"I have my own team because everyone that was on my team got scared when I whipped out my Brady Bunch lunch box. Stupid Bitches.
CynicalMagician
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| The Search--part I | | | Author: | | | IP: | netgate.XXXX | | Date: | 01/25/01 03:01 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 6, Min: 6
Lifetime Rating for Raider-PEA: 6.0000 |  | Hey guys! And welcome to the first of my contributions to this site. Even though I have been visiting br.com long before most of you out there, I have not written anything myself. This was partly because I was too busy at school and partly because I never really felt the urge to write a report. Well, all that has changed now. All my college apps are in and, for some reason, I feel like posting something. I will not begin by doing a battle report, however, as is customary, but rather something that this site does not have too much of--fictional piece set in the SC universe. Some time ago Shockwave started a series of such posts, but stopped them after the third one. Well, I would like to try and continue with this idea and see where it takes me. With all that said, I hope you enjoy this.
NOTE: not a single part of this writing is meant in an offensive way. All jokes and references are made in good humor with no second thoughts or intentions to offend anyone.
Chapter 1: Besieged
It was high noon in the Jab desert on Seturi VII, a planet on the ouskirts of the Terran Dominion. A perimeter of bunkers backed by sieged tanks and a few turrets surrounded a small base. The holes from explosions in the ground and patches of molten sand were signs of recent battles.
Four men, each wearing a Marine CMC-400 combat suit clustered inside a beat-up bunker. Three sat on concreate blocks along the walls while the fourth stood guard, peering out of one of the opening in the part of the bunker that jutted above the ground.
"Dam man!" One of the sitting three struck the button under the shoulder plate on his suit. His face plate slid open revealing a thin face that looked as if it had not been in contact with a razor in a month. "I'm sick of this stinking hole. Eight-hour shifts and the zerg grow stronger by the hour despite all our efforts!"
"Yeah, the last report came in right before we got here. Our tank push on their new base has failed. They came in with hydras. Our infantry would have handeled those easy, but then lurkers came in and burrowed right under their feet. Only a few medics got back, and the zerg got a new expansion." The man keeping watch spoke calmly, but desperation could be clearly heard in his voice. He stood quietly staring outside for a minute, then added quietly, "Dam buggers!"
Another man rose to his feet and reached for his supply bag. "Enough of that, you two," he muttered, as he struggled clumsily to untie the strings holding the supply bag together with the heavy gloves of his combat suit. "I have a solution for all of your problems." He had finally succeeded in opening up his bag and stuck his hand in it. "Even back in the days when people could not even build a spaceship, they already had this stuff." He pulled out a six-pack of beer.
Appearace of the drinks was met with loud cheering. In short order all four were sipping away from the cans. The fact that beer was strictly prohibited on duty added greatly to their enjoyyment.
"We've got incoming!" the guard yelled.
In record time all four were at the windows of the bunker with rifles in their hands and their face plates down. In the bright sunshine a huge wave of zerg was clearly visible in the distance.
"Range!?" A voice yelled on the comlink.
"Two kilometers and closing...fast!"
"Fire!!!" Just as those words sounded, the tanks behind the bunker line thundered raining arclite on the zerg troops. Bright flashes accompanied with loud thupms covered the zerg. Wherever a flash appeared, a cloud of blood replaced the invaders. An enraged uproar was the only response to the shelling. When the smoke cleared, the mass of zerg still approached the terran outpost.
"Bunker range!!!" At these words bunkers started spitting fire. The sound of hundreds of Gauss rifles became one, with individual shots combining into a uniform roar. Zerg front troops fell in bloody explosions as if cut down by a giant scythe.
"Fire!!!" Another volley of arclite shells removed yet one more line of the attackers, but new ones replaced the fallen, crawling and hopping over the burnt carcases.
"Zerg troops in range! zerg troops in range!" The voice on the radio yelled. "All troops to sector four! All troops to sector four!"
A living wave swept over the bunkers. Cut down by the fanatic fire of the marines, the zerg still kept moving forward with same momentum, carried by the advancing beasts behind them. Like an avalanche, a pile of incinerated flesh hit the bunkers. At the same time sharp metal clicks started beating on the metal walls. Hydralisk had made it into range and opened fire. Shortly after, loud and frequent thumps added to the variety of the sound effects. Zerglings had made it to the perimeter and started tearing it apart with their razor-sharp claws. Hundreds of zerg fell every minute, but new ones kept coming.
With a loud bang a bunker to the right of the one that housed the four marines exploded in a rain of metal debris. Screams filled the air as the zergings tore its occupants apart. Bang! the bunker to the left crumbled and the zerglings flowed over it. They reached the tank behind and within seconds turned it into a useless chunk of metal. The bunker of our four heroes too was shaking under the pressure from the zerg, as the four men inside fire maniacally out of its openings. A claw broke through the sidewall. One of the four jerked away and fired out of his window at the intruder, bringing it down. Another hole was cut in the ceiling. The bunker was falling.
"Yeah! That's the stuff!" Voices sounded over the comlink. A stream of fire swept over the lings attacking the bunker, sweeping them away like dry leaves. Gauss fire intensified. Reinfocements had arrieved from the barracks.
"Are you in need of medical attention?" A soft woman's voice was like sunshine reaching into the night.
"Yeah! That's the stuff!" The zerg beasts were being pushed back and away from the bunkers.
"SCV good to go." With a sharp metallic noise a metal plate landed on top of the bunker and was instantly attached with the worker's fusion cutter.
"Are you in need of medical attention?"
"I am in need of something else, lady," the SCV driver sounded annoyed, "Can't you see, I'm busy!"
"You want another physical?"
"Oh, stick with your job lady! SCV good to go!" With those words the SCV turned on its jet propulsion system and rolled away, leaving the medic alone near the newly fixed bunker. She looked around. The zerg were all but elimianted. A squad of firebats was clearing away the last remainig zerglings. She turned back to the bunker.
"Are you in need of medical attention?" she turned to the bunker.
One of the four reached out and opened the hatch leading inside the bunker, "Like, that guy on the rollers said, medical attention is not the type of attention we are looking for."
"Pervs!" The medic walked away in disgust.
"Is she queer or somethin'?" the marine inquired. There was no response.
Chapter 2: Asssignment
"Today's was a close one," one of the four marines from the bunker adressed his comrade, as he shaved, sitting on his bed in the dim light of the barracks.
"Yeah, when they started getting through the steel, I though we were gone." His friend had just walkedin. "Say, Barnes, what made you shave, man? You haven't come close to a razor in three weeks. I thought you were allergic to shaving cream or somethin'..."
"Heh, was just going through my stuff and found a picture of me in college...I used to shave back then. Thought I looked dam sexy. So I decided to clean myself up. Mayhap, I'll even get that new medic chick to pay some attention to me."
"Haha, 'dam sexy,' man sometimes you say some funny shit, man!"
"Hey, yo, look who's talking!"
"I never said I was pretty, I just denied you that characteristic!"
"Wow, denied me that characteristic! You're trying too hard!"
"Haha, I'm just kidding, man. I think you and that chick-"
"Private Barnes!?" A firebat walked into the sleeping quarters. His combat suit bore signs of multiple battles and arm-mounted flamethrowers had turned black from extensive use.
"Yes, sir! Private Barnes reporting, sir!" Both marines had jumped to their feet when the newcomer entered.
"Private Barnes, you are wanted at the headquarters A-S-A-P!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"At ease private...and do finish shaving before you go."
"Yes, sir! I will sir!"
The firebat walked out, each step echoeing in the empty halls.
"Dam, just when you think you are done, there's always one more thing they want of you! Oh, well, I guess love will have to wait..." With a few more strokes, Barnes finished shaving and started to get dressed.
* * *
Barnes was still putting on his suit gloves when he arrived in front of the headquarters doors. After making the last check to ensure that everthing was in order, he approached the doors. The large metal plates slid to the sides and he entered.
The control room was well lit, far better than anything in barracks. The buzzing sound of airconditioners filled the air. A few technicians sat relxad in front of the monitors, looking at them occasionally to check for updates. Quiet chatter could be hear as they faced each other. When Barnes came in, all of them, as if in response to a silent order lifted their headsand looked at him.
"Private Barnes reporting!" Barnes announced.
The technicians turned their heads and looked at each other, then turned back and looked at Barnes.
"Ok..." one of them said, "What's your point?"
Barnes felt annoyed. He wanted to get through with whatever it was that the commander wanted of him and putting up with techies' crap was not on his checklist. Unfortunately they all outranked him, so instead of retorting with a very tempting, "Sir, f*ck you, sir!" he forced himself to explain that he was called to see the commader.
"There's the door to his office," one of the techies pointed over his shoulder, and all of them returned to their conversation, without paying any more attention to Barnes.
Barnes walked across the control room towards the door on the othe end and pressed the bell button to the left.
The door slid open, and Barnes walked in. This room was much smaller and lit with pleasant electric light. In front of him was a large desk with an empty chair behind it. To the left, in an easy chair sat commander Donahue. His wrinkled face bore signs of the hardships of the past weeks. Even though he was only forty years old, his hair was already half-gray due to the hard life on the war-filled border worlds. When Barnes walked in, ready for his usual "Private Barnes reporting!", he adressed him in a low quiet voice.
"No reports private, at ease." Barnes cut himself off and kept staring blankly at the commadner, waiting for further orders. Danohue did not make him wait long. "Please sit down, private." he said, motioning Barnes to a couch in front of his chair.
Barnes sat down carefully, trying not to harm the furniture with the metal parts of his suit.
"Private Barnes, I have called you here because I need your help..." Barnes kept quiet. If the commander had something special on his mind, he would have to put it out on the table himself.
"As you very well know, our out post is in a dire situation. We are holding off the attacks for now, but that will not continue for long. Our supplies will not last much longer, and without reinforcements we will not last even as long as our supplies."
"Wow, he's really up to something!" Barnes thought, but commander kept speaking.
"I requested reinforcements fours days ago. I did not tell anyone, but the answer arrived this morning. Three words, 'Reinforcements request denied.'"
"What!?" Barnes could not resist the impulse. "But that means-"
"Yes," commander cut him off, "Yes, they decided that our base is expendable, and there is not a chance of us surviving without help. In two, three weeks, at most, the zerg will break the perimeter and that time we will not be able to close the gap."
"So this is the end!?" Barnes could not maintain his cool self in the face of, effectively, a death sentence.
"No, private, this is not, if you can help me. I said we will not survive the present situation, but we can change it. If the government refuses to give us help, we will be forced to look for it elsewhere. This is where you come in."
"Me?" Barnes shifted uncomfortably in his suit. He did not such announcements because, in his experience, they always meant a tough assignment, and tough assignments meant hundreds of new unpleasant ways to die.
"Yes, you. According to your file, you used to be a specialist ghost angent...'demoted, reasons classified.'"
"Oh, so that's where you are going," Barnes thought, "let's see where you end up..." He messed up once, messed up very badly, and rather than wasting electricity for the chair, the high court decreed that he be demoted to marine corps and sent to the front lines to combat the zerg.
"Well, frankly I don't give a dam about those reasons, as long as you still posess your skills. I need someone to get off this planet and go search for a non-Confederate general who would be willing to help us defeat the zerg here. As you know, the zerg guard this base tightly on the ground and in the air, making any escape attempt impossible. But you, with your training have a chance, and that chance is our only chance for survival. Can you do it?"
"Do I have a choice, sir?" Barnes asked cynically.
"No" the expected answer came fast.
"Well, then yes," he smiled to himself, just like in the good old day of working on top. You can ask stupid informal questions, but you still have to do whatever you are told.
"Alright then, special agent Barnes, you will be supplied the lastest model of a ghost hostile environment suit. Tomorrow you rest, at 2200 hours, your assignment begins. Good luck, agent."
Chapter 3: Through the containment
It was two hours after sunset. The sand had already cooled and rattled softly under the feet. Barnes stood outside the perimeter peering into the darkness. The ocular implants that he had received during his better days allowed him to see easily in the darkness. For kilometers ahead lie nothing but a sand-covered plain. To the left, however rock formation stuck sharply out of the ground. They marked the beginning of the mountain country, Barnes initial destination. He knew had to make it there before dawn, for the zerg would immediately spot him in the open. It was time to go.
Barnes took a step forward and activated his cloacking field. The ghost hostile environment suit fit him like second skin. After months spent wearing marine armor on duty, he could truly appreciate the precision and quality of his outfit. Thin metalloid boots were made of a complex mixture of alloys and weighed next to nothing while providing better protection to the feet than the inch-thick boots of the CMC-series combat suits employed by the marines, that were so heavy they required power assistence, similar in function to power steering in cars, to move. The body was wrapped in a suit made of a mixture of dense rubber padding and metal plates made of the same material as the boots. It provided full life support and BNC (biologivcal, nuclear, chemical) shielding for operation in deep space. SPecial equipment suck as binoculars and lazer targeting system was readily avalable in his helmet and could be used with a simple press of a button on the wrist control pad. On his back Barnes had a brand-new C-10 canister rifle and a supply back full of concentrates that would last him for almost a month.
About hundred meters from the encampment Barnes looked back. The flashing lights of the barracks and dim illumination of the bunkers looked cozy and sweet in the face of his journey.
"About now they are watching those stupid JI-Jo toons," Barnes thought bitterly, "I bet that medic chic's there too... Sheesh, can this get any worse!?" He tried to block out those thoughts and resumed his walk. Yet the thoughts about the medic did not go away. On the contrary, he could clearly see her in his mind, laughing and flirting with the corporal who came in to announce that he was wanted at the commmand center. Further trying to get his mind off things, Barnes started runnning. While his ghost training allowed him to run almost indefinitely, he still could not stop the stream of though and images that plagued his mind... Stim does that to people...
After about an hour of running he was almost at the mountains. Distance that would have taken a normal person almost a day to travel, he covered in just over 70 minutes. He had to hurry though, for the energy in his suit battery was running low, and he only had twenty more minutes left before he would have to decloak and recharge it. Before then he wanted to reach the mountains. His breathing was still even and he was still full of energy, so he sped up to sprinting speed.
In under 10 minutes Barnes made it to the mountains. He stopped and brought up the map of the area on the display screen built into his face pannel. He saw himself as a red dot and in a kilometer, at most to the north was a cave that he was adviced to use as his hideout for the day. It was only 2314 hours and he did not feel like stopping there. His destination lay in 50 kilometers to the north-east of his position, an abandoned city where he hoped to find a spacecraft that he could use to get off the planet. 40 km, he could make it in under two hours.
"What the heck, screw the precations. The longer I wait, the more likely it is those buggers will detectme," Barnes resolved, and resumed his dash. He did not know the area, but the map gloving dimly in front of his face showed him the correct direction.
Suddenly he heard sharp been in his earpiece and his cloacking shield failed. "Shiets! Here comes the tough part," he thought to himself and picked up the pace.
Minutes went by, as Barnes sped through the night heading for the abandoned starport. After an hour and a half he, when he had made it to the top of yet another hill, he saw in front of him the valley wher the city lay confined from all sides by the mountain ranges. He stopped. The battery had almost recharged and he turned on his cloacking field. The zerg might have still not left the city. In another 10 minutes he stepped onto the pavement of the starport. It was 0104 hours when Barnes walked made it to the airfield. He blessed the providence, for a few hundred meters he saw a group of wraith fighters glimmering in the light of the twin moons.
A shart roar tore through the silence of the night. It came from above. Looking up, Barnes saw a huge mass floating right above him. Overlord! He took off and sprinted for the jets. At the same moment a huge clump seperated from the wall of a control tower and moved to intercept him. The ground shoot with each leap it took. Even though barnes had never seen one himself, he immediately recognized the ultralisk. Far greater in size than a two-floor building, the creature moved in huge leaps. The tusks protruding from its back move in a scissot-like fasion; a fuel truck that got in the way was sliced in two halves that bounced to the sides off the massive head of the monster. Barnes knew that he had to get to the wraiths before that creture did, else the planes would suffer the same fate as the truck. While running, he reached over his back for the rifle and fire a shot at the beast. A small explosion did not even scratch the chitinous armour of the ultralisk. Only hundred meters seperated Barnes from the front wraith. 75-50-25-10... in a huge leap Barnes covered the rest of the distance and started climbing the ladder to reach the cockpit. Every moment he expected to feel the terrible tusks cut into his flesh from behind. Using his upper body to pull himself over the side, Brnes landed in the pilot seat. Immediately he pressed ignition and jammed his hand against the button for vertical lift. He was pressed tightly into the seat as the wraith rocketed up. At that moment the ultralisk emitted a roar. Down on the ground Barnes could see the beast ram into the remaining wraiths, scattering them like paper planes. The creature raged on the ground below. It tried to jump up to rach the plane, attacked the ground with its tusks, spun around in a circle, all the while looking up at the wraith. Apparently it was not too bright.
 Taking the last look at the raging beast, Barnes fired up the main drive and launched his ship away from the planet. When out of the atmosphere, he input coordinates of a place away from all planets and entered warp. With his ship safely out of reach of the zerg, Barnes looked the his list of people who he had to visit. The first on the list was...
Well...
This is the end of the first part of my writing. Not to spoil it, I'll just say that the rest is going to be rather different from what you ahve seen so far. In fact, this was a necessary introduction that I felt like I had to provide not to jump into the fray right away. Hope you liked this. Thanks for your attention.
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