Episode 45- Just moving along, nothing special.
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'RATATATAAATA!' 'Bam, bam, bam!' Bullets rained down the corridor, impacting the wall at the end of the intersection, or going through it. Inside the contrould room the remaining crew were firing with their pistols, and two had enough time to put one marine armor.
Hidden behind a corner, Jaruga winced from time to time, as ricochets bounced off of her scales. Thankfully, the ammunition lost enough impact, and stopped making holes in her clothing. Miko was left further down the corridor, because fur and big size didn't stand a chance.
Unfortunately, someone sounded the alarm when the cleaning out of smaller groups was almost complete. And now, she had to face this, and… "BOSS! Something is shooting rockets at our ship! It's probably a Wraith, but I have no way to see it! I need help, ASAP!" Some distant explosion was heard in the background, and the yelp of the pilot, followed by the end of communication.
"Damn, now what? Smoke grenade wouldn't help at all, my scales aren't that resistant, same as my shield. What did I take with me…" She quickly started checking the myriad of grenades amassed in her bandolier. "Explosion? No, I need this thing operable. Flames? Wouldn't do much. Sleeping gas? Won't work on marines… Flashbang? Those corridors are so tight, I would be affected as well… Acid? no. Flash Freeze? No." Finally, at the end of her options, a perfect candidate appeared. "What do we have here… Aha, perfect."
Quickly setting the grenade, she extended a hand very close to the ground and threw it. The cylindrical object rolled over, stopping just by one of the crew members. He quickly tried to grab it and throw it away, but just as he raised it up, the grenade activated.
'Glooorp!' Jaruga quickly rushed forward, and started shooting her sleeping darts into everyone's necks. With the ones in armor just the additional step of breaking the glass covering the face sufficed. Everything was covered by thich, green and vicious slime, with the small exception of little space just behind the consoles. Every crew member was plastered to the wall, higher or lower, and incapable of moving.
Now, to help her chaperone.
Dealing with the first generator was easy, only two bunkers with marines and firebats stood in their way. Thanks to Dobromir's untrackable boat, the generator was destroyed first, and then the Dark Templars dealt with the rest.
The second generator was guarded by three Wrights, which didn't stand a chance against scouts thrice their number. Here, Dobromir made a low sweep, and almost touched the ground with the keel. The turrets fired only two volleys, before their power supply was destroyed.
Third would be much harder, if not for Dobromir again, dealing with the mass of turrets. And the fourth one? Well, Goliaths weren't automated, so the operators somewhat clumsily tried to shoot the wooden ship down, though without the aiming systems only a few rockets connected. Then a quick drop, and the squad of Zealots & Dark Templars quickly slashed those two legged mechs, and the surrounding Siege Tanks, which didn't have the chance to go back to tank mode before being slashed open and destroyed.
Now, for the last one…
'Boom!' Even if it unhearable, the shock that passed over the whole boat, and Mina's imagination running wild was very real. It was the second time that her vessel took a direct hit, but it seemed that only the big shield was fragile.
The boat seemed to just shrug off the direct hits of the rockets, and the laser was less than useless. But even if her ship was sturdier than it looked, she still won't risk any damage, especially to the solar sails, which looked rather like an easy target. That's why, the moment she saw another pair of missiles flying in their direction, Mina quickly maneuvered her vessel to tank it with the keel. Playing a game of cat and mouse was really playing on her nerves, especially when she didn't even know where the cat was attacking from.
Communication was quickly opened again. "Boss lady, I don't know how this pile of wood will hold up! Any kind of help would be helpful, really!" Another laser, this one impacted the small shield keeping her safe. At last it was too weak to break it.
"Yes, yes, don't hurry me. I need to find the right console, and the right button. Now, where I was… Aha! I see you, and this little bugger. Hmmm… Hmmm… AHA!"
A big, translucent bubble surrounded the small boat, with streams of power running along it. The next pair of rockets met with the shield, and exploded, sending a small shard of metal embedding it into the planks. Mina could breathe easy again.
"Now, is this it…?" A green beam shot from the underside of the Science Vessel, meeting nothingness and dissipating not long after. "No… AHA! It's this one! Mina, EMP in 3… 2… 1… grab a gun!"
Terran machines were rather commonly isolated, so any surges of electricity wouldn't ruin their precious electronics. But, the energy that the Wraiths and Ghosts used was very easy to instantly deplete, revealing them in the process. Quickly grabbing her trusty laser musket and cranking it six times, she aimed at the freshly revealed Wraith and fired. 'THWOOOM' One of its three wings disappeared in the cosmos.
Quickly grabbing six energy cartridges, Mina reloaded her weapon, cranked it and fired again. Another repeat, and the Wraith was practically a shell of its former self, what with the thrusters entirely missing. But, the pilot's cabin remained untouched.
"Good, now come for me. The big shield should reappear any second now. We'll deal with this annoying munchkin together."
One unassuming little fighter, and two masked Wraiths. Taking into account the myriad of observers deployed before the first assault began, their attempts at subterfuge were useless.
Dobromir waited at a safe distance, and watched as the five normal Scouts plus Artanis on his own flew towards this minor blockade. The little ship was a great unknown to Dobromir, who knew more or less about all his potential enemies. So, the first introduction of the little ship will be done by the UED expeditionary force.
What came next was… unexpected, to say at last. The little ship fired a cluster of rockets, which exploded in a wide area, impacting the shields of every single one of the protoss attackers. The scout pilots tried to fire their own missiles, but the little ship had a fire rate so high, that it practically created a wall of explosions, obscuring everything from sight.
In the end, in fear of losing their own ships, Protoss receded, having fired blindly only one time. One of the missiles did hit the little ship, but it remained unfazed. "Anti air, anti cluster, high fire rate, good damage and armor is leagues above the paper thin one of Wraiths. Add the small size, and you have a force to be reckoned with."
"So? Any ideas?" Dobromir looked at his sibling, who unconcerned levitated beside him, still in the cross legged position. Then at his protoss passengers, who… well… looked. Their facial features didn't reveal much, but they looked a little… peeved? Their eyes glowed a little brighter at last, but it was hard to tell with those guys. He looked again at the little ship. "Information from home is hard to get by… but we all know the weakness of big, cumbersome things. Let's treat it like something between a Siege Tank and Battlecruiser, but it can shoot only forward…"
A little bit of information passed between the ship captain and Artanis with his troop. Another try, this time with the boat at front, and Scouts as escorts. When his vessel was close enough, Dobromir left the helm in the hands of his sibling, and quickly runned up to the prow of his ship. Feet planted firmly into the ground, one leg extended a little forward for added balance. Extending both of his hands forward, and closing his eyes Dobromir concentrated.
Just as the Little Ship fired its first cluster of rockets, an invisible force started to slowly spin it away. The pilot inside was quick enough to pause the stream of rockets before they could impact one of her allies. But, it soon became meaningless as the two Wrights were destroyed by the barrage of the Protoss antimatter missiles.
Now, this was the most important moment. The little ship was incapable of turning around just like that. It would have to move forward and then steer in some direction. The scouts were closing in, with the mention of destroying it. And Dobromir? He concentrated even harder, opened his eyes wide, and performed two different gestures with his hands.
One was like lifting the lid, and the other was nothing more than a hard yank towards himself. Seconds before the little ship went up in an explosion, the glass of the cockpit just shattered and shot in all directions. At the same time, the pilot inside shot forward through the space, hands and legs going in every direction.
For Dobromir himself it wasn't that easy. The very concept of moving something with his will was barely within his grasp of understanding. Thankfully, operating in space left him with the possibility of moving something in only one direction. With gravitation involved, it would probably be beyond him.
When the flailing pilot was close enough, Dobromir grabbed them by the arm, and instantly sended against the floorboards, leaving the newly revealed female pilot breathless, stunned and probably half catatonic from the barely missed death experience. Ignoring that, he quickly took off her helmet, and crushed it together with the speakpiece inside. Next, he lifted her again, and threw her into the other infected arms. The absent minded star gazer and explosion admirer, even without having much in terms of intelligence or self awareness, quickly hugged the fresh captive with her overgrown, zergy arm, practically immobilising her. The other arm, unmodified in size, went to the prisoners mouth, blocking any shouts that would come. Dobromir himself quickly checked the Pilot over, throwing to the deck pistol and a pair of daggers. With nothing else to be found, Dobromir took a step back, to look at his captive.
Her head was spinning, eyes probably too. She wasn't even standing, just kind of hanging there by the strong meaty arm. He could already think of more than a few uses. The least important one being information. His passengers on the deck didn't really seem to care, but what do you expect from a band of snobs who think themself above the other Lesser races. His sibling's face, on the other hand, was unreadable, probably because of the mask on his face.
Just as Mina picked her boss up, and steered her boat to the wingless Wraith, a figure made a break of it. The trio watched, as the supposed pilot used a space jetpack to quickly make their escape.
"Oh no you don't!" Mina started to set a full speed ahead, but was quickly stopped by Jaruga, who put a hand on he shoulder.
"Leave them be. Let it gooo…"
Turning towards her boss, Mina said "What?! I am pretty sure it's that bugger who earlier almost burned a hole in your back! And now you want them to escape?!"
Shaking her hands horizontally, Jaruga denied. "No, no it's just… Look where this menace is heading." The glow from the small pair of thrusters was almost unseeable by now, but it was definitely heading towards the big battlefield, where a mass of Buttlecruisers was fervently shooting at each other. "Even if this someone with a legendary aim won't be shot down by those big boys, we surely will. Let's just wait here until our dear allies send someone to take over this Science Vessel, and its occupants.
Mina just looked at their attacker again, and sighed. Seems it just would be too easy if their pain in the ass would be vanquished, just like that. That made her even more motivated to catch that annoying bug, and dol out a punishment with her own bare hands.
After the small wall of pain was removed, the rest was a breeze. With the fresh addition of three corsairs, getting past the turrets unmolested was effortless. And the two Arbiters ohhhh… The two battlecruisers, and some fighters acting as supports were instantly frozen, allowing Dobromir's troop to quickly hop off, and destroy the meager earthbound defenders. At the same time, two Reavers were quickly deployed. Half a minute later, the last of the platform's turrets went down, and the small group of ships hightailed it out of there, with the addition of Karax and the secured crystal Uraj, who were waiting on the 'outskirts' of the space platform.
The view was so… so… Trixie lacked the words to describe it. She saw the little Aranara, arranged rather close to the cocoon. Some were hovering, some standing around, and two even stood on the lily pads growing on the little lake surrounding the pulsing mass of plant matter.
A little further away, stood all the Raiders with their friends/mounts. Plus the Mayor, his wife the Lead Researcher, The Orphanage Matron, Stetmann and the two of three pink haired triplets. Pixie was leaning against Ixie, barely standing from the exhaustion. A little further to the side, speaking to themselves quietly were the duo of mages from Earth. The old man With massive beard and plethora of strong magicks up his sleeve. And the youth, who hold the rarest kind of ability, support.
Now, what was Trixie's problem? She saw everything in double. Okay, almost everything. The people and those little fairies appeared normally. The rest, on the other hand… Image of a simple green basin nestled between mountains, amid giant and very tall shrooms clashed with… The same thing, only different… Everything was covered in misty, sparkling haze, obscuring the horizon. It also caused the light to dim, even without additional shadows entering the picture.
The heart of the problem? With one eye, Trixie saw 'reality', and with the other 'vanarana' (dream). It was something like going cross eyed, only ten times more confusing and intense. One picture blended with another, leaving her with weird illusions and afterimages of the current status.
After dealing with the rest of the zerg and cleaning up any leftovers of the 'black flower corruption', the whole landbound team gathered around the thing they protected the most. Of course, most of those gathered still couldn't see those forest fairies, even after being told about them. Trixie, and the two pink haired kids, and the one young guy were the only ones so far with the ability to perceive the Aranara.
But, it seemed only Trixie suffered the problem of dual vision. The rest of the Seeing Four probably saw just those floating fairies. To tell the truth, Trixie felt a little overwhelmed. On the other hand, it wasn't the first time, and certainly wouldn't be the last. It still didn't range so high on the scale as her first foray into protoss spy network.
To not disturbed others, and have some space to deal with her problems, Trixie opted to stay at the proverbial sidelines. One of the big smooth walnuts was near the verge of the basin, which at the same time was hollowed out, and served as 'home' for some Aranara. Close to her side floated a 'thin' aranara, with overall late autumn, brown theme. Despite the flat smiley face that looked like someone painted it, his presence excluded a certain weight behind it. Same as the… chief of those aranara, it was present only in the 'dream'. The 'reality' contained all the arenas but those two.
"Welp, Trixie sees that the main event is about to start." And indeed it was. The giant cocoon of plant matter was obstructed by even giant-er flower petals, which encompassed it completely. The pure white petals began to slowly shake, inner light slowly seeping from behind them…