"his supporting infantry cut through the dragoons like a guillotine through a block of tofu"
-~CattleBruiser~
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| Starcraft: the arising part 1 | | | Author: | | | IP: | p128.netXXXX | | Date: | 06/03/00 03:06 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 6, Min: 6
Lifetime Rating for Belt: 5.6667 |  | The student at desk number twenty three stared at the blank metalic wall of a breifing room wondering if he would ever get out of school and into combat. Drills, drills
and more drills. It is not that he did not enjoy practicing at what he was best at, but the constant attention of superior officers and the fact that the holograms where only
aparitions made him feel as if he was destined to stay within the large dreadnought as a reserve. He had heard stories of the Protoss massacres on the trading colonies of
K'arzad Eight. If these were true, which was doubtful, they would be moving into sector Rysul in less than a week.
Lt. Ray snapped out of his daydream to catch the last of the lecture on printenial stabalizers. Why did he have to know these ridiculous tek anyways? All Jimmy
thought was needed were the quick reflexes and the steady hand of a vet mech pilot. Still, the brass must have some reason for hiring teachers. After the rest of the lesson
Lt. Ray closed his trista and headed back to his cell.
Just then, Jimmy was knocked off his feet and sprauled on the floor by a jarring blast that rocked the entire ship. "It seemed that a few Protoss scouts had made it
through the picket lines," thought the Lt. Getting up and looking out of the portal revealed a Protoss rik, or twenty Protoss scouts. Searing laser blasts rocked the ship, but
Jimmy placed equal balance on his feet and observed the fire fight. The scouts were outmatched when confronted by the fore AS batteries, but from the rear they could only
be targeted from the weaker & close range aft AK buttresses and the sparse, but heavy, triton phasers. Lt. Ray watched a protoss scout came dangerously near the
conning tower firing a spread of laser bolts. It came too close, however, and was nipped by a triton phaser. Even a glancing blow was enough too destroy a lightly sheilded
scout. This was apparent when the southwestern quarter blew off and was spun into space. Blue eletrical shock writhed its way around the scout, which had now entered
into a uncontrolable hard spin. It continued this way until the dorsal AS batteries targeted and pinpointed the damaged scout's path and it's firing location. A blast wave
ricketed space as the scout was hit by the pungent red AS laser and exploded.
Seven others were shot down by the Dreadnought's powerfully placed AS and AK turrets, until the brass got tired of the more skilled Protoss pilots who seemed to
easily and tirelessly evade the spurts of AS and the blasts of AK defense, only to pick the vitals and damage their sheilds. The nearby VAR (visual and audio readout)
screamed to Jimmy Ray that the first, forth, and the sixth squadrons were launched. The ships defenses covered the grouping squadrons as they organized. Only AK
buttresses would be used now, since the more powerful lasers and phasers did not have the revised sequencing targeting computers. By the time the squadrons were in
attack formation, three more scouts were targeted and destroyed leaving nine very skilled and deadly Protoss pilots. The Terran wraith fighters advanced on the regrouping
Protoss. Breaking attack formation, the Protoss attacked on a man to man basis. Though the three squadrons of Terran fighters were supposed to more than enough to
handle the Protoss, they could not seem to target them. Eleven Wraith fighters and one Protos scout were fragged when Admiral Vamar called back the squadrons. Eleven
for one was not a good ratio, and the lack of succesful targeting made further engagement worthless. It was time to let the seemingly invunerable ship defenses undertake
the task of removing the bothersome remainder. Thus it was decided, when the abruptly the Protoss disapeared.
The damn Protoss were always arriving at the front of the technology spectrem. It used to be that the Terrans could rely on heavy numbers, but the tek atvantage of the
Protoss was taking it's toll. Cloaking devices were just a novelty to the Terrans, who had just only figured out how to support the device on larger battle craft, and scanner
jammers were unheard of. Had the Protoss come so far?
Lt. Jimmy Ray slowly shook his head and started back for his cell.
Part 2
TIME : Sixteen hundred (Military Time)
PLANET: TERRUS PRIME (Earth)
PLACE: NEUTRAL STATE OF ANTARTICA- Terrus Prime Tactical Staging Center
Deep and safe within a snowy bunker in Neutral Antartica lies an ebony room with a large shiny obsidian table situated in the center. Huddled around this particular
table were seated the five Predominants and the Commander General of Terrus Prime, gathered to Neutral Antartica because of the reports of a massacre on K'arzad Eight
created by the Protoss in the Rysul sector. These five are leaders of what is now known as the five Predicates or, rather the five divisions of the world. Predicate One
includes what was known as Europe and the Mediterranean. Predicate Two includes what was known as Asia. Predicate Three includes what was known as North and
South America. Predicate Four includes what was known as Russia. Predicate Five is what was known as Africa. Antartica and the Artic are under partial control by all
Predominant powers. The governments of these five states practice an enlightened Democracy, though most people under the Terran Confederation did not participate in
Goverment. The Confederation colonies were often quarrelsome with eachother, that is until Marines from Terrus Prime arrived to settle mining disputes. Though conflicts
existed within the Confederation, perhaps impending conflict with the Protoss would bind together the fragile Confederation.
"Yes gentlemen, it is confirmed One Protoss rik was sighted around twenty hundred last night by the dreadnought Prowess in the Caterlin system near the Rysul
system", grimly reported massive Commander General Stanton. "It is also confirmed that our suspicion of a Protoss invasion of K'arzad Eight is positive."
"What is our future course of action?", inquired Predominant {IV}Valensky.
"That is easily answered, due to lack of alternatives. The NeoLeipiz class Dreadnought christianed the Prowess under the command of Admiral Vamar will cruise to
K'arzad Eight to begin fortifying the capital, Foldarik. I also have plans for the nearby transport group on planet Sipped to reinforce the Prowess's effort, and for tug SUVS to
the supplies required for the construction and supplication, of mechs and marines, to the Prowess."
"Is it agreed then?", stated Predominant {I}Cumberland.
"Agreed", replied all.
Tristas were closed and the brains behind the Terran empire rose to depart for their waiting escorts.
"Dammit Ray why don't you ever bother to reset the HUD before using a different mech!", screeched Colonel Visoth. "You have been put in a elite squadron, MY crack
battalion and just because your illustrious father can pull a few strings doesn't mean you have to have the brain of a peon."
"Sorry Colonel, if the other pilots are not smart enough to realize that my settings are better than theirs, then it's there stupidity that will render them a heap of worm
meat."
"Ray, You're not as good as you think you are. It does not matter if your accuracy is above nintey eight percent. You still refuse to look at the entire scene of the battle.
Shooting them before you shoot you is not the way to stay ali..."
"But Colonel!"
"Don't interupt me Ray. Just because your father plays cat's cradle does not mean he can get you out of demotation. Got me? As I was saying, refusing to look at what
your outside threats are can cost your life."
"Yessir", retorted Lt. Ray, eager to remove the vise he had slipped into.
"That's better, and don't ever let me hear of you non resetting HUDs again. Dismissed."
Jimmy Ray lazily turned and saundered towards the exit to the hanger. However, despite his desire to leave the watchful eye of Colonel Visoth, Ray stopped to examine
the new Goliath Raptors. "What a fine tool," thought Ray.
The Standard Goliath mech was not the first of it's kind of advanced mechs. There was first the Titan, an earlier based mech with only Atredies cannons integrated in
the Titan's arms and a revised flamethrower. The first Goliaths were similar to the Titans except for the flamethrower mounted on a swivel in between the legs to be on the
same hight as marines or templars for more effectiveness. The second addition was that of the Sandman missle launcer placed in the Goliath's shoulders. Though the
Goliath was planned to have short flight capabilities, that later fell through due to the increased weight in arsenal. BUT, the Raptors were different in a big way. The Goliath
Raptors have the new toys- Tristan phasers. Most Terran land vehicles like the Goliath mechs had cannons because of the Protoss ablility in some craft to absorb the old
Tiptle lasers that were first mounted on the Titan's predessesor. It had taken Terran mechanics awhile to create a phaser like the fleet ship's Triton phaser, but in the end
they came up with the Tristan phaser. Of course the Tristan is not as powerful as the Titan, but it's ablility to penetrate Protoss sheilds makes up for it's loss in force. Add
this fearsome weapon to a novel and more streamline design and what one has is what every mech pilot, including Jimmy, dreams about.....the Goliath Raptor.
Lt. Ray forced his eyes off the metalic blue green surface and turned away, and to Jimmy's suprise the Prowess shifted course, one sixty degrees clockwise, or
towards the Rysul system.
Foldarik is a city built by the rugged pioneers of K'arzad Eight. Rugged was what was required of these settlers, anybody less would have perished in the dry and arid
heat of a near desert planet. Though Foldarik was the capital of a border planet, the Terran confederation had never built any defenses protecting it. However, due to the
increase of mining material, the once tiny outpost/capital of a wasteland turned into a major mining and trading city. The dry desert terrain had made colonization fruitless,
but since the discovery of precious mining material, K'arzard eight grew multiple trading colonies and multiple interests from enemies of the Confederation.
It had taken the Prowess a little over three days to reach K'arzad Eight due to sand travel. When the military force of the Prowess was deported to K'arzad's surface
near Foldarik, they found a defensive cement perimeter. It was later reported that the inhabitants had built this barrier when first hearing of the massacre of a K'arzadien
trading colony. What little PDs (placement defenses) that were set in the structurial concrete wall were quickly removed and replaced with heavier cannons. Zealous
citizens willing to fight against the Protoss, were put into training on the Prowess, and various divisons of Terran forces were distributed along the perimeter defense. Traps
and added defenses were constructed in no time by the idle Terran marines and mech pilots. The few Terran tanks were instructed to morph into tower position around
strategic points in the city's defense.
On the morning of the fourth day, a lowlevel attack craft sighted an immense dustcloud to the far to the north of Foldarik. The Prowess recieving the signal, scanned the
area and unveiled an immense force of two thousand templars with a body of two hundred Dragoons. Unfortunatly the attack craft did not have a chance to gather further
information, due to it's entire decimation after being sighted, targeted, and terminated by long range Protoss projectiles nicknamed "Mercuries". The pilot had autoejected,
but it remained to be seen whether he was taken prisoner, or used as floating target practice.
It did not take long for the Protoss to come within five hundred yards of the city defense. The expected support from the Dreadnought, did not come. Three Protoss riks
decloaked flying very fast towards the Prowess, under these was a Protoss army, two thirds the size of the Terran garrison. Terran marines leaned against the cement
pillboxs constructed, zooming their sites on the aproaching templars. Goliath mech torsos turned while the pilots hidden targeted the the vitals on the Protoss Dragoons.
The great Dreadnought moved upwards towards space, to deal with the riks by launching Pyrixs, which were spacecraft and were clumsy in gravity.
The whinning of charging lasers, and the groan of prepping phasers mixed with the click clocks of loading cannon rounds. Jimmy quickly keyed the last of his HUD
settings and made sure his tools were snapped in place, or rather his Aries assault cannon, a few partical displacers and his most prized possesion, one exacta light knife.
He had carefully positioned his mech between two hollow and circular cement columns which act as pill boxes or PD dugouts. These columns were too closely placed
together to prevent the wide crablike Dragoons to move through, but for the slimmer Terran mechs and marines it was not much of a problem. A shadow fell across the
Terran line as the giant Dreadnought lurched quickly into the air above as screeching of Protoss scouts was heard from the distance. Lt. Ray watched as the distance
between his Goliath and his targeted Dragoon rapidly decreased. The indicator lights turned green, and the Terran and Protoss forces unloaded.
The first blast of two opposing forces that come within range is always the worst. Jimmy had picked a fast moving Dragoon with multiple templars taking a lift. Though
the cybered Protoss footsoldiers call the "templars" could easily keep up with the Dragoons, riding on a Dragoon was safer due to the possibility of land mines. Jimmy
Ray's sandman missles struck the precise location assigned, the neck. The Dragoons did not have a torso, their cockpits and Mercuri dispensers are located in the heavily
sheilded segmented neck. The heavy lasers however, are found on the body. Both Sandmen struck at the same time, leaving the Dragoon's sheilds down. Following the
Sandmen were evenly spaced as Jimmy's vulcan ripped into the exposed neck armour. The penetrating cannon shots caused a immediate shutdown of the Dragoons
systems, including engine control. When the Dragoon came to a complete stop after moving eighty ks an hour, whatever templars that were taking a lift were flung twenty
feet and were helplessly crushed by the following Dragoons.
Lt. Ray did not have time to gloat, because the mech posted on the other side of the pillbox fell sidways as heavy lasers and Mercuries slammed into it's leg. The
wounded mech was spinned one hundred and fifty degrees on it's remaining leg by a powerful blast to the arm. It did however remain upright by leaning on the pillbox to
Jimmy's left. Jimmy's unfortunate armmate's shots were widely innacurate and ineffective. Jimmy Ray turned his mech torso straight behind and picked another target while
running to the cement barrier behind, when the maddenly firing pillbox supporting his armmate exploded, showering the battlefield with bits of stone and mortar. After his
armmate's unsupported mech had fell to the side, the pilot opened his hatch and ran back towards the perimeter defense. Bits of metal and glass from his exploding mech
caught the would be surviver and riddled his frail body with sharpnel, leaving his corpse what could be described as ground meat.
PDs had a field day picking off the aproaching force, but did not seem to make a difference in the size of the Protoss army. The cement barrier had be broken through in
several spaces, and Terran marines and mechs tried repeatedly to prevent the Protoss forces from flooding into the gaps in the perimeter defense, but to no avail. Marines
were vainly firing at the intrusive templars, only to be slaughtered in hand to hand combat once the remaining Protoss got close enough. Far to the left, Jimmy did not
notice the templar dispatching the Terrans who were firing from the protective barrier at the Protoss that had not entered the perimeter. Neither did the two marines, until the
templar was right on top of them. As the marines brought their standard autocannons to bear, the templar with an acurate slice of his projector beam cut off a marine's arm.
The second chop cleared the other marine's head- weight that a Terran did not need anyways. The first marine was silenced as the templar relieved the marine of his
autocannon and fired a series of shots into his chest, each breaking through the "protective" personal armour.
Lt. Ray had also been focusing all efforts on removing the Dragoons who were breaking the perimeter defense. However, he stopped his firing when an unsuspecting
Jimmy Ray witnessed a projector beam come straight through his mech's floor and right between his leg's. Without flinching and in a fluid motion, Jimmy quickly lifted his
assault cannon and fired down, towards the protruding projector beam. The floor panel fell through, revealing a suprised Templar who had just recieved a gaping hole in the
shoulder. Rapidly pumping the remainder of his rounds into the squid-like face of the Templar; Jimmy sickened at the sound the Protoss corpse tumbled onto the ground,
it's vocal chords uttering garbled sounds as greenish liquid spilled out of various holes created by Lt. Ray's cannon.
Through the hole in the floor panel, Lt. Ray lowered himself to the ground after gathering his tools. His mech had auto shutdown, even though it had suffered minimal
damage- a drawback to autoshutdown. On the ground, Jimmy reloaded his Aries and kicked what remained of the Protoss head, for good measure. Leaving his mech still
standing was a hard thing to do, but the aproaching Dragoons and the order to withdraw to the city had left him little choice.
As Lt. Jimmy Ray ran, he thought about how the Terran forces were going to hold out in Foldarik until reinforcements came...
Part 3
Foldarik loomed darkly in the distance, only lightened for split seconds by the city's reserve long range PDs that were covering the retreating Confederation combatants
as they made their break for cover.
It is true that the the Confederation did not build any defenses for the protection of Foldarik, but that is not to say that the newly made wealthy of a prosperous mining
colony did not provide major arsenal for the defense of their private property and their mining property. Private mineholders where often some of the wealthy men in the
galaxy, and though efforts had been made to prevent private wars between these miners from the SMU (System Miners Union) , this only led up to a build up of arms
between major mineholders. Now, these arms were being used against a common threat for the good of all.
"The Units as follows are to meet with the T-Tanks in sector four to prevent any Protoss intrusion into the inner city -the Iron Foxs, Morning Stars, Dencoits, Catalysts,
Dontuains, Red Eagles, and Stratogons", whispered Jimmy's headset.
The second to last was Jimmy's unit. The Red Eagles were a crack unit under the command of Colonel Visoth. Requirements for the Red Eagles are as follows.
1) One select skill eighty percent or above and the others above sixty percent above average. {Accuracy, Combat Manuvers, Reactions, Energy Managment, Ground Arms,
Demolitions, Mechworks}
2) Intense training in combat arms in a class A training base.
3) A good moral record.
4) Social Standard must be within the top seventy five percent.
5) Must have completed all required Military training courses with honors.
Of course not everyone in the Red Eagles could meet such high marks, but those who were close were often waved by if they had relatives in positions. Such was
Jimmy's case.
"To sector four?! That is going to take forever without a me..."
Jimmy's thoughts where broken by a wing of Vultures flying overhead to the "Nest" -a makeshift command center for the Confedration forces. Jimmy had wondered
previously why the Confederations where not getting the airsupport that was needed. It seemed that these movers had just come back from a ground support mission
judging by the empty rocket and bomb ports, but what could be more important than the battle that was raging behind?
Jimmy mused over these thoughts while running towards sector four.
"I wonder what has happened to the rest of the Red Eagles. Didn't they receive the message to retreat? Maybe they did not have their personel helmets on."
Lt. Ray turned around to observe the main battle three hundred yards off. There were gaps in the Terran lines everywhere, but because of the rising smoke, it was hard
to see anything except scared, fleeing, dying Terrans who raced to make a stand in the inner citiy five hundred yards off. PD lasers plunged into this thick and heavy
smoke to strike the pursuing Protoss. IR and VR devices were implemented into PDs to allow precise aim even in confusion of a fierce battle. Through the smoke, Jimmy
Ray could see explosions and hear the screams, his headset toning down lound sounds and toning up quiet sounds to make combat awareness easier even for "blind"
Jimmy. Sonic booms far to the east, wracked the smoke filled sky with sound of fury. It came from a forest created by the weatly mineholders of K'arzad eight for
recreational purposes, however the sounds emanating from it gave a possible proof that the Protoss were slowly pushing back Terran forces. This was not yet confirmed,
but nevertheless these thoughts entered Lt. Ray's mind.
Jimmy turned and was knocked mentally off his feet. In the distance, fourteen Terran transports were unloading tanks, mechs, and foot soldiers. A burst of energy and
Lt. Ray raced to the new arrivals one hundred yards ahead forgeting sector four. As he ran, Lt. Ray's thoughts drifted to a briefing four days ago and remembered something
of Transports. Yes, he remebered, the promised transports from planet Sipped!
The transports were still unloading forces when the remains of the Terran army and the following Protoss engaged one hundred yards infront of the inner city, in the
landing site. Using the parked Transports for a hight advantage, the Terran marines climbed ontop of the transports and prepped for the resumed duty of showering the
Protoss templars and dragoons with lead, rockets, lasers, and anything else available to them. Below and between the transports were the Goliath and Raptors, trying to
get as much cover as they could from the neverceasing mercuries and lasers. Most of the T-Tanks had remained, and with added numbers, they towered themselves in a
wedge formation inbetween the fourteen transports, to funnel the Protoss into the awaiting mechs and marines. Lt. Ray posted himself on a transport ramp, crouched, with
the benifit of mechs being unloaded which acted as blockers of the shrapnel that periodically wizzed by.
Everything seemed to be in slow motion, the marines recieving mind blasts and holes from lasers, the slower Terran retreaters being cut down as they ran by Templars,
the explosions of sandmen on the aproaching dragoons, the wails of mercuries as they hit transports, mechs, and the fleshy squish as they bursted through marines
leaving bloodied entrails hanging off the transports, the templars riddled and left lifeless by cannons before reaching the Terran lines, the templars who engaged in hand to
hand combat, the templar who Jimmy targeted and terminated with a shot to the lower knee, and the raptor pilot next to Jimmy who was slumped halfway down in his
cockpit.
The latter was not noticed by Lt. Ray until being caught in the shoulder by merurie shrapnel. Though the wound was great, his personel armour had prevented
amputation of his arm and had even stopped a greater peice of the jagged metal that was abhoredly sticking out of his shoulder. Without a scream or flinch, Lt. Ray's hand
reached for it and pulled the dreaded triangular shaped shrapnel from his shoulder, dropping it and his autocannon to the ground. With an effort, Jimmy dragged pulled the
dead raptor pilot out of the cockpit, and climbed in. Though he felt dizzy and faint, Lt. Ray managed to plot in the raptor's HUD grid system, coordinates for the inner city
and to instruct the raptor to not autoshutdown under any circumstance, "he was not about to let himself to be caught in a shutdown mech while trying to reach safety and
he'd risk a rectant leak or explosion over a sure termination. No fuck'n squid was going to kill him sleepnnn...."
These were Jimmy's last thoughts as the fight for conciousness became futile and blackness conquered Lt. Ray, for the time being. |
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