"You don't have to be korean to beat your protoss, because you collapse under heavy metal like an old woman with a broken hip."
-Micro
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| Death's Embrace: Chapter 2 | | | Author: | | | IP: | slip-32-XXXX | | Date: | 06/11/00 11:06 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 8, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for ScreamStalker: 7.5385 |  | Welcome back everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of Death's Embrace. If you did not have the chance to read it, you can obtain it as well as all my other stories here. Enjoy.
Death's Embrace: Chapter 2
As I watched in horror, more and more of my base was destroyed. The attack from above showed no mercy, and the faces of nearly all the new recruits went white at the realization of this. The camp was like a chicken with its head cut off, scrambling around with no sense of where to go or what to do. Troops fired blindly up the cliff edges, only getting themselves massacred in the process. SCVs darted this way and that, doing their best to repair whatever was engulfed in flames, and still dodge the deadly energy rounds. It wasn't until the Commander's voice boomed across the canyon that things began to quiet down.
The Commander was a smart man, and I remember his orders well. He told the Spaceport pilots to lift off and land in the most stable area out of the range of the cannons. He also instructed them to begin production of as many drop ships as possible. He then tried his best to keep all infantry and mechanization pilots calm, by telling them to remember their training, and fight for their country. About that time, the alien war cries of dozens of Protoss troops could be heard from above, echoing mechanically off the walls of the gorge, and resounding in the ears of all. Most troops, at the sound of this, dove for the nearest building, some even buried themselves in the snow, hoping to be spared. Apparently, the Commander's speak was not as effective as he hoped. I, on the other hand, simply laughed, thinking I might get some action after all.
My hopes were not about to be let down. The destruction of the last missile turret brought with it the arrival of four abnormal shuttles. Each shuttle landed in the outskirts of our encampment, and unloaded its cargo. Now, I have no idea what the other three shuttles dropped, but the one closest to my band let loose a Dragoon, and a giant Reaver. I had read up on my Protoss customs, and I recalled that the Reaver discharged a small electromagnetic impulse called a scarab. As I watched with curiosity, the metallic slug's body compacted and retracted, and loaded a white hot sphere into the front mandibles. These mandibles then split apart, allowing the sphere to whiz towards my company at an alarming rate.
Allowing my instincts to fight for me, I leapt sideways as the bomb erupted where my body had been, melting some of the rubber on the soles of my feet. One of my fellow marines had not been so smart, for his body was blown apart into bloody pulp. Rolling into a crouch, I was surprised by a presence pushing against my back. Whipping my rifle around, I came face to face with Plasma, my friend from the barracks. Smiling at the coincidence, we both initiated our stimulation packs, and charged the dragoon.
The Dragoon was smart, even in its reincarnated state. It danced around, allowing the Reaver enough time to reload, and fire yet another scarab at Plasma and myself. Once again, we both dodged certain death, vaulting straight over the sphere and resuming our charge. A disintegration bolt whizzed by my head, as I unloaded a volley of U-238 shells straight into the bulk of the alien spider. The shells made an audible thwack as they landed in the psionic shield of the Dragoon. With a little help from Plasma, the Goon's shields were soon depleted and it was forced to flee.
I began to give chase, but was thrown sideways by a large explosion. Pieces of shrapnel and armor landed all about me as I looked up to find what had delayed my course of action. I was rather happy though when I realized that a final archlite shell had ended the Reaver's life, and a small grin come across my face before I diverted my attention back to the Dragoon. The spider had taken advantage of the diversion, and had done its best to put distance between itself and our painful rifles. Unfortunately for it, one of its four legs had been blown out by a shell, and the Goon was forced to operate with only three appendages.
I had to use my gun to keep myself from crumpling to the ground in laughter. When Plasma regained his footing, curiosity sprang into his face at the sight of my state. I quickly pointed out to him the Dragoon's predicament, and a small smile crossed his lips, but every time Plasma looked at me after that, I always caught a small trace of wariness in his eyes. After I had regained my composure, I swiftly targeted the escaping Protossian, and ended its life with a burst from my weapon. No sooner had I done so, when Plasma and I were hit from behind.
Two Zealots that had survived the initial battle that had been fought while I was dodging Reaver scarabs, leapt onto myself and my partner from behind. Without even thinking, I used the momentum of my attacker and flipped him over my shoulders onto the snowy earth. Surprise shown brightly in the Zealot's glowing blue orbs that I guessed he used as eyes, at the chance of encountering such a resourceful Terran marine. Again, I chuckled to myself as I retrieved my fallen gauss rifle from the ground, pointed it at the Zealot's albino forehead, and unloaded. It took me at least two hours to scrub the deep blue ectoplasm of my boots later that evening.
Once I had finished with my adversary, I wheeled about to check on Plasma. He was not doing so well. He too had lost his rifle from the initial hit, and was doing his best to avoid getting slashed by the energy blades of the Zealot which now had him pinned to the ground. Acting quickly, I slammed the blunt end of my weapon into the assassin's face, causing him to release his hold on my friend. Instead of ending its life right then and there, I decided to have a little fun. I removed one of three special grenade rounds from a clip in my suit and attached it to the end of my gun. Using a small knife given to all marines, I cut a large hole in the exposed left flank of the beast, and fired my grenade directly into the open wound. You should have seen the mess it made.
That had been the last of the first wave of the Protoss troops, and my base had successfully defended against it. Unfortunately, the entire camp was in ruins. Nearly all of the main technical buildings had been destroyed in the battle. The Command Center was engulfed in flames, and as I surveyed the destruction done, several surviving SCVs worked diligently to repair it. Only the star port remained unharmed, and during the fight, had been able to produce three drop ships. As my eyes traveled over the snow, once pristine in appearance, now soaked through by hot blood, the Commander's voice again sounded over the intercom system.
His voice sounded tired, exhausted even, but he relayed his orders without pause. "The Protoss are too strong for our noble troops to handle," he said. "Our only choice is to flee this moon, and our enemies. It is with a heavy heart, that I decree the Protoss the champions of this land." With that said, the three drop ships spread about the valley, rescuing any troops or workers that had been lucky enough to survive. Myself and Plasma soon found ourselves harnessed into one of the three ships, after having our injuries nursed by a medic that was also on board.
The ships, and remaining buildings set out in a course towards the closest Terran planet, Varfleet. Once back on home soil, the news of our defeat spread quickly throughout the masses, but so did the stories of heroism that had taken place in the battle. I remember a huge banquet that took place at the embassy in the capital of the Terran planet, Tiar. Plasma, myself, and several others were given medals of honor for our bravery, and allowed a short period of rest in which we might do anything we chose.
I was very busy in that time. Word got out of the brutality that I possessed. Many soldiers and civilians approached me while I wandered the streets and centers of Tiar, inquiring about the rumors they had heard about how I had defeated two Zealots single handedly. I would simply grin at these people, and tell them that I didn't really remember the battle all that well, even though I could recall it perfectly. This was usually enough to discourage the askers, and cause them to return to whatever it was they were doing.
One night in Tiar changed my life forever. I was out wandering about as usual, taking in all the sights and sounds of a world I had never before encountered, when I was approached by two men. I figured they wanted to know about the rumors, so I instantly put on my game face, and smiled as they walked toward my position. I soon discovered that this was not the case. One of the men stopped several yards away from me, and observed the surrounding area, scanning for any snoops or crooks. The other man continued on his path, and stopped directly before me. He then leaned close to me, so that his mouth was directly besides my ear, and muttered, "We have a proposition for you".
Normally, I would not have even considered following these two strangers, at night, in an unknown city, but I had at least three weeks left of my "vacation" period, and I was already growing bored, so I decided to follow them up on their offer. I nodded my approval to the man, and followed him and his companion down a street and into an alley. Once in the alley, I noticed three hover bikes. I instantly realized that the bikes were standard issue vulture combat cycles, but had been altered in many ways. The man motioned me to take a seat on the back of one of the vehicles, and after shrugging my shoulders, I did as I was told.
My comrades and I exited the alley and turned onto a major roadway. We traveled down that passage for a while before entering a series of darkened alleys and side streets. I was secretly hoping the dark men would give me a ride back to my hostile, for I was completely lost. At last we turned into a cracked and run down parking area, where the men cut the engines of their cycles. I followed them silently into a near destroyed warehouse, that had definitely seen better days. It was an old brick building, faded by years of light exposure. It stood several stories high, but I would have been skeptical to climb to any of those upper floors, for even from my street perch, they looked unstable.
The men lead me through the building, to an atrium, which sole occupant was an elevator in the center of it. The elevator looked new, or at least well kept. Its chrome doors and plated shaft walls providing a bright contrast to the dreary warehouse sides and floors. We took the elevator up a few stories, I don't know how many because there weren't any buttons or panels indicating what floor we were on, until it came to an abrupt start. The doors slid back, and I found myself amazed.
The elevator opened directly into a gigantic office, that shined and sparkled even with the absence of sunlight. The walls, like the elevator doors, were pure chrome, and were void of any doors of windows. Above my head, several fans whirred noiselessly, while fluorescent lights provided visibility to the occupants. The room itself, was sparsely decorated, consisting only of a black leather couch and a stainless steel desk, which all stood in front of a huge black leather chair. In that chair sat a man I had seen before, but couldn't recall where. His smiling face and rosy cheeks seemed to be the only living thing in that office, save myself. Even the men who approached me earlier seemed lifeless, as their black clad forms took up statuesque positions beside their boss's desk.
As I peered in wonder at the room, wondering how it could have sustained such perfection in such a dirty place, the bearded man rose began to speak. "Welcome friend," he said. "I am glad to see that you have decided to at least hear what I have to offer you. If you would please take a seat."He motioned toward the couch. "I would gladly explain why I requested you come here. You see, I have an opportunity of a lifetime for you."
End of chapter 2. I hope you all enjoyed it. I think I fixed the font problem this time. You guys know I like comments so keep um coming. More to come soon.
ScreamStalker
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