Diablo 3 Armory - Unofficial Diablo 3 Fansite

"{You may enter.}" The two guards stepped aside and the door they were guarding irised open. Khalos stepped through it, leaving the brightly lit hallway and entering a cool, dimly-lit room. The door closed behind him silently and the light from the hallway was replaced by what little light came in through the large window opposite him.

Khalos walked towards the window, ignoring the rest of the room. Through it he saw Aurun, the planet's capital, spread out far, far beneath him, like a sea of darkness filled with millions of lights. From such a great height, and with such dim lighting, he could only make out the city's most prominent features: the Council Chambers, the Citadel and the Founders' Monument, which was badly damaged as a result of the recent attack.

"{Appreciating your home, Praetor?}" The thought came from somewhere behind him, as cool and dry as a Nerazim's. Khalos did not turn around or flinch as Councillor Odranos joined him. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the city below him.

"{Aurun is not my home, Councillor,}" he answered, his mental voice matching the Councillor's neutrality to keep the feeling of surprise out of it.

"{It is not? I am under the impression that you haven't moved from the planet in the past three years. Am I mistaken?}" This statement surprised Khalos as much as Councillor's first question.

"{No, of course not. But merely staying in one place for a prolonged period of time does not make it one's home.}"

"{But you are used to Aurun?}"

"{Yes, Councillor.}"

"{Tired of it?}"

Khalos hesitated before replying. "{Councillor?}"

"{You have not moved from New Aiur in the past three years. It is only natural that someone of your talents and experience would find the... immobility sickening, especially when others of the same rank and profession are as mobile as ever. For instance, did you know Executor Sevethrun returned to New Aiur only yesterday?}" The Councillor's sentence ended in a way which invited inquiry, despite its lack of emotion. Khalos turned to face the protoss.

"{The Executor is here?}"

"{So it would seem. He has been recalled in order to coordinate what the Council deems a top priority mission.}"

"{What mission?}"

"{Did you know that, had it not been for your relationship with a certain treacherous Praetor, it would be you and not Sevethrun who would be the current Executor of the Imperium's forces?}"

Once again, Khalos was taken aback by the Councillor's questions.

"{What? My relationship with... Erana?}"

"{Yes. The Council deemed it too dangerous to let you assume control over the Imperium's military. A tragic flaw.}"

Khalos suppressed a surge of anger.

"{While I do not agree with all of praetor Erana's actions, to say that she was a bad commander would be a lie. And to deem a superficial military relationship a genuine threat to the Imperium is, in my honest opinion, paranoid folly,}" he said it before he could stop himself and immediately wished for more self control. The Councillor's blue eyes flared.

"{Praetor Erana committed a crime against her people when she handed over the Arken and the technology used to create it to the terran Coalition. In doing so, she put us at the mercy of the terrans and destroyed any chances we had of driving the zerg out of Eurim. However, when I said 'a tragic flaw', I was referring to the Council.}"

Khalos' anger disappeared as quickly as it had come and was replaced by surprise.

"{You think the Council incompetent?}" he asked. Odranos seemed to think for a minute. Then:

"{Do you?}"

Before Khalos could reply, the Councillor continued.

"{While Executor Sevethren is heading Erana's transfer from New Aiur to Vetras, it does not mean he will go unaccompanied. After all, this is a top priority mission. Expect to leave the confines of our capital soon, Praetor.}" As soon as he had finished talking, the doors to the Councillor's room opened again, filling it with the hallway's orange light. Seeing that the Councillor had said what he had wanted to say, Khalos thanked him and left.

Aria strode through the warm, red tunnels of the Great Hive, trying not to let the dread and anticipation show in her pace and pose. Showing fear could be seen as a weakness here, it could mean an instant and irreversible death, as the swarm instinctively eliminates the weakness in it's own being. No. She had to be cold, calm and in control; or at the very least in control. Some of the other brood leaders were never particularly cold or calm, but they made do by giving the air of total dominance, at least for a time.

The person Aria was going to visit held complete and total Dominion over the Themos Brood, a dominion which she had usurped by following Orloth's advice rather then her own orders. Honestly, why Orloth insisted on this charade of an argument, no one in Themos understood. Evolution supported the winners, not those who played fairly. Lilith had succeeded Baal as Master of the Themos Brood. If Orloth would just give in and accept it Themos would easily be the strongest of all the other Broods, but with his faction sealed away and neutral they were now reduced to paying tribute to another brood just to keep them from attacking. Tribute. That was not going to sit well with the Mistress Lilith. She may get points for talking her way out of a fight, that was what the Themos were known for after all, but tribute? Aria was as good as dead.

She tried not to let that thought overwhelm her as she stepped into the Central Chamber, where Lilith held... court. It reminded Aria of the stories of Hell that her grandmother had threatened her with. The chamber wasn't large, about the size of a holo vid theater, but that made what it contained that much harder to avoid. It was part torture chamber, part breeding pool, part brothel; the sights and sounds of which did there best to disrupt Aria's calm; all lit by the ambient, red light that filtered down from the mouth of the Great Hive and surrounded by its fleshy walls. And there, at the far side, atop of a throne that seemed to be crafted from the body parts of numerous species, sprawled the Mistress Lilith herself personally adored by three Infested.

Aria approached the throne and lowered herself into a submissive bow, almost curling herself up on the floor, face to the ground. After what seemed like hours the purring voice of her Mistress commanded, "Stand, Aria." She did so, and met the gaze of the Nightmare Queen, and time seemed to take a backseat as she felt the contents of her mind being sifted through as if it were a newspaper. In a few moments she had relived everything she remembered since she had last been in her Mistress's presence, the conversation with Orloth and her actions at Pern were gone over again in vivid detail. When at last she was released from Lilith's gaze, she dropped to the floor as if her strings had been cut and lay there panting, trying desperately to regain a shred of poise, and ounce of decency, while Lilith stood up and began to circle her shuddering form.

"It is good," the Nightmare Queen purred softly, "that you held the Brood's best interests at heart, or you would no longer be alive. However, considering your actions, I had hoped that such a loyal servant as yourself would have been Dominated and swayed by my enemy, rather then a willing accomplice in his scheming. That being said, you have revealed to me some of my dear brother's plans, and that is valuable to me." Aria felt a hand on her chin and her head was lifted up to once more look her Mistress in the eye, "I may have some use for you after all."

The void was as quiet as usual with nothing but a few stars blinking which were spread far apart. Suddenly, a great flash of white light appeared and almost as quickly disappeared. All that was left in the receding white flash was a protoss craft.

This vessel was know as The Ark. It's majestic golden hull shone in the darkness of space. Then The Ark moved rather quickly, for a ship of its size, towards an small blue sun.



{Are you sure this is the right location?} Zeroth said as he moved around the rather large bridge.

{Yes executor. This is where our observers picked up the distress signal} Azeal replied.

{Very well then, I want all our observers dispatched towards that planet ahead of us and relay back any information}

{Your will executor.}

{Also, deploy all our Voidrays and Phoenixes, I want to be sure that nothing will come upon us unnoticed.}

{Yes executor.}

"{What are they?}"

"{We do not know, Executor. Our archives have no records of such creatures. They must be native life forms.}"

"{Perhaps. Have you performed combat ****ysis scans on them?}"

Azeal was taken aback by Zeroth's question.

"{You think simple animals are a threat to us?}" he asked, bewildered.

"{No. I think that whoever sent that distress signal must have had a reason to do so. I do not want anything to surprise us. Perform the scans.}"

"{Yes, Executor.}"

"{Have we identified the source of the signal?}"

"{The Ark's scanners have located an unpowered protoss complex in the center of the anomalous area. Two of our observers are moving towards it.}"

"{Good. Bring us closer to the planet.}"

"{Yes, Executor.}"



It was nothing short of a dance. The two groups of fighters dodged and shot, one second flying directly towards the enemy and looping backwards or sideways the next. As brutal as it was, the warfare was elegant and stayed elegant. It was almost a rule. A rule Tarial loved to exploit.

As his own phoenix approached the group of combatants, he made a quick ****ysis of the battle, looking for the largest concentrations of the Exiled's corsairs and scouts and predicting where they would be next. And then he dove in.

His craft's missiles preceded him, effortlessly destroying a scout and alerting the enemy to his presence. But it was too late. He was already among them, his craft's ripper field ripping their ships apart atom by atom.

They tried to escape, to wriggle out of his grasp, but they could not. Acceleration and maneuvers were rendered useless by his ship's artificial gravity field and they found themselves being drawn towards the certain destruction that were its ripper fields. Within seconds, he was surrounded by nothing but a cloud of dust.

And then he was off again, hunting down what remained of the Exiled's attack force and destroying it not with his ship's ripper field but by ramming into the inferior craft with his superior shields. He was a demon, a warrior who exploited the enemy's mind set in every way possible... and enjoyed it. Not five minutes had elapsed since he had joined the battle and it was over.

He slowed down to admire his handiwork, looking at each wreckage as it floated away and recalling how exactly he had destroyed it. Then he was interrupted. His command crystal lit up and began flashing. Reluctantly, he answered the incoming transmission.

"{Praetor Tarial, recent developments require your presence on your flagship. You are to return immediately.}" That was it. His frustration overshadowed only by his curiosity, Tarial turned his phoenix around.

"What do you want, Orion?" Aranov asked the face on the holo-screen.

"Mind your tone." Orion answered.

Aranov showed no visible reaction to the comment. He was beginning to wonder whether Orion actually understood that he had absolutely no reason to tolerate him, the Auruleans were weak, protected by him, one of the major military powers in the sector. He didn't like their pride, but he put up with them - They were good scientists.

"I am sorry." Aranov said calmly. "Had a bad hour. The Outsiders are getting on my nerves."

"I didn't hear about any Outsider attacks." Orion said, sensing the lie.

"That could be because you aren't the one who's supposed to deal with them." Aranov said in such a polite manner that Orion didn't get the insult. "It doesn't matter, just a minor nuisance. What did you call me about?"

"Our... Project... We have another subject." Orion said.

"It better be good. I don't want another runaway like last time." Aranov said. "I am sorry, but I am losing my patience in this matter."

"Science takes time, Aranov--"

"I know that, and please don't raise your voice. One would think we aren't getting along. What I'm saying is that the last two projects that worked are gone. I paid a lot for your research, and the results just run away. If you can't supply me with any results after this project, I will have to reduce my funding. This is starting to become unprofitable."

"Don't talk to me like that."

"You have to understand, I need new ships and soldiers, I need to empower my army. The army you want me to use to destroy the zerg. I'm sure you can imagine what I could've done with all the resources I put into your research."

Orion remained quiet for a few seconds.

"This will be worth it." He answered. "The new subject... He should be ready soon. The treatment is working extraordinarily fast on him, and works a lot better than expected."

"I hope so. And I also hope there won't be any problems anymore."

"Don't worry, it's all sorted out. We've devised the genes and treatment for the perfect mind, one capable of controlling its powers and following orders."

"Good, good. I eagerly await to hear further results."

"I will keep you up to date. About the zerg..."

"Nothing I can do, Orion. Unless there is a change of leadership in the Coalition, I have to listen to the Quantum Legion. I can't start any wars."

"If we wait for the zerg to make the first move, it will be too late. We could have destroyed them after Apoca."

"I know, we could have. But I understand the idea of peace as well, Orion."

"Are you saying you agree with this passivity?"

"No, I don't. But I understand the reasons for it and the advantages. Whether they outweigh the disadvantages is questionable."

Orion didn't look happy.

"Don't worry, Orion. Sooner or later, we will face the zerg and you will get your planets back."

"Good bye, Lord Aranov."

Aranov bowed slightly before the holoscreen closed itself. Part of him secretly hoped the experiment would fail, so that he could finally cut his ties to the arrogant scientist, but the more rational part of him knew that the Auruleans were too useful for him.

The only reason Razarac realized his behemoth had exited warp space was the sudden, rapid influx of information into his mind. For a moment he was overwhelmed and paralyzed by the sheer volume of external images, scents, sounds and thoughts that were suddenly entering his brain. He saw through the eyes of hundreds, heard through the ears of thousands and thought through the minds of millions. He relaxed and allowed the flood of information to diffuse into him, content to witness the workings of the entire Fenrir Brood.

But gradually, the flow of information ceased, or rather, was relegated to the unconscious part of his mind. In its place stood a single separate entity, one which was made up of thousands of millions of smaller minds and was more fearsome and imposing than all of them combined.

{Brood Mother.} Razarac said, doing the mental equivalent of bowing his head. He briefly sensed satisfaction coming from Shaharaz but this was soon replaced by cold neutrality.

{I have granted you control of Karinth's broods, Razarac. Your goal is simple: destroy the Nirogg's presence in the system and claim it for the Fenrir. Do not hesitate, do not make mistakes. Do not even entertain the idea of failure for if it becomes a reality, you shall feel my wrath... if the Nirogg don't destroy you first.}

And then it was gone. The Fenrir Brood disappeared from his mind, leaving behind only a fraction of itself.

Razarac did not waste his time. He immediately tapped into the mind's of the system's zerg and began to assimilate all their knowledge, both of themselves and the Nirogg. What he learned was not too promising. The Nirogg held the majority of the system and not only had enough forces to hold their ground in head-on battles but also had a separate force capable of striking the Fenrir where and when it was most vulnerable. The Fenrir were pinned down and outnumbered. But that was about to change.

Razarac ordered Pangar to make way for the only Fenrir controlled planet in the system while releasing five overseers into the cold of space with the aim of locating hidden Nirogg forces.

Did it work?

Is she awake?

Vitals are good. High brain activity though.

I don’t like the blood pressure.

She didn’t hear them – they were in her. Everything was blurry and bright. She could hear the people in the room talk among each other, but what they said wasn’t what she heard in her mind.

“Someone check her eyes.” I hope they’re alright, he’ll kill me if anything went wrong.

“John, test the reflexes.” I hope she doesn’t kill him… I remember the first time…

“Why me? Can’t you get one of the marines to do it?” They would at least survive if they get hit.

Someone was close to her and pointed a small light into one eye, than the other.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Please answer, please answer, please answer…

She nodded.

“Good. Do you know what your name is?” The man asked.

She shook her head.

“Do you know where you are?”

She shook her head again.

“Do you know what you are?” Please nod, please nod, please nod.

She shook her head.

***
She woke up sweating and almost screamed. She hated that nightmare. The worst part was what always happened when she woke up.

3 AM? These sleeping pills aren’t working…

Have to get this report done, Keeva will murder me if she doesn’t have it by noon… Well, not murder, but give me that disappointing look and then…

I’m never getting’ dis drunk agin…

It’s our anniversary and I still don’t have a present for her…

Thirty seven sheep, thirty eight sheep, thirty… Dammit. One sheep, two sheep…

She did her best to ignore the voices. She held her arms over her head and ears, even though she knew that did absolutely nothing. She focused on one memory, one very deep, dark, sinister voice in her head.

tick, tock, tick, tock... Listen to my voice. None of them are you, they don’t belong in your head, you don’t belong in theirs. Just listen to my voice and focus. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick…

She repeated the ticking and tocking for what could have been anything between thirty seconds and as many minutes, practically in a self-induced trance. After she snapped out of it, everything was quiet. She was in her own room, in her own bed. She could hear her own breathing. No voices.

I should congratulate Mark and Daisy on their anniversary tomorrow she thought as she lay back down to sleep.


Xavier walked up to the table in the command tent. It wasn’t much of a tent, it only served to shield the light and was open on all sides, giving a perfect view of the desert-like surroundings. This part of the world, close to the equator, had little plant or animal life, and the mines in the hills Xavier was looking over right now made this specific area a desert.

“And you are?” A man in a CMC suit said.

Xavier casually turned his head and examined the man with quick glances. Dented and scratched CMC suit – Prideful, and has fought before, both zerg and terran. No protoss. The colors weren’t the standard blue, these were a bit lighter, much like the color of Aranov’s cloak, and the paintjob was far more detailed with stars and other symbols. He was most definitely the man in charge, rank no higher than Major. He looked at the man’s face, not a very pleasant look – A very territorial officer, very likely to throw a scene about jurisdiction or rank.

“Major Carls, I believe it is?” Xavier held out a hand. The Major seemed slightly confused and shook the hand. One could hear the sound of metal bending slightly. “Xavier Origin. I am here to take care of this situation.”

“And by what authority?” Carls raised an eyebrow, doing his best not to look at what had happened to the hand of his CMC suit.

“Domovoi Aranov’s personal request. All your troops are to obey my orders—“

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t been informed, and even if, we don’t need your help, we can handle this.”

“And how are you going to take care of the situation?”

“There’s a lot more of us than there is of them. Send in squads of marines and marauders and flush them out, there’s no way they can beat us.”

“As I thought.” Xavier said. “Now, as I said. I am in charge, if you want to go and cry about losing your current position, than please do so somewhere else so that I may focus. Oh, and go repair that CMC suit. I will not tolerate damaged goods.”

Carls was furious and about to shout at Xavier with such force that the tent would’ve flown off. But Xavier turned away before Carls got the chance.

After a few seconds the marine left the tent and Xavier examined the plans. Going in there with squads of infantry was dumb. Yes, they would win. But the Outsiders still used firebats. While no match against Marauders in open battles, in enclosed spaces even two of them can take out an entire squad of marines and leave the marauders in a bad state.

Xavier considered doing the job alone, but still gave the order to have his troops deployed.

Razarac spread his wings and kicked off the ground. For a moment he flapped his gargantuan wings but then allowed the planet's many and powerful thermals to lift him further up. As he spiraled upwards, he did what most zerg could not: he appreciated the complexity of his own body and his race.

His wings were far more than the simple instruments used by primitive animals and terran craft. They were organic machines grown to take advantage of the environment - and ensure the environment was as advantageous as it could be. The same spikes that helped cool Razarac down whilst running absorbed moisture, heated it up and either released it at higher altitudes to heat the surrounding air, gave his wings a balloon-like quality, allowing him to stay in the air for longer or expelled it explosively to produce minor speed boosts. The latter method of propulsion allowed him to move in space provided he had enough water in his body.

And it wasn't just his body. The creep which now covered almost the entire planet constantly produced heat and released moisture into the air, allowing for ever higher and ever stronger thermals that aided flyers - and could be used against enemy flyers. In many ways, the zerg were like a single organism with many specialized parts that helped each other while performing entirely separate tasks. It was a whole that was many times greater than the sum of its parts.

He rose further and, joining the clouds in their lofty heights, looked at the planet beneath him. From such a height, the entire creep-covered surface seemed to be completely devoid of movement. But Razarac knew that it was actually filled with activity. New spore crawlers were still being mutated or moved about while drones mined what resources they could. Queens and overlords were spreading and double spreading creep to ensure maximum ground mobility while patrols of zerglings and overseers ensured that nothing, however improbable, escaped the Fenrir's scrutiny. The planet was becoming a fortress.

Satisfied, Razarac let his mind sink deep into the system's hive mind and began to ****yze the progress the exoplanetary forces had made. The overseers he had sent to search for hidden Nirogg forces hadn't found anything yet. Two had been picked off by mutalisks that belonged to known Nirogg leviathans.

The Fenrir's own Swarm Lords were moving around the system while simultaneously trying to gather data on the Nirogg's movements and planets and doing their utmost to stay out of engagements. Things were progressing slowly. But as long as the Nirogg did not make a move against them, this suited Razarac.

With a roar, he began the long descent to the planet's surface.

As The Ark started to descend towards the origin of the distress signal, the creatures started to go into a frenzy, darting around in the air near the planets surface.



{How could they have sensed us so quickly when we are still in the upper reaches of the troposphere?} Azeal asked in astonishment.

{It must be some sort of adaptation} Zeroth replied, {Telemose, I want you to see if the pathfinder has any data on this creature}

{Your will executor.} Telemose said as he headed towards the large machine that now dominated the back of back portion of the bridge.

{Azeal, call back all of our air force, I want them to assemble around The Ark, with the phoenixes farthest out.}

{Yes executor.}

{Ececutor Zeroth!} Telemose said as he stood in front of the pathfinder, {These creatures are stored in the pathfinder, bringing up all data on them now.}

{Very well, let us see what these flying creatures are now shall we?} Zeroth said as he walked up to the pathfinder to find a holographic image of the creature with numerous lines of text underneath it.

Zeroth's brow furrowed as he read through the little information available. Like the planet, the winged creature before him had only been discovered recently and hadn't even been properly named yet. The little useful data that was available came from limited observer scans and an estimated population size: fifteen thousand.

Frustrated, Zeroth ordered the Pathfinder to bring up information on the planet itself. The holograph shifted and was replaced by a rotating planet with significantly more information below it. Seeing nothing of immediate use, Zeroth ordered the machine to display a list of discovered species. It did so, generating a short list of placeholder names. But before Zeroth could delve further into the information, Azeal interrupted him.

"{Executor, we are under attack.}"


"{En Taro Adun, Vindicator,}" Tarial greeted his commanding officer, bowing his head slightly.

"{En Taro Adun, Praetor Tarial. I trust you have begun recalling your warriors to your flagship?}" Vindicator Azul replied, acknowledging Tarial's greeting with a nod.

"{Except for the planetary garrison, my troops have already returned to the Nebular. We are ready to leave the system and await only your orders.}"

"{Good. This shall be quick then. Do you recall a certain incident involving one Zeroth?}"

Tarial's eyes flashed in surprise. "{You mean Executor Zeroth, Executor Xamyr's predecessor? The traitor?}"

"{Yes, him. You may recall that, during his escape, Zeroth destroyed countless military schematics and prototypes and took what was left with him. You may also recall that he is in possession of The Ark, a unique ship which he helped design but by no means owned. The technology he now harbors is of great value to the Imperium. Unfortunately, he has proven to be an... elusive individual. Until now.}"

"{You have located him?}"

"{We believe so. One of our outermost observation posts detected space-time distortions unique to The Ark a day ago. We believe it is headed to a red star system not far from here. You are to give chase and do whatever you can to capture the Ark and the technology on it. Show no mercy. Kill Zeroth unless you need him to take control of the Ark and the technology on it.}"

"{Yes, Vindicator. I shall leave immediately.}"

"{Good. En Taro Adun, Praetor.}"

"{En Taro Adun.}"

David looked out of the view screen at the approaching world. He could still see some wreckage from the recent battle and he couldn’t help but wonder how many good men had died for some fool’s pride. Exactly how a man who’s first thought upon seeing that he was outnumbered and outgunned was to attack became a commander was beyond him.

“Next time, only play with your own dam life” David muttered, not that there would be a next time except, maybe, for a few of the poor blokes trapped planet side.

“Sir, there are a couple coalition ships patrolling our lane.”

“Don’t worry about them, the Magratheans don’t waste any time, there’s plenty of freighter traffic coming in, we’ll blend right in. How’s the life support system in the ventral cargo bay holding up?”

“Greens across the board, looks like it held up through jump.”

“Good we’ll need it if we’re gunna get any of those boys out of here.”

As he began his approach vector David picked up the radio and called the control tower, “Dunar control tower this is freighter 28MZC3Y8 carrying construction materials requesting permission to land over.”

“Permission granted, proceed to the designated landing field and await customs inspection.” A ping appeared on the readout exhibiting where the tower’s computer wanted him to land.

“Roger”
…

David stepped out onto Dunar’s soil and took a deep breath, inhaling its unique fragrance. No matter how much he traveled, it never ceased to amaze him how every world could smell just a tiny bit different.

“Begin unloading boys” he said.

He watched as the customs official lazily swept a few of the crates with his scanner and read only simple durasteel and didn’t give the loaders a second glance. The thing about combat armor, David thought, was that it was basically just durasteel and when you packed it up tight you couldn’t detect the few mechanical pieces, so unless the customs official was planning on fully unloading every single crate from every single ship coming through, a logistical nightmare, there was no way he would realize what was coming through his station. The vultures were a little trickier but if you removed the grenade launchers and attached lifts to the back they looked basically like any of 100 other loaders found throughout the fringe. Certainly not the shiny new machines built specifically for that purpose that you’d find in the core but out here those would be the machines that looked out of place.

“Your clear” said the customs officer and headed over to the next ship awaiting his inspection.

David jumped and on his vulture and led his men over to Hutchinson’s warehouse. Thomas Hutchinson was a local entrepreneur friendly with their movement and he had offered his warehouse as a place to re-outfit David’s troops. David resisted the temptation to gun the engine and fly through the streets, instead opting to glide peacefully along while taking stock of the situation. There were signs of construction everywhere, new buildings going up and plenty of repairs for when the coalition forces had come storming through. There were also quite a few troops moving about, more than he’d expected. He hoped it was just because they had a lax commander who was willing to give them all leave but thought it more likely that was more than 1 fleet in the area. As he glided into the warehouse he saw Mr. Hutchinson approaching and quickly climbed off to shake his hand. As his men began unloading he sent a few of them out to take a more detailed look around then accompanied Mr. Hutchison into his office.

“Would you like a drink?” asked Hutchinson, pouring an amber liquid from a bottle he took from the cabinet behind the desk.

“No thank you sir” David replied.

“I could use a drink” Hutchinson said.

“Things don’t look so bad” David said gruffly, attempting to act positive “the coalition seems to be rebuilding everything they destroyed.”

“Bah all the contracts go to government subsidized corporations straight from Magrathea and what do we get? We get new taxes and whole heap of new regulations; I don’t think I’m going to be able to compete.”

“I’m sorry to hear that and I wish I could help but we’re here to save lives not commit suicide trying to prove a point. Speaking of which, how are our boys doing?”

“They’re holed up pretty tight on the other side of the main base a few miles north of town but Aranov’s forces are gearing up for an assault now that their reinforcements have arrived.”

“Reinforcements? Well I guess that explains the extra troops in town.”

“Yeah seems the local Major, a man named Carls, called for some backup.”

“Do you know how his forces are laid out?”

“I think there are 3 other camps surrounding the tunnels besides the main one. Sorry I can’t be more specific but they don’t exactly give tours”

“I understand, thanks for all your help and good luck with your troubles.”

“You too, you’re going to need it”
…

As David left Hutchinson’s office he noted with satisfaction that all the equipment had been taken out through Hutchinson’s back tunnel, David idly wondered what exactly Hutchinson used to load into his shipments after they had been checked by customs. He saw some of his recruits talking together, boasting back and forth.

“We’re going to massacre those coalition bastards tomorrow; they’re not going to know what hit them.”

David shook his head, they would learn … or they would die. He got back on his bike and headed out into the countryside. Once well outside of town he couldn’t help but gun the engine and start climbing the foothills at reckless speed. Out in the wilderness with the roar of the wind in his ears he could forget everything and just live in the moment. At these speeds one mistake, one missed turn could smash his body flat. He concentrated every fiber of his being on the split second reactions that would keep him alive. He swerved into the rendezvous point and with the silence of the engines came the silent accusations of all those he had failed to save, well this time would be different; he would save the men in those caves. Captain Gage walked over from the nearby grove of trees as the dust settled.

“It always astounds me that you don’t kill yourself riding like that David; sometimes I just think you’re crazy.”

“Best to die doing what you love, I think. It’s certainly better than getting ripped apart by the Zerg or blown apart by the coalition.”

“Fair enough.”

“Everyone make it in ok?”

“Yep all wraiths are accounted for. We came in well wide of the Aranov positions and, before you ask no sign of any ravens, we weren’t spotted.”

“Good. What’s the lay of the land?”

“Aranov’s forces have our boys sieged in well, they’ve got all the entrances covered. If we want to get to our boys we’ll have to take out one of those outposts. There’s a good LZ back that way with limited approaches. We should be able to keep it covered assuming you take out their ravens.”
…

David calmly walked into the bar, past the tables filled with off duty soldiers and over to the table in the corner where lieutenant Jameson was sitting.

“So what did you find out? Anything on these reinforcements our Major Carls called for?” David asked quietly.

“That’s just the thing sir, he didn’t ask for them. The troops are all abuzz about it; some bigwig called Xavier, sent by Aranov himself, came down and threw Major Carls out of his own office. His troops are pissed and looking for someone to vent their frustration on; hate to say it but that someone is probably going to be us.”

“Dam I was hoping they’d only have some glorified grunt calling the shots. Guess it’d be too much to ask that this Xavier be a political appointment without any actually tactical experience. You ever heard of him?”

“Nope”

“Me either. What kind of forces does he have?”

“So far we’ve only seen infantry battalions, if they have heavier forces they’re keeping them hidden. We’ve seen several large air patrols, mostly Vikings. They have more ships than us and they have raven support.”

“Well that complicates things. Get back to the ship and tell them to circle around to the north there’s a good evacuation point up there. Use the cloak, nobody will notice in all this traffic”

“Yes Sir”
…

“So that’s the plan” David said and stared around at his gathered senior officers.

“It’s risky, if they catch us in the open a lot of us could die” said Doctor Powell.

“I don’t see that we have any choice, if we don’t do anything those men in the caves die” replied David. “Keep your stim packs handy and you should be ok. Any questions? No? Alright then, everyone get some rest, we begin an hour before dawn, at the end of the night watch when they’ll be the least alert.” Maybe we’ll get some glare too he thought. “And don’t forget to lay those mines Michael.”

As the meeting broke up Thomas came over and said “you always did have more balls than brains, there’s an awful lot of ifs in that plan.”

“Like I said we don’t really have a choice. I do wish we knew more about this Xavier guy, how he might respond. The rest are calculated risks, the Consectorate isn’t know for using banshees and we haven’t seen any dropships although Gage should be able to keep a handle on the latter.”
…

“3 … 2 … 1, there go the flares.” David watched as a moment later the NWW outpost came under attack. Well we’re committed now David thought; now it’s time to see how they respond.
…

Major Carls stormed into the command station “You told me you swept those hills captain” he said with a glare “How’d you miss these rebels.”

“I don’t know Sir; there aren’t that many. There’s a lot of land out there to hide the last few stragglers and they do have a few cloak wraiths. They’ve also neutralized our raven’s detection somehow.”

“Now that’s just sloppy soldier. Mobilize the men and crush them before they dive under ground like the ants they are and don’t forget to bring more ravens”

“Yes Sir”

Carls turned and froze at the hulking figure silhouetted in the doorway. “What are you doing here?” Carls growled. The man’s seeming lack of emotion unnerved him.

“This is my command is it not? What are you doing?”

“Just slaughtering a few sheep” he said, uncomfortable at how Xavier’s eyes seemed to see inside him.
…

David watched as a couple of his vultures zoomed into NW entrance to the caves to begin their search for survivors. He doubted whether the Coalition troops had even seen them behind the marine line, engaged as they were. Immediately Powell pulled his troops back. Powell had some of the more seasoned troops and they retreated with perfect discipline; David had kept the rash hotheads with him.

“Good low casualties, we only lost a few marines” he muttered

The entire operation had taken less than a minute but he knew it would elicit a response from the coalition base.

“Now we wait” he said “and see what they do.”

The wraiths continued their assault and Powell kept his troops in view and rendezvoused with the "troops" hidden in the tree line. From a distance the dummies looked pretty convincing. Powell turned as if gearing up for another push.

“What can the AIA do for you, Major Carls?” A friendly female hologram answered, wearing the Aranov Intelligency Agency uniform.

“I’d like to get some information on a ghost.”

“I am sorry, but Ghost information is highly classified.” She said with a friendly smile.

“I know, I know. I just wanna know whatever isn’t classified. I’ve done this before, alright? You are allowed to do things like confirm existence and orders if I am involved, and I am involved.”

“You are correct. What is the name of the operative?” She asked, and he could see her typing on a keyboard that wasn’t displayed on the hologram.

“Xavier Origin.”

The woman typed a bit, her face showed a hint of surprise for a fraction of a second, and then she turned back to Carls.

“I am sorry, but Xavier Origin does not exist.”

“What? He showed up here with an army and took command of mine!”

More typing and reading.

“That is correct.”

“Wait, you’re saying those are his orders, but he doesn’t exist?”

“You are correct.”

“You know what, I don’t even wanna know. Carls’ out.”



Cloaked Wraiths. All air was shot down together with the flagship.

Only Outsider technology we know is capable of blocking Ravens are medics. There are a lot of them in the tunnels, but those would get spotted if they left.

And being able to take out one of our outposts that quickly...

“You there.” Xavier called to someone who looked like he knew what he was doing.

“Yes, sir?” The man asked. Xavier looked over him quickly. Glasses, insecure smile, body armor instead of a CMC suit, no rifle - just a pistol... ****yst or technician.

“Tell Carls and whoever is in charge of the patrol ship to start searching for an Outsider flagship. Then contact Magrathea. Tell them to get the Heavy ready and over here. ID code X-01.”

“That’s a rather short ID code, sir...”

“I know.” Xavier said and pointed at the same code printed in big white letters on the chest of his black ghost suit.

Xavier turned back to the hologram, displaying the system and available forces. He looked at the flagship with a skull’n’bones logo beside it’s name.

I sure as hell could use those banshees and reapers.

“What’s your name, kid?” He asked.

“Lamond, sir.”

“Lamond, reinforce our other outposts. Build a handful of missile turrets and bunkers at each, and do the same here. Tell the troops to leave the bunkers half empty.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

“And get me the best five marines, marauders, two ravens, five wraiths and ten vikings.”

“Yessir, anything else?”

“No, I’m going to go get my gun.”

Troops at the outposts are doubled, 3 bunkers and 2 missile turrets are added to each, all bunkers are half empty to give the illusion of a larger army.

The Aranov Heavy on Magrathea is preparing to reinforce Dunar. 2 ICs until Arrival. Xavier really wants those siege tanks and ghosts. Details below.

The Aranov Patrol is actively searching for the Outsider flagship. Seeing as David's ship landed in a civilian port, any suspicious and/or unauthorized take-offs will be reported.

Xavier is heading out into the field to check on the destroyed outpost with his small force of 5 marines, 5 marauders, 2 ravens, 5 wraiths and 10 vikings. Wraiths don’t have cloak. The group will not go into a full engagement, but Xavier won’t hesitate to abuse his 100 damage 9 range attack and movement speed of 4. He will prioritize detection, then medics. The infantry squad has been ordered to stay a good distance behind him.

Marine 100 + C. Shield
Marauder 50 + Conc.
Ghost 20 + Cloak
Siege Tank 60 + Siege.
Thor 10
Medivac 20
Viking 20
Raven 20
Science Vessel 20
Battlecruiser 10 + Yamato
Supply: 700
All lv1 ups

Weapons 4
Armor 4
Manueverability 2
Security 3
Cargo 7
Speed 3

Health 1000
Energy 400
Mov Speed 4
Armor 4
Sight 9
DPS 80
Range 9
AoE(area) 0
Abilities 4

Weapon: Rail Sniper
Damage: 100
Speed: 1.25
Range: 9


Abilities:
Rail Overload: 50 energy
Deals 200 damage to target (No target type limitations)
Unnatural Metabolism: (passive)
Constantly regenerates 20 health/s and 3 energy/s. Can convert energy into health. (1:1 ratio)
Unnatural Psionics: (Passive)
Takes 50% less spell damage. His energy can not be affected by anything unfriendly. His movement can’t be affected by debuffs apart from anything that uses solids (Force Field, FG).
Permanently Cloaked

David noticed movement in the Coalition camp. Here we go he thought. To his surprise a considerable force moved toward him to reinforce the SEE and NNE bases and only a small platoon moved west toward Powell’s position. Was this Xavier just exceedingly cautious or had he seen through David’s ruse?

“Sir,” said Lt. Jameson “see that tall man leading those men west? I’m pretty sure that’s Xavier himself; he matches his description perfectly.”

“He’s even crazier than you” came Captain Gage’s crackling over the short wave radio.

“Sir this is a golden opportunity. He’s even well ahead of those guards of his. Let me take my vultures in. We’ll blast him and be gone before his men even catch up. When are we going to get a high ranking Aranov officer this defenseless again” Jeremy put in.

Young and rash he might be but the vulture commander had a point. Still something didn’t feel right to David. The man’s tactics seemed overly cautious yet he walked into a combat zone as if it were a stroll in the park. David looked down at his watch, the clock was ticking Boone was always punctual. David looked at the outposts again; no this Xavier wasn’t a fool; he had learned from his mistakes and was putting up missile turrets for detection instead of ravens.

“Negative on that engagement, something doesn’t feel right here. Doctor Powell, disengage your wraiths and have them cover drops in the north then begin retreating your forces. North Squadron, join our assault. And Doctor …” David paused he didn’t want to give the order but knew it had to be done.

“David?”

“Circle wide of the leader then flare those ravens”

“… Yes Sir”

“Boys, let’s move out” now it’s my turn he thought.

…

As his men moved toward the outpost David gunned the engine and zoomed toward the bunkers at reckless speed. Bullets sprayed around him as the sun burst over the horizon behind him; he felt like some mythological god, an agent of divine justice. A red mist descended over his vision and he began to growl deep in his throat. These were the men who had cost him everything. And if their murdering past was not enough they were coming out here and stealing the lives of the honest men and women of the fringe. These bloody pirates had to be stopped.

The combination of the glare, surprise and trying to hit a target moving over 200 miles per hour meant their shots sailed past David and into the dust. He pulsed the engine and leaped the barbed wire entirely swerving through the coalition lines before anyone could respond. So surprised by the vulture hurtling so fast toward them, half the coalition soldiers hadn’t even seen the swarm of marine following it until their fire ripped into the defenses. David broadcast once, twice and saw with satisfaction the sensor arrays on the missile turrets erupt with showers of sparks. Right on queue Gage and the wraith squadron hit and several medivacs fell burning from the sky. David flipped almost on his side in a sharp turn blasting 2 unsuspecting marines with the full force of his thrusters. He zipped in a tight curve near a bunker wall and at the last second cut the traction control and fired into the bunker just as he spun past. It was at that moment Boone, leading a platoon from the tunnel complex, hit from the rear. Already engaged, the coalition forces had been unable to prevent the firebats from closing and were now being roasted by a wall of flame.

Unable to maneuver quickly in close quarters David had come under heavy fire, a bullet nicked into the windscreen, another dinged off the side then a grenade exploded right in the repeller field. David went into a tumble and only years of experience and his quick reflexes saved him. As he skidded to a stop Lt. Jameson ran by.

“Sir, you have to get the men out of the tunnels.”

It was only then that the red mist began to clear and he remembered that he was supposed to get down into the tunnels and find the rest of the survivors once he had disabled the turrets. There was a lot of ground to cover in those tunnels and it would take forever on foot. He zoomed toward the cave entrance cursing his stupidity. Because the coalition commander hadn’t reacted with troops to the supposed threat in the West there was still a very large force very nearby so they didn’t have much time. He took the curves at speeds even he thought stupid, bouncing his repellers on the walls. He was losing control and tried to pull up his nose and pulse the engine. It was this that saved him, moving up the wall and even onto the ceiling for a second as the flames engulfed the space he would have been had he not tried to stop.

“Don’t kill me you idiots, I’m here to rescue you. I’m David Canmore, here’s my authorization code” he said stepping around the corner with his hands up to the leveled rifles of marines.

One of them took it and ran it through a scanner then handed it back and said “Sorry Sir but we’ve been on edge ever since the shooting started”

“Speaking of which we haven’t got much time lets go”

…

David came back out into the light to find the battle over. Faced with seemingly undetectable enemies and attacks from multiple sides the coalition forces had broken but were regrouping at the main base and would probably be reinforced soon. He surveyed the battlefield and saw far more marine bodies than he had planned but had no time to think about it now.

A firebat walked up to him and raised his visor, releasing a cloud of smoke from the cigar he had been smoking inside of his helmet.

“Thanks for the rescue Sir; our final platoon should be along shortly”

David glanced toward the main base, no movement yet but it would only be a matter of time

“Doctor Powell, report.”

“Sir” came Jeremy’s voice over the radio.

“Sergeant Cohen put Doctor Powell on”

“I can’t Sir, he’s dead”

“What? How?” David asked although he already knew the answer.

“He personally led the team to take out the ravens. They were able to get the flares off but then that officer turned, he didn’t even break stride, and shot them both. He was already at the encampment and they were still at the tree line but he barely paused to aim. I’ve never seen shooting like that before.”

David clenched his jaw; Powell had realized what he was doing and had gone himself. Powell wasn’t the sort of man who could ever send another man to his death but David had had to know. He could deal with his conscience when everyone was safe.

They were out of time. Xavier had responded to the perceived threat with a powerful response, he’d come himself. That meant he had reinforced the other outposts because he was a conservative commander which meant he’d probably already called for backup. It was time to go.

“Sorry soldier, they’ll just have to catch up; we can’t hold this position.”

“You can’t just leave them here”

A memory flashed through David’s mind of the Zerg invasion. After repairing the ship he’d refused to leave until the last family had made it on board but by then the Zerg had caught them. They hadn’t been prepared for what he’d done to the engines and they’d gotten away, barely, but not before the Zerg blew open one of the retrofitted cargo holds, taking 100 people to their deaths.

“If I don’t, we all die. Let’s get moving everyone. Thomas fan out to the north and don't let any of their ships near the Iolaos."

The ravens following Xavier were flared but Xavier killed 2 medics
David attacked the SEE outpost and rendezvoused with 2 platoons of survivors
David is now at the Eastern entrance to the caves and beginning to retreat
The wraiths are beginning to patrol around the Iolaos to prevent it being spotted (there are currently none to the West as David pulled groups over to get more men for his attack)

Doctor Gregory Powell: A medical doctor in the core Dr. Powell grew frustrated with the uncaring manner that the government treated the fringe worlds, failing to provide them with adequate medical supplies. In an attempt to rectify this, Dr. Powell agitated until he received funding for medical expeditions to the fringe. He was on such an expedition with his son, a young doctor himself, when the Zerg invaded. Dr. Powell gathered as many refugees as he could and took them to where his government transport was supposed to meet him only to find that they had been ordered to abandon the planet. Powell is a dedicated pacifist and refuses to kill, even members of the government that betrayed him. However he is willing to go into battle to save the lives of the brave yound men who do fight the coalition.
Unit: medic

Captain Thomas Gage: One of David’s few surviving childhood friends; Thomas used to race hoverbikes with him but has become more interested in spaceships as an adult. A capable pilot he leads David’s wraith squadron. Not having suffered the same losses as David Thomas does not hate the Coalition, he even respects Dr. Neal Smith, but does oppose them intellectually. A loyal friend and witness to all David’s accomplishments Thomas will fight them him to the end.
Unit: wraith

Lieutenant Jameson: A career soldier Jameson is fighting the coalition to exact revenge because they abandoned his platoon during the Zerg invasion. Having fought in many battles Jameson knows that having a capable commander is the best way to stay alive and so believes David is his best bet for survival. Originally part of the military Jameson leads David’s infantry with more formality than most of his militia force.
Unit: marine

Sergeant Jeremy Cohen: A hot headed youth straight off the farm Jeremy is eager to take down the evil empire that is the Coalition. He caught David’s eye performing a number of dangerous stunts on his vulture that impressed even David. As such David has taken him somewhat under his wing, teaching him about engines and hoverbikes. Always the center of attention Jeremy is a leader among the recruits of David’s force and the second in command of his vulture devision.
Unit: vulture

Sergeant Nathaniel Boone: An old vulture pilot which, given the volatility of the vehicles and nature of many of their missions, is a very rare thing, Boone has learned that the keys to survival are discipline and prudence. A calm voice among his officers David values his opinion; as such Boone leads David’s vulture division.
Unit: vulture