The Hyperion flew across the sky of Meinhoff.
Jean looked out the window of the bridge and glanced at the creep that covered the vast majority of the planet.
Creep was one of the most powerful “weapons” of the swarm. While they couldn’t do damage, they could deliver nutrition to zerg units and make it easier for them to move, attack, and heal. A zerg on creep was much stronger than a zerg off creep. The organisms that generated creep, creep tumors, were also technically alive and had connections to the zerg psionic network. They could deliver what they felt to the broodmother in command. In a way, they were the eyes and ears of the swarm. Their presence made sure that any attacker that tried to sneak onto zerg territory would be noticed the moment he touched the creep.
The fact that the creep covered most of the planet meant most of the planet was under complete zerg domination. It wouldn’t take long for the infested forces to be freed and be sent to the position the survivors were at. The infested weren’t the fastest units, but the creep covered that problem.
The Raiders needed to hurry up.
“Have you located the broodmother?” She turned to Horner. The captain has been patrolling the Hyperion over the planet and scanning for a special psionic scent.
Broodmothers were much more powerful psionically compared to normal infested terran units. They gave off a much stronger scent that scanners from the Hyperion could catch onto. Once that scent was caught, the Hyperion could unleash its firepower upon the foul commander.
“Not yet.” Horner replied without moving his eyes off the computer screen. The broodmother’s scent was obvious, but it was a huge planet, and unless they were extremely lucky it would take a while for the Hyperion to stumble upon where the broodmother was.
Jean nodded and turned back to outside the window.
In one of the entrances at the colonist base, two marines stood side by side.
The first layer of the entrance was a blockade made up of a layer of abandoned vehicles at the front of the road. In a state of panic, the colonists threw everything they had in the way of the infested, but unlike zombies in horror movies, infested terran weren’t mindless beasts. Infested terran were bio-weapon of one of the most advanced races in the sector. A wall couldn’t stop them.
Even now, both marines could hear the sound of mutated claws going through metal. The infestation gifted the infested terran with all sorts of weapons, and claws capable of going through metal was one of them.
The second line of defense was made up of human bodies in the middle of the entrance. Marines and bunkers could gun down most of the incoming horde that came over the wall, or at least that was the plan. Around 80 men were at this entrance alone.
The third and the final line of defense was a line of empty bunkers at the end of the road. They weren’t occupied, yet, but if things really got worse the marines at the second line could fall back to the third. Reserves, a squad of fifty war pigs that Raynor kept with himself, could be deployed as well.
The two marines were at the second line. All the bunkers were full, so they were unfortunate enough to be stuck in the open. The bunkers were much safer than the open, but they were already occupied by ruthless mercenaries. These elite veterans weren’t polite enough to leave the safe haven to their comrades at the cost of their own safety.
One of the marines was an elite. His standard helmet and blue armor distinguished him from war pigs, who had T shaped helmets, and Agrian militias, who had white stripes on their blue armors. That only left one identity, and that was one of the original Raiders.
The way the man rested his gauss rifle next to his shoulder softly also indicated that. His large shield was positioned to cover most of his body and all of his critical body parts, leaving just his legs out vulnerable. It made sure his chance of survival was as large as possible.
Behind him, his fellow sister in arm was completely different. A white stripe on the side of her armor meant this rookie came from Agria. The armor hid her shaking body, but her deep breath couldn’t be covered by her armor. A large shield was in her grip. Her CMC armor made sure she could hold onto the heavy defense with ease, but she was still constantly adjusting the position of the shield. It was as if every single position she took was wrong and would result in her painful demise the moment battle truly started.
The veteran looked at his comrade and saw a shadow of himself back in his first battle years ago. Marines weren’t even given combat shields back then. He was also constantly moving and checking his gauss rifle, not that it helped in any way shape or form when the battle started.
“You should calm yourself.” He said through his opened helmet. Standard protocol called for all marines to keep their helmets shut at all times, but some marine preferred to keep their helmets open so they could talk with their comrades. All of the marines were equipped with radios that everyone in their squad had access to, but some things shouldn’t be said in public.
Of course, when the fighting truly began almost every marine would shut their helmets for maximum security, but the battle hasn’t started yet.
The female marine heard the man and opened her helmet as well.
“What?” Her mouth was dry.
“I said you should calm down. You’re just wasting your energy.”
The female marine gulped.
“I came from Agria.” She suddenly said.
The man glanced at the white stripe on the female marine’s shoulder but didn’t say anything. He knew the female marine didn’t say what she said because she wanted to socialize. She was trying to distract herself and bring down her stress level. All he had to do was be quiet and listen.
“My mother died when I was 12. My father was a miner.” She paused. “When the zerg came down from the sky, he took out a rifle he kept and tried to protect me. He didn’t make it. A zerg. A zergling,” She emphasized on the name. Her teeth held tight. “ripped open his throat. He died right in front of my eyes. You know what I did?”
She didn’t wait until the male marine to answer.
“I picked up the gun on the ground and emptied the magazine into the zergling’s head.”
The elite marine looked at him, feeling slightly sorry for her, but he knew this was not a special occurrence. Individual civilians abandoned by the Terran Dominion had no way of fending for themselves. Death wasn’t even the worst possibility. Infestation was.
“I’m lucky Dr. Hanson found me. I was brought to her camp. The militias needed everyone that could find, and they had more armors than their men needed, so I was given an armor and a rifle and drafted into the militia. The plan was to escort all the colonists to the transports in one wave. It was a terrible plan, but it was the only one.”
“I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I didn’t care. I no longer want to live. My mom died. My dad died. Everyone I cared and loved died at the hand of these damned beasts. What is there to live for?” She gestured at the other end of the wall.
“Then the Raiders came. You came. Countless dropships came down from the sky like an army from heaven. You guys saved us. You guys, a bunch of rebels, stood by us when the might of the Terran Dominion fled with their tails between their legs.”
“I am just an ordinary woman. I have nothing to repay you by. All I can do is join you guys and repay your kindness with my life.”
“Plus, the Dominion abandoned us and the zerg slaughtered us. Only in the Raiders can I make both of them suffer.”
Both went silent as the female marine felt tears down her cheek, but she was no longer afraid. Instead, her heart was filled by something called faith.
Faith in justice. Faith in the Raiders.
“Get ready!” The veteran marine suddenly warned. The female marine turned and saw a hole in the wall. One of the civilian vehicles was reduced into a pile of scrap, and its absence left an opening.
A figure went through the opening. It was a human being, or at least it used to be a human being. The civilian clothes on him suggested he used to be a colonist, but the tentacles coming out of his mouth and the pustule on half his head suggested otherwise. A layer of purple covered his skin. His fingers were long and sharp. The female marine could see a few of his fingers were broken, a price of going through the metal, but the infested didn’t seem to have felt a single sense of pain. Even if it did, the pain didn’t make the infested terran hesitate or falter.
The female marine’s face turned pale. The creature before her was a man a few hours ago, and now it was literally a monster. She couldn’t imagine what type of horror the man went through to be turned into something like this.
Suddenly, she shivered. Can the man still feel? Can the soul within that twisted body still feel the monster it was being turned into? Can it still see and feel when it dug its claws into its own people?
The female marine didn’t know about the others, but she would rather die than be infested.
The infested terran growled and charged forward. Struggling to conceal her urge to throw up, the female marine put her index finger on the trigger of the rifle and, with one last look at the infested, pulled.
Her dragged out firing was clear in the middle of short bursts. Experienced troopers, like mercenaries and Mar Sarans, knew to use short bursts of bullets to save ammunition while still doing sufficient damage, but someone as new and frightened as the female marine didn’t share the same consideration.
The infested colonist was instantly ripped apart, but he was just the beginning. More and more holes were punched open by the swarm, and countless infested charged across the opening and at the line of defense.
All the bunkers and all the marines opened fire. A storm of bullets washed over the army of the infested. Almost instantly, every single infested that moved past the wall was torn apart. Their mutated carapace shattered like paper.
Yet they were just the tip of the iceberg. More and more infested went through the opening. Some even climbed over the obstacles.
The marines kept on firing.
In the bridge, a crew member suddenly turned to his captain with an excited look on his face.
“Sir, scanners have located a psionic signal different from normal zerg units. It should be the broodmother.”
Horner walked to the scanner. “Where?”
The crew member looked at the screen again and suddenly frowned.
“That’s weird…”
“What?”
“I think...I think the signal came from underground.”
“It’s an underground tunnel.” Jean realized. “The broodmother is smart. She knows she doesn’t have the firepower to challenge our ship, so she wants to keep herself safe at all cost.” She turned to Horner. “Can the Hyperion’s guns go through an underground tunnel and still have enough power to kill a broodmother?”
“Depends on the depth of the tunnel.” Horner was obviously unsatisfied by relying on hope.
“Then we need to do two things. First, fire a Yamato Cannon on the cave, then send another strike team down to make sure the broodmother is dead and finish her off if needed.”
Horner nodded. The Yamato Cannon should be able to finish off most of the resistance, and the fifty elite mercenary reapers he kept on the ship were for this exact purpose. They should be enough to deal with any type of trouble.
Half a minute later, the tip of the Hyperion started to glow. Countless energy was combined into a single orange orb of destruction. Air evaporated as the ball of energy smashed onto the surface part of the tunnel.
WIth an ear piercing explosion, everything within a one kilometer radius of the point of impact disappeared. Infested terran were melted. Infested buildings were destroyed. A large hole formed at where the tunnel used to be.
“Sir, the psionic signature is still present.” A crew member delivered the bad news. The Yamato Cannon was powerful, but the broodmother went deep. The layers of earth was enough to protect the broodmother.
“Well then,” Horner tapped his earpiece. “Captain, get your men into the drop pods.”
At the bottom of the ship, the reaper captain and forty nine of his men were waiting in front of ten drop pods. These devices could bring them to the surface of the planet as quickly and as safely as possible.
“Yes sir.” The reaper captain replied as his men started to jump into the pods without a single moment of hesitation. They knew the risk of the mission, but these maniacs weren’t exactly known for their rational thinking.
“Wait a second.” Jean suddenly interrupted. “May I suggest something?”
Horner looked at Jean, waiting for her to speak.
“I suggest the Warden marines go with the reapers. They will be very helpful in going through the infested and taking down the broodmother.”
Horner knew about the Warden marines as well, but he didn’t think this was the brightest idea. “This is not the time for experiments, Jean.” If the Warden marines malfunctioned in the field, then the rest of the team would be put at risk and the entire mission might be compromised.
“I have faith in myself and Swann.” Jean insisted.
Horner took a few seconds to think about this and finally agreed. Forty pairs of extra boots on the ground could be of great help to the mission. Plus, Jean wasn’t the insignificant lieutenant she was when Raynor first got on the Hyperion. The several successful missions she commanded boosted her authority. Even Horner needed to put her thoughts under serious consideration.
He could deny her proposal if he needed to, but he wouldn’t do it unless he absolutely needed to.
A few minutes later, eighteen drop pods were launched at the hole on the ground.
