changed into a tent, put up by the captain and the only passenger of this vehicle. Inside the tent was enough space to sleep, and to sit upon a crate housing one of the captains battle mounts.
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"Soon the zerg will be running for the hills, son. I think your merry band of misfits would be happy to join their commander once again." The mayor on the screen was smiling, left in high spirits science the compilation of the salvation project.
"I don't want them to come, things are slowly turning from bad to worse in our little rebellion." Dobromir's words dispelled the smile from his fathers face.
"What do you mean, son?"
"First, the recruitment of the Confederate general Edmund Duke, and now using the psi emitter to bring the zerg in on the Confederates that tried to blockade us."
"Wait, what? Bring the zerg in?"
"So, it turns out the schematics we recovered from the place on Mar Sara were for Psi emitter, turns out there was much more about zerg, but it is the only thing we took. The emitter amplifier the ghost presence-"
"The what?"
"Basically, a loudspeaker for ghosts, and the zerg swarm rushes over to any human psionics they notice. Perfect bait, which is super effective."
His father looked troubled, "I need to relay that info to your mom." He was going to end the call when,
"Wait, one last thing".
"Hmm?"
"I fear our glorious leader will use it again, so it's better for our colony to stay in the shadows, and remain unnoticed. Focus more on mothers research, it could be our only salvation".
The Mayor looked one last time and said "May the spirit of Po'midorian's be with you".
"I already know." It was the answer directed at the Mayor, who was catching his breath and sweating profusely.
"But how?" The lights in the laboratory were half lit, miss leading scientist was experiencing a very rare break, waiting for the results. Most of the equipment was put away, only the main computer still lit and waiting.
"Stetmann".
"One of the orphans? What does he have to do with it?"
"He's the one who convinced some scientist from that facility our son rided? He was one of the researchers you know."
"Really? ehh… with all those colonists and increasing zerg activity I just… didn't notice."
"With my small help they finished the zerg repeller, now they are going to their final destination to activate it".
"Don't we need a ghost for that?"
She shook her head saying "no no, we need a psionic, more than that we need a negative one".
"Eeee…"
She didn't marry this man for his academic smarts, but his social and leadership skills, so explaining most of the things she was, is and will be working on wasn't anything new. She even liked it, to some degree, there is no better ego bust than understanding something hard to get.
"The psi emitter is basically a lighthouse, showing the way for ships. What we need is the opposite, something that repels the intruders, and on a much lesser scale. But it's still an emitter, so we need just the right discouragement."
"That being… ?"
"The Three Crones".
"Them?! It…! Make sense, I guess".
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"What about you? Any progress on the zerg?" It was the right question, because it was more of her area of expertise.
"Combining the essence of zerg with other lifeforms is pointless. The zerg part takes over sooner or later, leaving only a killing machine. Non-living things, on the other hand, create a good or nearly perfect symbiosis. With me being the expert of the mechanics and Ariel the expert of everything biological, we will find a way to upgrade our equipment. The easiest one would be self repairing, as regeneration is one of the zerg's most prominent features."
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"What about your original projects? Did you have any time at all for them?"
"What a question, of course. Big wolves and bears are ready to join in as mounts and dependable companions. It was a little easier with the new understanding of zerg, but not by much."
"And what about…" The two parents submerged themselves in conversation, happy for the moment of respite.
Night was setting over the planet of Po'midor, the shadows growing longer, and the sporadic explosions in the sky even brighter. Zerg were especially feisty that evening, so as the growing colony forces engaged the enemy in the sky and on the fields, a lot of the inhabitants were standing guard, looking for any strays.
Practically every granny and grandpa were sitting vigilant, their age making the sleep an eventuality, not a daily requirement.
Some young people were patrolling the streets and the outskirts, others were standing on rooftops, shooting occasional mutalisks flying by. Normally it would be worrying, but thought the last week aerial assaults were intensifying, and it was often that some bug would bypass the colony forces, only to become target practice.
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Among the whole city there was one force that every zerg had to beware. The grannies and grandpas were lurking everywhere, on balconies, on benches, and some who were unable to walk were slowly driving their small vehicles. What was truly terrifying was that the flying targets were shooted out of the sky by the elderly with big ass sniper rifles, ranging from physical to energetic weapons. The small groups of zerglings that tried to rush in were quickly roasted by the flamethrowers mounted on the small vehicles, and the rare drop pods that hit the ground were instantly met with grenades of all shapes, sizes, colors and range of explosion.
If any bugger survived that, they were met first with the pistols from purses and pockets, and later with standard rifles, which were last to arrive on the scene of battle.
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The planet of Po'midor had a long standing tradition of honings one's combat skills, in light of them living on the fringes of civilization. Even if the aliens weren't expected, they were met with the same treatment as occasional pirates or some other scum. Even with the influx of other colonists, the need to know how to fight prevailed, and in the town remained mostly the refugees who were trained from day one, upon their arrival.
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Po'midor will take care of itself, better than any other colony in the whole Koprulu sector. And soon, the threat will be banished permanently, all thanks to a certain team of newbie scientists.
"The night is full of zerg, and something even more sinister, lurking in the shadows, watching, waiting."
"S-t-t-oo-pp, saa-ying those thi-i-ngs" Replied one of the researchers, shaking like a leaf in the wind.
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Their leader turned around, his helmet in the shape of a tower glinting in the moonlight. The rest of his armor was obscured by the tabard and the cloak he was wearing. The whole image of a medieval knight was ruined by the shotgun he was carrying in his hands.
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"What?" Asked Stetmann, "It's the truth. Some stray zerg wander around in the forests, and when they grow too large, we send someone to do a spring cleaning. Lucky for us, this forest is special".
"In what way?" asked one of his teammates.
"You'll see, Darius'z, you'll see".
The man in question just huffed, and returned to warily watching his surroundings, expecting something to jump out of the bushes. He was standing on the front left of the device, which was strapped down to the carriage, being pulled by one bear.
The animal in question was accepted into the fold along with the rest of his brethren, meaning genetic tempering to make them just better.
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Stetmann was walking at the front, followed by the carriage with the six scientists surrounding it, and a certain one raider on the back.
The group needed some negative psi to get rid of the zerg, and the natives (with Stetmann among them) know who to turn to. They were deeper in the forest they were currently walking in.
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From the back of the group sounded *thunk*, followed by "Boom headshot!" from their bombastic protector. It wasn't the first time it happened, and certainly wouldn't be the last. Some of them looked behind and saw a hydralisk impaled with a massive crossbow bolt, right through the head, dangling upon a tree.
This was certainly a very good moment for their machine to work their magic, as the number on the planet keep increasing. Even with the frequent purgings, the leftover zerg would overwhelm the planet, later than sooner.
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"I found something… weird!" One of the female scientists shouted, and soon the rest gathered around, excluding Bill, who remained on watch.
"It's dead zergling but killed by… roots?"
"It's the will of the forest, which is getting rid of unwelcome guests." Replied Stetmann.
"What do you mean will? Forests don't have minds, or souls for that matter."
"Ooooh this one has, and for some time now. We should consider ourselves lucky for not counting as Enemies".
The rest of his squad looked at him with doubt, and returned to their positions, walking deeper into the forest.
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They didn't believe Stetmanns words, that is until they met another rooted to death zerg, and another and another. Soon, they stopped meeting living ones altogether, and found only corpses. After maybe an hour of walking in silence, they found themself on a forest clearing, which was littered with zerg corpses. Those ones weren't attacked by the roots but by something else. Most were smashed, pierced or slashed to death, and among the options only animals seemed the likely culprit. But how did they unite against a common enemy?
A lot more cautious now, the group made their way even deeper in, finally finding another clearing. But, this one was occupied by a wooden house, which had seen its own shares of years, leaving it weathered and overgrown. One side seemed to be ready to topple over, stopped only by the branches of a nearby tree.
The group stopped, and Stetmann soon shouted "Brewess, Weavess, Whispess we have an urgent matter to discuss!" They waited a minute, but they were met only with silence.
"Eeee, they don't seem to be there."
"Don't worry Rini, the forest will carry the message."
"Right…" She was skeptical, but not as much after seeing all those "acts" of forest.
They waited for a while, when they started hearing it, the thudding of something big moving through the forest. Then another sound, a powerful wing beats from air, and finally, a minimal earthquake started shaking the ground.
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THEY arrived. A giant beast burst out of the forest, big as four bears combined, with front paws/legs much bigger than rear ones. It had completely black fur, antlers at the head, and it was dragging a sleigh.
The next one was a flying beast, with antlered bird head and bird front half, and horse rear end. It landed without damaging the ground, the raider on it's back obscured for now.
The third was a giant mole-bear, which burst out of the ground, some small figure following from behind.
The sky was dark, sometimes lit by the fight high in the skies, but the moon was shining especially brightly in this specific place. The three figures left their respective mounts, and gave the group a chance to finally see someone behind the awesome entrance. The three revealed themselves to be… Three young girls, who couldn't be older than ten. All of them looked the same, as in brown hair, unblemished faces, and pink eyes, which were glowing in the dark, and released some mist, slowly wafting in the air.
"You know we don't like being called that, big brother. Use our real names."
The three gathered together, showing that the only difference was their size.
"Okay sorry, let me re-introduce these three. Its' Ixie-" He showed the middle girl, who was also middle in size, "Pixie-" The shortest kid, "and Dixie" She was the biggest, which wasn't saying much.
Stetmann ignored the gobsmacked expression of his comrades, probably because of the animals straight from fantasy, and continued "We need you to throw out the zerg from our home. Can I count on you three?"
The trio, wearing only clothes made from vines and leaves, looked at each other, then nodded and looked at Stetmann .
"Okay, so this is Psi Emitter, you need to…"
"Executor Tassadar, I have another report from THAT colony".
He received an acknowledging nod, and continued.
"Those terrans have deployed some weird contraption, it's sending some disrupting Psionic pulses. The zerg which were attacking that planet all runned of, as quickly as they could."
Tassadars eyes shined brighter with interest, and he said "Elaborate, disrupting in what way?"
"It feels, smothering, disgusting, like a Decay witch slowly seeping in, and claiming all life".
The executor fell into deep thought for a while. He finally refocused and replied "It's a mystery for another time, it seems we won't have to worry about that system for now".