Here it is:
Part One: State of Infestation
Chapter I
Mission in Vain
The Nameless Planet
Mission Number 503
Time approximately: 14:00
An ominous atmosphere resided within the dark swamps of Dagon, a mere area of the Nameless Planet. The swamp was habilitated by thick and overgrown plants, which vines were long and imposing and snaked in all directions. The ground was carpeted with thick mud; mud soft enough that it almost acted like very shallow quicksand to any wanderers. In the midst of the area, there were several ponds with murky green water tainted by the unclean area around them. There were many dead trees, and therefore litters of logs added to the obstacle course.
The fog added to the dark not to mention insecure atmosphere. It was so thick that most human beings couldn’t see anything beyond a meter of their sight range. The rolling fog did not prevent any vision of the sky, even if there was none, the leaves of the towering trees prevented any entrance of light, which would obviously block out the sight of the cool-blue sky. There was even so little colour visible that it was like living in a black-and-white picture. Only one colour at the moment was distinguishable from white- grey.
Despite all the darkness and the unpleasantness of this area, it did not repel any wars… especially for the Zerg. They were highly adaptable animals of course, and did not pay much heed comfort like the humans did. Perhaps this was why they even bothered to build a base on Dagon, the stimulus was unknown except for the fact that they might have attempted to infest the Nameless Planet any minute. Mon Ortha was at a moment of irritation due to this multitude of Zerg conflicts that one day abruptly erupted within the midst of time. Word had spread throughout the confederacy, and despite the limited knowledge the humans had of them, they kept fighting for the survival of themselves. Ever since the Zerg were found, there was nothing but chaos, destruction, and months of tedious and fatal war. Because of the Zerg, many of Mon Ortha’s trips to other planets had been postponed in efforts to deter the ravaging monsters.
One highly accomplished man was leading a mission to eliminate the infestation in this area- Jonathan Werner. After his moment of strife back on Earth, he had grown into a sturdy and capable warrior. He had been taken into the organization of Mon Ortha, also situated on the Nameless Planet. In his time spent in the Mon Ortha barracks, he had surpassed the skills of the majority of his fellow comrades. Within the coming years, he had advanced to rank of Captain, and began leading his troops so that they accomplished admirable feats. He wished he could attempt one right now; the thick growth of the plants and the annoying logs gave his force barely any room to maneuver.
“All Goliath squads stay at co-ordinate 20-34; chances are you’ll trip over all the vines if you move. Keep all infantry squads with their current objectives. Siege tanks and Vultures stay on hold.” Werner ordered into his SQUADCOM, he then decided to change a few orders. “Infantry squads 3 and 5 set up cover posts at sectors 32-50 and 35-50 we’re attempting to advance.” He turned to the corporal beside him in charge of squad 7. “Take cover between sectors 32-50 and 35-50, try to find one of those large tree trunks, and then we should be fine.”
“Yes sir” the corporal replied, “Xian, Hamlin cover our troops while we proceed,”
They advanced forward in a slow and painful process. The mud made a sucking sound whenever they lifted their feet, and the fog made it impossible to know if they were going to run into a Zergling. Of course, the consequence of running straight into one of those Zerg creatures to meet its terrorizing claws was rather gruesome. It was at that moment they found showers of venomous needs miss each of their visors by a millimeter.
“Hydralisks!” Werner bellowed “take cover!” the squad split up each troop cowering behind the nearest log they could find. He could hear the constant pelting of needles against the logs. He didn’t know if the Zerg had some penetrating vision that made fog indifference in battle, but it seemed that they were firing blindly. “Squads 3 and 5, fire north of our current position, we’re between your locations so fire several ten meters ahead, I know you can’t see what’s there but we’re receiving heavy fire.” Werner called into his SQUADCOM.
Instant fire of gauss rifles were heard above their heads as several hundred bullets whizzed above them. Werner could hear hisses of pain; the squad had met their mark.
“Corporal, initiate an advance with Squad 7,” Werner told the corporal who was right beside him. As he implied Werner’s orders, Werner once again shouted into his SQUADCOM, “Squads 9 and 8 reinforce squads 3 and 5. Squads 1 and 6, report to squad 7’s current position.” Werner felt himself bathed in sweat, despite his CMC-400’s capabilities to keep him cool, the intensity of the battle kept any parts of the CMC-400 from keeping him cool enough to control his sweat.
“Sir, we’ve lost most of our heavy strike forces.” Werner heard a Siege Tank commander panic. “We are requesting an immediate withdrawal there is little we can do.”
“Alright,” Werner said, half of his mind thinking about his own situation right now. “We still need Vulture support; they’re the only swift units I suppose can maneuver in this atrocious area.”
Werner’s heart was beating so hard that he felt like it would burst out any minute. His situation was dire, half-blind and unaware of his enemies. It was then that he took any notice of the awkward silence. The sound of screaming Hydralisks or their hailing of poisonous needle spines abruptly ceased. Marines who dared to fire were looking around for any sign of movement and found none. They then stared at Werner, expectant for a command. He then made a daring move, poking his head over the log trying himself to look for any signs of Zerg. The other Marines mirrored his movement.
“Corporal, hand me a pair of binoculars.” Werner said gesturing to the man beside him. The corporal tentatively swept down, grabbed the binocular and gave them to Werner. Mon Ortha had developed high tech binoculars that acted like night vision. The darkness that enshrouded them was not the matter at the moment; it was again the dense fog that obscured their vision. When Werner raised his visor vigilantly and pressed the binoculars against his eyes, his vision barely improved. The CMC suits and C-14 gauss rifles doubled as flashlights for such missions like these, looking the binoculars were like looking at a lighted room with white all over it. Exasperated, Werner thrust the pair of binoculars back into the Corporal’s hand.
“Hold Still!” Werner heard a ghost call, He got a clear at the Zergling’s head with a c-10, and it exploded, splattering blood and ichor everywhere. The other Zergling had already ripped open an unlucky marine; Werner blew it back before it came over to him with a hand-pistol.
“Thanks,” Werner said to the ghost smiling, “I owe you one,”
“Any time sir” the Ghost said his voice distorted through his mask. He then cloaked.
The Zerg were getting numerous, and his forces were getting closer and closer to retreating. He shot another Zergling with a gauss rifle, blasting the dead corpse back, and sending it spiraling on the damp mud. He and the other few marines shot urgently at any more advancing Zerglings, hoping not to suffer the same fate as the dead marine at their sides did. A Mutalisk then flew over them, its bat-like wings flapping rapidly, it shot a fatal Glave Wurm at a clump of two tanks, they ricocheted off both tanks, leaving a sizzling hole in the burning metal, then a small force of guardians finished the job, after bombing the tanks with even more acidic balls.
“We can’t win this sir,” a marine sighed “There’s too few of us,” Werner looked into the midst of battle, over the fog the Zerg were regrouping, the marine was right. He spotted more aero Zerg units fly past his head, and Zerg streaming through to the left of him despite his squad’s attempts to blast them down. Werner then knew what was happening.
“Run! They’re surrounding us!” he bellowed, this startled his remaining troops, and made them frantically look around. Already there were Mutalisks at his rear, and very few wraiths giving a futile attempt to bring the whole force down. Werner and his troops sprinted over the battlefield, there were needle spines pelting the ground, they narrowly dodged, an occasional acid spore from a slow guardian. Even if they evaded this storm of Zerg missiles, some of them were caught in the thick undergrowth being pinned down, only to meet a sad fate, having a Zergling land straight on top of them. Firebats blasted away and any intimidating Zerglings, trying to leave a frying corpse behind, but some were smart enough to rip open the tanks, blowing them up and leaving the Firebats with extremely low ammunition.
The swarm of Zerg was like little dots shimmering in the distance, which got more of a shadowy silhouette as they emerged from the fog. Werner looked at the advancing Zerg, so malevolent, and bloodthirsty creatures, with their razor sharp claws, skull-like face, and jagged teeth. They really matched up well with the insidious terrain. Every step that Werner took left a footprint in the mud that was similar to weak quicksand and glue as it created a sucking sound as he forced his feet up to take a step. With strain, he stepped towards a Goliath walker. The condition of the Goliath wasn’t too bad; its legs were tangled in one of the weeds that grew in the water and there was a little bit of mud caked on its machine gun barrel. The window was cracked but only slightly, and there were drops of murky water trickling down its sides.
Werner wretched open its head and got in. As he sat down on its hard, rough cockpit, he activated machine guns and reinforced his troops blasting away at Zerglings and Hydralisks. They squealed in agony as they saw an unpredicted barrage of projectiles impend through their carapace. When he checked the blurry ammunition screen, it indicated that there were very few missiles intact. Werner attempted to lift one of its legs but at no avail. The weeds that tangled it were like thick cords and he barely prevented the walker from falling over.
“Could use a little help here with the weeds,” Werner grunted into his SQUADCOM. He then saw one of the Marines approach his Goliath.
He untangled it from the thick-rooted weeds using a vibro-blade. The rest of the attack force went with Werner, trying to fight their way through the storm of battle and Werner tried to keep the goliath from encountering any more plants. This task was virtually impossible though, he went barely 100 meters when his Goliath legs tripped over a thick root of a tree. When the window hit the muddy ground, it landed on a dead muscular Ultralisk. The double-paned bulletproof glass was unable to withstand the extreme impact and it shattered instantly. Luckily, Werner’s marine visor protected him from the glittering shards of glass. He unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the glass-splintered cockpit, shooting a Zergling on his way. He got back on the soft ground, and regrouped with his small attack force, they ran, ran, ran, ran, and ran.
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It was frenzy. In hopes of making their way out of the blood colored swamp, they ran a kilometer, facing losses, and Zerg who just lunged at them, or just fired away. When they had gone approximately one kilometer, a brown haired woman came into view, with a small force of Terrans. She wore the usual equipment of a ghost. Werner felt relieved at the sight of Sophie Harrington. She had been his best friend for years; being so close friends, that she was practically his sister, having known her ever since he first held a gun. Lieutenant Harrington gave one of her warming smiles, as Werner approached her. Harrington was a rather gifted ghost with 5.3 on the Psi scale. This officially meant she was a Teep slang used for telepathic.
In light of relief at finding a new friend, Werner had forgotten about the Zerg that had been still lurking within the area.
The slithering sound of a Hydralisk percolated through Werner's helmet. It was silent, but nonetheless, noticeable. When his CMC-300 power armor's motion tracker pinged, he knew he'd let an enemy blindside him.
Werner heard Harrington curse as she prepared herself to bat off the hostile unit. She had unsheathed both of her magnum pistols, what she deliberately artfully concealed in her environmental suit to ensure that enemies could not see them so that she could use them as effective counter-weapons against sneak attacks, and opened fire. The rounds glanced off of the Hydralisk's reinforced chitin head. There were slight crunching sounds as its organic build took the forces of the impacts.
As he scrambled to his feet, feeling a guilty pleasure at activating his remaining stim-pack, and felt energy reverberate within him once again. He was lucky; that bit of energy gave him the power to leap aside as a trio of Hydralisks launched another needle barrage.
He barked over SQUADCOM, "Need fire support at..."
His mind churned to remember his position...neurons clicking and inter-exchanging action potentials, "Kilo-India. Delta Signal. Over."
His idea was a Marine fire team advancing on the flanks. Instead, the canopy of misshapen tress above, the mutated foliage concealing the dark sky, exploded in twin actinic flashes: most probably Gemini missiles. Before the Hydralisk could launch a second salvo of spines, the A-17 Wraith dove in with afterburners on, and 25mm burst lasers flickered, the targeting computer ensuring every bolt was on-target.
The Hydralisk vaporized in organic fire.
A drawling voice affirmed, "Copy that, Fire-team Charlie. Enjoy your day, courtesy of British Air."
And with that and a flourish of ionic light, the fighter was gone.
A close save, thought Werner.
Harrington nodded, in her environmental suit. Using her telepathic power she snatched a thought out of his mind.
“No we won’t rest here. Not for a second, more Zerg might ambush us any minute.” Werner nodded and reluctantly got up.
“Remaining squads follow me; distance out of Dagon is approximately .5 kilometers.” Werner said into his SQUADCOM. He started a quick jog with his forces not far from his tail.
Werner was satisfied with survival, but as he noticed the Zerg gave up their pursuit on them, he noticed that they had failed to eliminate the Zerg threat. Several thoughts struck him about the consequences of failure but only one stood out the most.
With one more prospering Zerg base, he had endangered the inhabitants of this planet even more.
None.
