As I walked through the hallway, I couldn't help but take in each face I saw. Every detail was absorbed in my mind incase I might not see that face again.

Today was the day.

I headed to the barracks to get some things and say my final farewells. As I entered there was a dead silence and concentration. This was the time when everyone was thinking about the future.

What was going to happen?

I knew. I knew exactly what was going to happen.

I opened my locker and saw the rookie, Don Jaggert suiting up and wearing a death stare on his face. I went over to reassure him that it would be ok. Being a rookie, he was part of the Armored Infantry Marines.

It wasn't going to be ok for him.

The Captain walked in with a concerned look on his face. "Its time men, lets make your final preparations and be ready within the hour," he said. He gave a last look directing it at me, then turned and left. He also knew what was going to happen.

Everyone was going to die. Maybe not right away, but in the end, everyone was going to die.

I tried not to think about, after repeating the odds of actually living after this, I decided it was best not to repeat them again considering they were way against even me.

I closed my locker, took one last look at everyone in barracks, gave a long, drawn out sigh, and headed for the Deporting Bay to get suited up in my goliath. During my walk, I spotted my best friend, Trey heading in the same direction. He was wearing the same face and in the same state of mind as everyone else, regretfully heading towards their dooms.

"Hey Trey, wait up," I yelled from behind him. He turned to look and gave a sigh of relief when he saw it was me, probably because he wanted to see me one last time. He said nothing as I approached, but only nodded. We walked together silently till we reached our destination and walked to our goliaths.

I noticed a team of engineers putting the finishing touches on my goliath. I asked the head engineer what they had done. "Well, we've added a special stun laser which explodes on impact, stunning everything in a 30 foot radius. We've also added dual jet engines on the back which can propel the goliath up to 40 feet in the air. And lastly, i've added the targeting device for Nuclear Warhead."

I nodded and thanked the engineer while climbing into my goliath. As the hatch went down, I strapped myself in. "Weapons..check, logistics...check, fuel...check, targeting...check," I said, reassuring myself. If I had any chance of surviving, everything better be working properly.

The bay doors opened and our platoon of goliaths, slowly advanced out of the building and prepared to group outside. Suddenly, the commander of the citadel came up on the COM screen. A flashback hit at the site of his face as I remember the meeting we had yesterday.

In the oval room, a group of 20 captains and the commander, sat staring at a 3D image of the land. The commander pointed at a spot about 50 miles north of the citadel. "This is where we'll stage the ambush, here on these 2 cliffs. We hope to trap the main Zerg force in the canyon below. We'll seal off the only exits and pray to god they can't climb fast. Now I won't lie to you, the main Zerg force numbers at least 3 times ours. We will need every man to fight to the death for us to win here...," suddenly, a messenger ran in and whispered something to the commander. A pained expression ran across the commander's face, and I new something was up to no good.

"We've gotta problem men, I've just received info about a second Zerg force heading in from the southeast. This 2nd Zerg contains about the same number of units as us, any ideas about what to do now?" There was a dead silence as each man stared at nothing. The odds were just turned from bad to deadly. At that moment, an idea hit me. Although, I didn't like it, it seemed like the only available option.

"Sir, I have an idea," I said as I raised my hand.

"Well, what is it captain?"

"I'll take my platoon and head off the SE Zerg force. I'll let them chase us and redirect their movement. Then when I arrive at Lake Moonbeam, we'll head on the other side of the lake. We'll have a platoon of marines jump out behind the Zerg from the caves and force them into the water. From my reports, I hear they can't swim very well. This will confuse and disrupt some of their organization. Then I launch a targeting device into the lake, run to the caves with my platoon, and let the nuke hit 'em.

The commander stared as he contemplated on my idea, thinking if it would actually work. I'd knew he'd have to agree because it was our only option.

"Captain, there is only one problem, Lake Baikel is about 20 miles from the position where you'd approach the Zerg. This means you'll have to have the Zerg force chase you for 20 miles! I don't see sound reasoning in that considering the speed and relentlessness of the Zerg."

I nodded and said, "Well sir, thats a chance we'll have to take." He couldn't disagree. But he was right. The odds of making it to the lake alive we're slim to none. At least I wouldn't have to witness the huge slaughter at the northern ambush.

I shook my head as I returned from the flashback. "Ok captain, you know what you have to do," he said eerily over the COM screen. "Good luck and godspeed, commander out."

"Alright, marine platoon 237 and goliath platoon 81, its time to move. Our direction is 30 miles SE. Lets move out ASAP. Marine platooon 432, your destination is the caves 30 miles south, move out." As my goliath started moving forward, I still couldn't help thinking about what was going to happen today. Our platoon of goliaths were heading on their last march bravely to the spot of battle. Time dragged by, seeming almost forever yet hardly long enough till we reached our destination.

"Alright men, lets line up and wait," I said almost sadly. "I know you know what we have to do and I am not going to give some poetic speech. Lets do what we have to do and get it over with." I wasn't one for passionate battle speechs and I felt what I said was enough.

I glanced to me right to see Trey in his goliath, still wearing the death stare. He managed a meak smile and I returned it, hoping he was one of the fortunate few who might live. He was bright and would have a good life ahead of him. I continued thinking about nothing and everything when I spotted something on the horizon. Thousands of zerg were flowing over the horizon like a thick river of mud.

To be continued....

Thank you for reading my first try at writing a full fiction story for Starcraft.