Episode 16- Ascending towards a higher level.
"You did well. The nearest confederacy outpost is no more, and the Antigians now fully joined our forces."
The group met again, richer by one person. Magistrate was exhausted, keeping attention to all happenings in base would do that to the man. Raynor was mostly used to the rigors of war, so he mostly ignored the slight tiredness. And the duo with freaky psionic powers showed indifference with shooting flies out of the sky for two days straight.
"That said, not long ago we received this".
The call for help from the destroyed Norad II followed, spoken by Duke himself. In short, zerg swatted from the sky, and now they are surrounded from all sides by them.
"This bastard deserves his fate." Those words belonged to Raynor, and the Magistrate nodded, adding his silent agreement. The other two were rather indifferent, at last to the crash landed fate.
"The zerg are already here?" It was said by Dobromir, "They sure work fast, and so should we. I don't want to have another Mar Sara situation here".
Arcturus looked at his commanders and specialists, and asked "Does anyone have anything against it? Or has a better idea?".
"Can't we fight against them? With some-" "It's too late already" Kerrigan was cut off by the only rider in the entire fleet.
"Zerg are like plague, if you don't exterminate them when they show up, the losses will be massive. And even if we were to try, it would take too much time and effort, and considering Confederacy would love to catch us, it's not an option."
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"So evacuation it is. During this time, I want you to rescue our Duke".
Raynor didn't take very well to Mengsks words, and standing up shouted "You want us to help that confederate scum?! Why do you think this is any kind of good idea?!"
He was met with stoic calmness, "Because Duke is an accomplished general, and a part of his escadre will follow after him. Additionally, he won't refuse our offer considering his… circumstances."
"Okay seeing you so set up on this, I will take this matter into my hands. Jimmy, you should stay here with the Magistrate, rest a little, get our allies away from this soon to be hotpot." Dobromir started walking out, and gestured with his hand to follow, saying "Come Sarah, we got a job to do".
She hesitated, but looking at Arcturus and seeing no reason to refuse, she followed.
"First order of business, you will be helping me with repealing the zerg. You have the necessary experience, after all."
Maria, not Curie, was standing before the, well, mostly rookies. It seems only younger members of the Research team were willing to follow their, in most cases, classmate. They couldn't have much experience, but it's easier to earn the loyalty of individuals who haven't decayed yet.
"And… how much time do we have?" One of the members of the group asked, clearly not very sure of the overall situation.
"Two months. Our defenders are beginning to be stretched thin, and much sooner than we would like. Soon the Zerg could not so much defeat our warriors, as bypass them and wreak havoc inside the city."
The lead scientist of Po'midor, and one of the best in all Koprulu Sector (when it comes to Terrans, at last), made one hell of an impression. It wasn't her general look, which honestly amounted to disheveled. With hair braided to be less of a hassle, massive bags under her eyes, and a figure that spoke of many hours hunched over some experiment. Even with all that, the stare was imparting upon them EXPECTATIONS, which has to be fulfilled. Finally, she looked at the recruiter, as it were. "Nephew, you will lead the group you gathered, and guide them however you seem fit. Now, Matylda will lead you towards your temporary living quarters, you should be very familiar with them." With that she dismissed them with a wave of her hand, and returned to her research, ignoring the outside world.
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One of the group wanted to ask a question when "Come along, dearies" was heard, they turned around, surprised, to see a granny who was silently standing behind them to this very moment. And she started to walk outside, soon followed by Stetmann and the rest. Soon, they were following the granny on her boar driven chariot.
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"Stetmann, my boy, you have grown from the last time I have seen you! Is it a beard I see?"
"A few years would do that to a teenager, granny. But how is it with you?"
"Ah, you know me dearie, blunderbuss is always ready, especially with all those pests bothering us". For emphasis she showed them her impressive weapon, it was much bigger than standard one, and the mouth was actually wider than any human head.
"Has it really become so bad?"
"We were dealing with them just fine, but after the explosion of Chau Sara, they began appearing much more frequently. Fortunately, our colonel's senior's club always was gun focused. There is no week without shooting range, and lately we began teaching the newcomers. You should see their faces when some adults, in their prime toppled over, trying to use my gun! And I just stood there, shooting one target after another effortlessly! And when we first arrived? Can you imagine their faces when the squad of Seniors showed up with their big ass weapons?!"
Considering stetmann know the club members personally, he could imagine it very easily
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*Imagination*
A lot of people were standing loosely in a group on an empty grass field, close to the edge of the forest, waiting for their instructors to arrive. They were probably volunteers, willing to fight against alien menace. But because all the defenders of this planet were busy, they were told that some old veterans would train them.
And it seems they have started to arrive. First was an older man, wiry and with completely grayed out hair, riding on bicycle, with normal clothing and two big pistolets resting in holsters on his chest.
Second man to arrive was even older, with much less hair, but a great bushy beard. He arrived on some re-colored vulture, rifle C-10 in hands.
The third to appear was an older woman, with hair in the process of graying. She was sitting behind the handlebars of a bulky terrain conqueror, a rifle half the size of marine ones (still much bigger than usual) on her back.
The fourth and last was Matilda herself, oldest of the group, sitting in her boar driven chariot, her overgrown trumpet resting in her hands.
The faces of the volunteers ranged from shock to just totally gobsmacked.
*End of imagination*
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"Did you really arrive in a full apocalypse squad? I mean your team is THE most legendary, at least in this part of the terran territories."
"Oh, yes. And when we started to show them the ropes!" She started cackling madly, her boar accompanying with some sound of his own. "Anyway" she composed herself, "We are here, I think you know the place."
Stetmann wasn't paying attention for some time, but now he looked upon the massive building, which was very big, both vertically and horizontally. It would be one big square if not for the sloping roof. Additionally, there was a massive yard all around the massive building, with a path leading to the entrance adorned with many trees. The entrance itself was a big gate/doors, with a smaller entrance embedded in one of them.
"The House of the Root? I didn't think I would have the chance to sleep inside ever again. Why here?"
"Because of the influx of the colonists of course. Now my job is done, the rest rests on you my boy". With that she turned her carriage around and soon vanished behind the corner.
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Stetmann started slowly walking forward, memories just lurking behind every corner. The rest followed not far behind. Finally, when they were almost at the entrance, one of his team finally felt the courage to ask, "What is the House of the Root?"
The faint screams of jubilant children were heard from the backyard as they drew near.
Their freshly minted leader turned around just before the door and answered "The House of the Root is-"
"Home" He stiffened hearing the new, very familiar voice. "Home for those who don't have anything, and anyone". Two hands rested on his shoulders, the voice now speaking from just above his head. "Some are here for the first time, while the others return, at last. Welcome home little mann". Stetmann was hugged from behind, his head resting between two mountains.
Their group arrived, consisting of Kerrigan and Dobromir on his spaceboat, a few dropships, mostly empty, and some wraiths for escort. The remaining forces in a nearby outpost joined them, leaving the heavily damaged buildings behind.
The duo didn't bring many forces to begin with, and the survivors contributed mostly dropships and a few soldiers. Playing a base defense would be pointless.
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"And what now, oh wise leader?" Asked Sarah. They were standing close to the cliff face, on top of which they knew were numerous zerg structures just waiting to use their deadly spit on any flying ships.
"We fly up, the two of us, and clear space for the rest of the troops. Rather simple, really".
"And how will we avoid being shooted right out of the sky?"
"You'll see". He activated the comms, and started relying the orders. "All the dropships with the troops inside, get as close to the cliff as you can, and as high as you can, without being endangered by the shooting zerg. The rest, wait halfway up for the all clear." With that, he returned to his boat's steering wheel & levers, and not long after, the powerful rotors roared to life lifting them perfectly vertically. All the dropships and wraiths fared worse, because even if they could hover roughly in place, their chemical engines didn't permit them for perfect lift up, creating the need for them to go with the nose towards the sky.
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Dobromir stopped with the mast and sail little below the ledge. "You climb the mast, and shoot anything that is too close. I will scale the rock and charge soon after."
Taking her position, half crouched, she saw some zerg, loosely around the fleshy structures. Seems they weren't expecting land forces from that side, chance the low numbers. Soon the zerg started dropping like flies, the two hydralisks getting shot first, and zerglings were picked one by another, looking and not finding their culprit.
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She sensed movement to her left, and witnessed as the raider stood on stirrups of his saddled mechanical panther. Soon they went over the ledge and instantly charged in the direction of the nearest fleshy structure. Good thing they did, as some tentacle with a giant spike at the end burst out of the ground, not far from where they were moments ago.
Dobromir charged past one of the upward jutting structures, and threw an explosive, which first exploded ripping the thing mostly apart, and then left some burning napalm which burned the rest.
His next target was some weird hole, with tentacles gripping the edges, and one big fleshy appendage which inserted itself into the ground. Fortunately his mechanical panther was too fast for the pit, which soon was fed the fat payload.
Leaving two other smoking piles of meat, Dobromir returned towards the ledge and said to Kerrigan, "it's clear enough, I suppose." Switching his comms, he said "You can unload the soldiers, but I want only two dropships at the time, to avoid the risk".
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Soon after, they set to work. Kerrigan would begin with shooting hydralisks, the group of marines would mow down the baited zerglings, and after that Dobromir would rush over to deal with any underground colonies to avoid any casualties among his slower comrades.
After clearing about half of the defenses, the Rider decided that it was enough, and ordered his troops back to the dropship. He himself went back to his boat, returning soon after and picking Kerrigan up. Next, he went for their mission objective.
Some of the defenders saw some explosions among the cliffs, but they still received unwelcome visitors from time to time, so they didn't have the time to think about it. Until now, that is.
"General, something is flying towards us!"
"Another zerg fliers?"
"No, it's terran, or at least I think it is".
"Give me that" said Edmund duke, taking binoculars from his subordinate, and looking in the showed direction".
It was a boat. A very old style, earthen boat. Even the leisure water crafts used by tourists on some planets had a more modern look than this one.
It was made from wood, not plastic, and could fit maybe eight people, plus steerman.
Only things out of ordinary were the motors jutting from its sides, keeping it aloft and pushing it forward. There is also not forgetting the sail, which was all golden with hexagonal shapes and was just gleaming in the sunlight.
He just made a very bewildered face, and waited for it to land. Even weirder was the robotic panther, perched at the prow of the boat, watching them and swishing its tail.
Just as it was landing, he suddenly remembered something about that one specific colony.
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Author's not ice it"
As you can see, I made all my chapters more readable. The space just isn't working, even in the FanFiction site editor, and I am too lazy to look for hours for solutions, so I will be using . for now.