StarCraft Starcraft: Remnants of the UED

**PROLOGUE: Survival**

"Argh!"

Richard Speyer heard his buddy, Shaun Arimov, scream in fear and pain. He spun around, swinging his gauss rifle to point. Shaun was sprawled on his back, his eyes gaping wide in terror at the Zergling that was upon him, a single claw raised above his head.

Richard quickly brought his gauss rifle up, aiming at the Zergling's head, hoping to fire off a shot to blow it off his friend.

He was too late.

Shaun's scream ended abruptly in a bloody gurgle as the Zergling brought its razor-sharp claw and smashed through the plexi-glass on the front of Shaun's helmet. The claw penetrated through the supposedly shatterproof glass and sank right in. Drops of blood flew out, some landing on the Zergling's ravenous face.

"No!" Richard yelled. Unfortunately, there was no time to grieve for his dead comrade. Gritting his teeth, with hatred pulsing in his veins, Richard squeezed the trigger and sprayed the Zergling with dozens of rounds of molten slugs. The Zergling gave a cry similar to Shaun and collapsed atop Shaun's body like a broken lover, its head shattered by the unyielding rounds.

Richard turned his attention to the other Zerg that were on the battlefield. Already he had lost seven teammates, but they had managed to slaughter dozens of the Zerg. However, the unrelenting swarm of the Zerg continued to descend upon them. It seemed that there was no limit to the number of Zerg that were spawned upon this world. The Zerg were like a disease, infecting and spreading across worlds, unstoppable and merciless. They had devoured several worlds of the UED colonies and would have claimed more if the calculative Protoss hadn't managed to blow apart the other worlds like Chau Sara.

Richard gritted his teeth. "Fall back!" he shouted to the remnants of his platoon. "Retreat! We can't hold them back! We have to go!"

"But, Lieutenant, orders were to hold the ground until…" his second-in-command, Sergeant Aaron Apone protested,

"I'm sorry, Sergeant, but we don't have a choice. I've lost too many of our men already. We'll be overwhelmed if we stay here." Richard nodded, more to himself than anybody else. "We've to go."

"But…"

"Contact the Admiral and ask him for permission to fall back, dammit!" Richard yelled at him. "If you really need Admiral DuGalle's authorization, then call him!"

Apone was already on the radio before Richard could finish his sentence. The Lieutenant sighed, wondering why the Sergeant was still doing things by the book even with imminent death staring at them in the face. Unlike the totalitarian Confederacy, Admiral DuGalle preferred his soldiers to be flexible and adaptable. The UED would much rather have its soldiers alive and operational than slaughtered needlessly just to obey orders.

Richard watched another wave of Zerglings, backed up by meaner and more ferocious as well as intelligent Hydralisks this time, lunged at the defensive perimeter of the weak Terran outpost. The bunkers where most of the Marines and Firebats were cooped up in were already ablaze, with huge gouts of black smoke billowing in the air. Adding to the spectacular view was the muzzle fire of gauss rifles and brilliant displays of the Firebat's flamethrowers. The missile turrets were too heavily damaged, but they unrelentingly launched missiles after missiles at soaring Mutalisks, winged dragon-like Zerg that were unleashing waves of Glave Wurm on the bunkers.

Richard sighed and hoped for a quick response from the Admiral soon. The Captain in charge of this disastrous mission was capable and intelligent enough, but he probably decided to wait for DuGalle's orders, just like Apone.

Richard shut his eyes and wondered how he and his men were going to get out of here alive.

8888

Captain Dwayne Hicks sighed in exasperation as he lost another one of his missile turrets to a Mutalisk attack. The horde of Mutalisks had assaulted the poor structure with their Glave Wurm, parasitic creatures that chewed their way through any material like scissors through paper. They ate their way through the thick armor plating of the defensive turret until they reached the electronics network of the structure. Fortunately, the remaining missile turrets managed to take out the entire horde of Mutalisks without suffering any further loss.

But Dwayne knew that more would arrive soon. He could see them from a distance, arriving as reinforcements to back up the ground troops.

Dwayne banged his fist against the metallic console of his command interface of the giant computer. He was usually a patient and analytical man, but the situation had really gone out of hand this time.

"How did this happen?" he howled, smashing his fist on the console again. Pain shot up his hand, but he ignored it.

_Did you really think you'd be invincible after scoring so many victories in your previous campaign?_ A voice taunted in his head. _Just because you crushed the Terran Dominion and reclaimed Braxis, as well as captured the Zerg Overmind, and received praise from Admiral DuGalle personally while at it, it didn't mean you were invincible. And now your pride and complacency have claimed you._

Dwayne gritted his teeth and swore, but he knew it was true. He glanced at the interface and saw a handful of Marines and Firebats from a heavily battered bunker beat off a swarm of Zerglings and Hydralisks.

"I've got to pull myself together," he muttered, trying to control his shaky emotions. "My men are out there fighting valiantly. I've to pull them out of there before it gets worse. I've to make sure we all get out alive. That's the least I can do for them."

He watched as the entire wave of Zerg die at the hands of his courageous and valiant soldiers. They had managed to buy themselves some time to escape.

Dwayne hit the comlink button. "All troops," he shouted into the mike. "I am ordering an immediate evacuation. I want all Marines and Firebats to proceed to the dropships immediately. The Goliath walkers shall remain behind to provide cover by laying down a suppressive fire with their autocannons. Arclite Siege Tanks will join them. Pound them with your heavy Shock Arclite cannons. The Vulture hover bikes shall get into the dropships as well. Oh, and all the pilots of the Wraiths and Valkyries, please provide cover support for the dropships. I'm pretty sure they're gonna nail our defenseless units first. All of you guys get back to the Battlecruisers. And the last eight dropships are to evacuate the Goliaths and Arclite Tanks after all our other infantry units are evacuated. And move out – now!"

Dwayne could almost hear the sighs of relief from his troops as they hastily fled from the relative safety of their bunkers and into the weaponless but heavily armored dropships. The Goliaths and the Siege Tanks moved forward, with the Siege Tanks going into Siege mode almost immediately once they reached their destination. Arclite shock cannons and 12-millimeter twin autocannons blazed away, cutting down the hordes of the approaching Zerg swarm. Dwayne swallowed hard. If they could just keep this up, they would be able to buy enough time for all his remaining troops to evacuate Planet Char.

"Captain," his Communications Officer, Timothy Drake, called out. "I've lost contact with Admiral DuGalle and the rest of the UED. It seems that they had given the signal to retreat from Char a few days ago."

"What!" Dwayne roared. "He WHAT!"

"It seemed that the Cronus Wing were defeated by the Zerg on the space platform in the orbit of Char a few days ago. He ordered a hasty retreat, and commanded all surviving troops to fall back to Earth."

"And why didn't we get the message until now?" Dwayne demanded, feeling fury rise up inside him. Atlas Wing had remained down here to fight a futile battle, losing countless men over nothing!

And the rest of the United Earth Directorate fleet had fled, leaving them here on the surface of Char to fend for themselves!

"I think that there was too much interference between the platform in orbital and the surface of Char, sir, which was why it took quite long to receive the transmission."

"Damn!" Dwayne cursed. "And were there any other orders?"

"No, but sir, Admiral DuGalle sounded…sad and defeated. Could the UED fleet really be defeated?"

"We've to assume the worst," Dwayne replied gravely. "Contact all UED Atlas Wing personnel and the UED Commando Force. We're pulling out of this system."

"I've tried contacting Admiral DuGalle, but to no avail. It seems that we are on our own, sir."

"Thanks, Drake. Anything else?"

Drake nodded. "I've received several requests for retreat earlier, before you gave the order. They came from several of your Officers and Sergeants."

Dwayne smiled. "Well, they can rest easy now."

"Sir!" his Navigation Officer, Teresa Taylor sounded panicky. Her voice had an edge to it. "There's an entire Brood of Zerg coming right at us! There must be thousands of them out there! I don't think our Goliath and Tanks can handle them!"

Dwayne glanced at the computer interface. To his horror, he saw thousands of Ultralisks, Zerglings, Hydralisks and Lurkers coming straight at them. Devourers, Guardians and Mutalisks soared above them like wings of death. The entire Brood looked exactly like an immense sandstorm, and even the behemoth Ultralisks looked like a speckle of sand lost in the twirling wind.

But Dwayne knew that this was much deadlier than any vicious sandstorm he had seen on any planet.

He swallowed hard and considered. "What's the estimated time of arrival?" he asked.

"Fifteen minutes," Taylor replied, trembling. "That's not enough time for us to evacuate everybody"

"Calm down, Taylor," Dwayne ordered, fighting to keep calm as well. He turned to Drake. "Still no contact with Cronus Wing or the Admiral?"

Drake shook his head. "Negative, sir," he replied.

Dwayne paused to consider for a moment. "Well, then," he finally said. "I guess we've to do things my way."

He turned to his Weapons Officer, Michael Corvin. "Okay, Corvin, are all our fifteen Battlecruisers still in orbit?"

Corvin punched in a few buttons and established contact with the Commodores of the Battlecruisers.

"Good day, Captain," the Commodores chorused in unison. "What can I do for you?"

"I need a volunteer," Dwayne replied. "Who will…?"

"I will," one of the Commodores offered. Dwayne recognized him as Nicholas Tasar, Commodore of the _Reach_.

"Okay, Commodore Tasar," Dwayne instructed. "I need you to launch a tactical nuclear warhead and sterilize this area. I'll give you the coordinates."

He typed in a few calculations and bearings and transmitted it to the good Commodore.

"Ah, thank you, Captain," Tasar murmured as he received it. He read through it, and then frowned in disbelief.

"Are you sure, Captain?" he asked dubiously.

"Very sure, Commodore. And if you don't fire that nuke there, we'll all be dead within fifteen minutes."

"But this is too risky," Tasar protested. "To fire an area so near your outpost…a slight miscalculation might result in your deaths. Especially without a Ghost to aim for us…"

"If you don't do it, we'll still be dead anyway," Dwayne declared. "You see the entire Brood of Zerg coming straight at us? Drake, send them a picture."

Drake complied, punching in a few commands in his console.

Tasar could only nod reluctantly when he received the transmission. "I see that you've no choice," he agreed grudgingly. "I'll fire the nuke in five minutes. Tell your men to prepare."

Dwayne nodded. "Thank you, Commodore Tasar. And please be on time. And try not to miss."

Tasar nodded. "I'll try my best, Captain."

Dwayne turned to Drake. "Officer Drake, send a warning to all our troops. They are to shield their eyes or whatever vulnerable parts from the nuclear blast. Tell all our pilots that, especially. We don't want them to fly blind."

Drake nodded and hit the mike. "Attention, all UED Commando Forces of the Atlas Wing. We'll have a nuclear strike in approximately five minutes. All forces are to shield themselves, especially their eyes, from the nuclear blast. I repeat, there will be a nuclear strike in approximately five minutes. All forces are to shield themselves, especially their eyes, from the nuclear blast."

Dwayne nodded gravely. "All we can do now is to pray," he said simply.

8888

The tactical nuclear warhead struck without warning.

One minute it was screaming down toward the Zerg Brood like a meteor of death, the next minute, it impacted and detonated.

The entire Atlas Wing shut their eyes, having been warned of the nuclear blast earlier. However, the Zerg Brood was caught off guard.

The entire Brood was sterilized in that single strike. All blood and whatever ichor that had spilled vaporized. Any armored carapace of even the massive and heavily protected Ultralisks disintegrated from the superheated blast. Even the flyers were not spared, their numbers having been decimated by the mushroom cloud that followed. Their wings melted along with their eyes and they fell into the writhing, dying and boiling mass of their ground brethren.

There was no sign of the Zerg in the radioactive aftermath of ground zero.

Dwayne's face broke into a grin when he saw the carnage. He let out a cheer and shot his fist into the air. "We did it!" he shouted. "We wiped out the Zerg!" His officers took the cue and one by one, joined him in cheering.

Dwayne turned to Drake. "Officer Drake, send a signal to our men and tell them that it is safe to evacuate now. Get the remaining dropships to pick up our Arclite Siege Tanks and Goliaths and join the Battlecruisers in orbit. Prepare the Captain dropship for us to leave this forsaken planet! We're finally getting out of here!"

He turned to Corvin. "Officer Corvin, contact the Commodores and ask them to try to contact the rest of the United Earth Directorate. See if they have any new orders for us."

Corvin nodded. "Yes, sir!" he proceeded to forward the Captain's instructions to the rest of the fleet in orbit.

Dwayne turned to look at the radioactive wasteland before him. It was here, on this very planet that he had commanded a troop of Medics and Commandos to capture the Overmind. However, it turned out to be a wasted effort, given that the Overmind was finally defeated and lying dead, trampled beneath the ashes of Char.

He shrugged. At least it was the Overmind that was dead, and not him. Better the Overmind dead than him. He had managed to survive and would live to fight another day, unlike the overgrown mass of Zerg brain. He had never really trusted the Zerg to do a human job, anyway.

He turned his attention to the Captain dropship that was swooping down toward his Command Center. He grinned and clapped his hands gleefully. After days of endless and agonizing conflict, he was finally going to leave this forsaken planet. He didn't care that the Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan was going to get it. It was nothing but a volcanic, and now radioactive, wasteland. Well, some part of the planet, that is.

She could colonize this useless planet for all he cared.

8888

Something like an open wound lashed across Sarah Kerrigan as she sensed the loss of another one of her broods. She hissed and seethed in pain as the UED nuclear strike obliterated her entire Geolag Brood.

She then regained her emotions and shook her head amused. If she hadn't sent most of her Broods after the fleeing UED fleet to annihilate them, she would set them upon the fleeing Atlas Wing right now. However, they were far, far away, chewing on the remains of the UED fleet.

Kerrigan snorted. The remaining UED fleet was irrelevant. She had just wiped out the major forces of the United Earth Directorate fleet, including the _Alexander_, the very same Battlecruiser that Admiral DuGalle used as his flagship.

And she was pretty sure that the old Admiral was dead. After annihilating the entire fleet so thoroughly that none of the UED vessel ever made it back to transpire what happened, she was sure there were no survivors.

But she could allow this little surviving fleet of the UED live. It was for entertainment and amusement. She wanted to see how they would plan another organized attack on her. It would be fun to watch them try to mount another offensive against her, and then crushed them slowly and agonizingly, winking out all hope that they had in defeating her.

They would pay for destroying the entire Geolag Brood.

She watched the tattered and battered ships trudge away from her Planet of Char. They were no threat to her, despite scoring several major victories. In the end, they would belong to her, dead and trampled like the rest of the UED fleet, floating in space as a pile of debris and molten slag.

Kerrigan snickered to herself. They were even less dangerous than Arcturus Mengsk's fleet of ragtag mercenaries, the ones that her loyal, faithful and genius Cerebrate had defeated in the Omega battle in the space platform orbiting Char. Even the pacifist Dark Templar of the Protoss could put up a much better fight. Without the leadership of Admiral DuGalle, this little UED fleet couldn't possibly survive beyond a week.

And if they somehow managed to, she would just have to set all her Broods on them.

8888

"You're no match for him," the old man declared, staring at the Captain of the remaining Atlas Wing with a concerned expression.

"Well, we're going to have to work on that," Dwayne replied. He slapped in a magazine into his sidearm, then checked on the other, finding that it was already fully loaded. He placed both pistols on the desk and picked up the gauss rifle. He attached a small torchlight to it and slapped a fresh magazine into it as well. He hefted it to his shoulder and aimed with it, relishing the feel of the cool silvery metal on his arms.

"You don't understand," the old man growled. "I know you're phenomenally intelligent and smart enough to crush most Zerg Cerebrates and their Broods, but this Zerg Cerebrate is different. He's based on your intelligence and resourcefulness. He duplicated your strategies and flexibility and assimilated and adapted it into the Zerg concept. Unless you can beat yourself you cannot win against him."

"Mr. Briney, I know you're a former UED Ghost and I admire as well as respect your psionic and psychic abilities but how on earth did you know all that?"

Briney shuddered. The former Ghost looked almost terrified as he tried to recall his lost memories.

"Daggoth and the others…" he whispered, his eyes looking glazed and frightened.

"Excuse me?" Dwayne asked. "Daggoth?"

Briney took a deep breath. "Captain Hicks, I'm aware that you, too have psionic abilities and psychic powers of a Ghost."

Dwayne stiffened at the mention of his innate abilities. "Yes, but Admiral DuGalle decided that I was better suited for command and he reckoned that it would be a waste of my talents if I were to become a mere Ghost…"

"And he sent you to the Officer Cadet Academy," Briney interrupted. "Yes, I know all that, I've read your history records quite a few times already."

"And your point being?" Dwayne demanded, getting annoyed. He was getting uneasy at the presence of the other psychic. He could feel Briney's presence invading his mind and reading his thoughts.

"You can read my mind, Captain," Briney replied. "You should know."

Dwayne shut his eyes and tried to calm his mind down. "I don't want to use my psychic abilities, you know that I'm not trained to use them!"

Briney sighed. "Mark my words, Captain, you'll find them useful someday."

"So please get to the point." Dwayne was beginning to lose his patience.

"As you already know, you defeated a Zerg Brood in your attempt to capture the Psi-disrupter. The Overmind had taken notice of your capability and intellect. Moreover, you were the only psychic Commander in the UED fleet. So he was drawn to your presence. And I mean _mental_ presence," he added when he sensed that Dwayne was about to say something.

Dwayne conceded the point. "I did feel a presence intruding my mind," he agreed. "And I didn't take much notice of it."

Briney nodded. "The Overmind stole your personality and duplicated it along with your intellect and resourcefulness. They were manifested in the form of a new Cerebrate. But because this Cerebrate was formed based on your thoughts and ideas, it was unstable. So when you captured the Overmind, he wasn't captured as well. In fact, he broke away from the Overmind's control and he came under the command of Sarah Kerrigan, another former Ghost."

Dwayne nodded. "And so this Cerebrate is the tactical genius who defeated the Terran Dominion's ragtag fleet, the Protoss and the Cronus Wing of the UED?"

"Yes, and you're no match for him," he repeated. "You should surrender to Kerrigan and beg her for a swift, quick and easy death. The Queen of Blades can be really terrifying if you're defiant, and she might grant you an agonizing death instead."

Dwayne glanced back at his gauss rifle that was still in his arms. "I'm sorry, but I refuse to."

Briney grinned maliciously. "I'm sorry then," he said, his voice beginning to change and bubble. It sounded like he was talking through bubbles in a greasy oil vat. Boils and tendrils began to erupt from his face. He seemed to grow taller as his bones began to snap, bend and elongate. Tentacles and warts grew all over his skin. Dwayne watched with revulsion as a couple of appendages erupted from his back and bent forward. A pair of red compound eyes grew atop Briney's skull, reflecting a dozen images of the UED Captain. Antennae burst out of his hair, and claws grew from his hands and feet. His shoes exploded and claws dug their way out, curving wickedly.

Briney grinned. "You've to die, my good Captain," he sneered in the bubbly, oily voice. "For the Swarm!"

"Got to hell," Dwayne replied coolly to the Infested Terran. "I guess this means the interrogation is over. I got all the information I need, and at this point of time, you're really expendable."

He raised his gauss rifle and fired a few explosive rounds into the abomination's face, sending the once-human figure sprawling back. Ichor and green blood dripped from his scarred face.

"I'm sorry," Dwayne said, stepping forward. "You were once human, I can still sense your soul in you. Unfortunately, your mind is tainted and corrupted by the Zerg evil and it has overwhelmed you. Tell Kerrigan," he paused and pointed at his head with one hand. "I know she can hear me. I sense her presence through you." He straightened up again, pointing the muzzle of his gauss rifle at the Infested Terran's face. "Tell her she can join you in Hell when I'm done with her. She will receive her reckoning soon, I can guarantee her that."

"Reckoning?" the abomination laughed eerily. "From who? The UED?" he snickered again, and sneered. "I'm sorry to tell you, my dear Captain, the entire UED fleet, save for your pathetic remaining troops, have been slaughtered. The Zerg Swarm had caught up with them and eradicated them a few days ago."

That struck a nerve in Dwayne. And to his horror, he sensed that the Zerg minion was telling the truth. Images of the destruction of the UED fleet flashed across his eyes. He saw a Battlecruiser exploded after several suicidal Scourges slammed into it like living cannonballs. He watched as a fleet of Valkyries and a swarm of Devourers destroyed each other with waves of Halo Rockets and torrents of acid. He watched as Mutalisks unleashed a wave of unstoppable and merciless Glave Wurm to take out the Wraiths. Basically, despite the UED fleet putting up a good fight, they were eventually overwhelmed and crushed by the sheer number of the Zerg.

"No!" Dwayne howled as he was brought back to reality. But fortunately he sensed that something was amiss and he glanced down to see Briney. Even though the once-human Zerg was lying prone on the ground, he wasn't helpless. In fact, he still had a trick up his sleeve.

His entire body was swelling up like a balloon.

Dwayne gasped, recognizing this as the Infested Terran's suicide bomber attack. If he succeeded, he would shower the entire room with explosive chemicals and acid, blowing up a sizable hole in the ship. And there was no way Dwayne was going to survive the impact, especially when he was trapped in the closed and confined interrogation room.

He let out a cry, recognizing his blunder, and immediately opened fire. Eyes that reflect dozens of his images exploded as hot molten rounds slammed into them. Usually, a gauss rifle's rounds would not be able to stop an Infested Terran from initiating his suicidal attack, but Dwayne wasn't exactly using the standard rounds.

His special explosive rounds ignited the Infested Terran's brain, frying it before it could continue to send any more messages of blowing up. Briney shrieked inhumanly before he fell silent forever.

Panting heavily, Dwayne wiped the perspiration off his face. He glanced up into the camera.

"Okay, the interrogation's over,' he declared. "You can let me out. Oh, and clean up the mess, by the way. Dump his corpse into the cold vacuum of space and warm it up with a timer bomb. Let's make sure he blows up happily where he can't hurt anyone."

"Roger that, Captain," a voice came over the comlink. "We're unlocking the doors now. You can come out in a few moments."

"Thanks," Dwayne replied. He retreated to a chair and collapsed on it, with his eyes closed. He leaned back.

_Let's rest for a while before going out again_, he thought resignedly, dreading the massive responsibility that lay on his shoulders when he would take the helm again if he got out of the room.

The massive responsibility of keeping his man alive and getting them to get back safely to Earth.


End file.

StarCraft, Adventure, Sci-Fi