THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

The cockpit felt like coming home. The combat suit, tight to your body. The attachment points that would key your hands, your arms, your legs, all of them into the greater body of your Armored Command Unit. The forward screen came online, showing not just the interior of the gantry bay, but also, the display of the strategic mission level - which was currently black, as you were situated in the center of the E1. TacCom's voice came through the line - the voice of Commander Stukov, who was going to be managing your intelligence and updating you on everything that you weren't directly focusing on at the moment.

"General, can you read me?"

"Loud and clear, TC," you said, quietly, tapping your throat com with one finger. "Fusion reactor in the green. Antimatter production at acceptable levels." Your fingers lifted from one of the control interfaces to touch the secondary switches. "We're loading up the full tech tree." Blueprints flickered along the corner of your vision and you smiled, wryly. "Assuming you think you can trust your CO with a fully armed nuclear weapon."

"We are order to limit collateral damage to habitable planets, General," Stukov said, his voice dry. "Everything looks green from your end. We're aiming at placing you within a few hundred kilometers of the largest human settlement on the planet, and a good distance from the alien base. This should give you time enough to assess local conditions, build your basic economic infrastructure, and contact the human governance. For what counts as it, at least."

You nodded, then closed your eyes. "Time to launch?"

"T minus sixty seconds, General."

You settled into the quiet. The low, subliminal human of the quantum gate coming to life around your suit. You murmured softly, under your breath. "I hope the locals don't get too...alarmed."

The two who watching...weren't prepared.

They had expected something.

But not the actinic white flash, more akin to the atomic fire of a detonating tactical warhead than anything else. Not the roaring boom. Not the shockwave of blue energy that whipped out, flattening trees and blowing the ocean mirror flat, then roaring up into a miniature tidal wave, crashing outwards towards sea as it broke on the sea floor. They didn't expend the ozone stink, thick enough to smell dozens of kilometers away.

Her nose wrinkled. "Interesting," she said. "A bit flashy for my tastes."

"We'll see what happens next, I suppose," he said, quietly.

"Are you ready?"

His smile was bright white on dark features.

"Of course, my Queen."

You were spared the cataclysmic concussive forces of the quantum tunneling. Just one moment, you were on the E1. The next, you were surrounded by shattered trees and landscape, the nearby ocean waters roaring back to fill the area your concussion wave had blasted away from you. Your fingers immediately tapped the launch button and you felt the CHONK CHONK CHONK noise of the autoloader on your back as your spinal catapult magnetically launched the obsats into orbit. They gave a birds eye view of your local area, with enough zoom that you could see your own ACU - looking toylike and dinky at this scale and angle.

"We've detected some shockingly rich mineral deposits," Stukov said, highlighting them on your map. You frowned, then looked at them visually.

"Well fuck me," you said off mic. In most of the rest of the galaxy, mass deposits were buried underground and needed to be extracted with laborious excavation systems built into a rather large structure called a mass extractor. They were lightly armored, volatile, and vital for any functioning economic base in war. These mineral deposits were just as rich, but placed above the ground in growing, glowing crystals. You aimed your omni-scanner at them, running the data through back to E1. On mic, you kept your voice professional: "Dr. Hanson, I want an assessment on these."

"It's like some kind of force has made the mineral deposits more...efficient," she said, sounding shocked. "I'm seeing geological indications on the surrounding stone that give me enough to guess their formation is only ten, twenty thousand years old. If I was to speculate, I'd say something made these mineral deposits artificially. And...since every other planet in the Koprulu Sector seems to be tailor made to support life, I think that would support the hypothesis that this mineralization is also a byproduct of that, uh, agency."

"ACU actual, we are also detecting a geothermal vent nearby," Stukov said.

You swung your omni-scanner around and frowned. "It's green."

"Uh...that it is, General," Stukov said, sounding amused.

"If you could build a geothermal plant as quickly as possible!" Dr. Hanson said. "It'd provide energy, yes, but also we'd be able to begin to study whatever it is."

"Understood," you said. Then...

You received a signal. It didn't use any radio cypher you were used to, but that wasn't exactly surprising. You tapped it on and a picture in picture snapped on and a young, rather handsome looking man of African decent appeared in the upper right. He was dressed in green coveralls, with a red flag with a blue X through it - the symbol of the overthrown Confederacy of Planets that the Terran Dominion had knocked over within the past few months. He wore a beret, at a jaunty angle, and immediately said: "You're human!?"

"General Samantha Clarke, United Earth Federation Expeditionary Force" you said, nodding to him curtly - aiming your fabrication arm at the mineral field. Nanites began to spray from your arm and towards the minerals. The hazy outline - the nanoscafold - of the mass extractor started to get to work, while you queued up a surrounding collection of micro-fusion reactors to both power the mass extractor and to add more energies to your reserves. Your eyes flicked to the counters and you saw you'd be able to get it done before you started redlining. As you worked with one hand on the control board, the black man shook his head slowly.

"This is...quite remarkable to hear. We have thought Earth a myth..." He sounded shocked.

"We're not," you say, frowning. "The UEFEF is here to liberate the Koprulu Sector from the dictatorship that runs it - this so called Terran Dominion is an affront to the UEF constitution, which grantees all humans a right to self determination under the United Earth Federation's protection."

"I see..." the man said, frowning.

"Now...who are you?" you asked, watching his face. He inclined his head.

"I am Lieutenant Samir Duran, Confederate special forces. I'm what's left of our former detachment, and I've been here for the past two months trying to keep the refugees that the tyrant Mengsk left to fend for themselves. We're under constant attack from fanatic aliens known as the Protoss. They hate humanity - they've burned three of our planets to cinders..." He shook his head. "If you can provide any assistance, we would be overjoyed. And I, personally, will dedicate myself to assisting you."

You felt a faint easement of your nerves.

At least some people were glad to see you here.

"All right, Lieutenant Duran. Consider yourself an ally of the UEFEF - first thing? Tell me everything about what's going on here," you said.

He nodded. "The Protoss-"

Another signal came in.

It was...definitely not any radio message you'd ever seen before. Despite that, your ACU managed to decode it and spit out another image. This...was your first view of an alien. It was hard to see their face, as most of it was covered by a dark silvery helmet. Their skin was smooth leather, drawn over what almost looked like a chin and jawline - but there was no mouth. The helmet had red seams along the edges, reminding you of Cybran design aesthetics, but even they had more humanity to them than this elegant, alien facade. THeir voice...didn't come from the speakers. Instead, it echoed between your ears - resonant and beautiful and...strange.

"More human interlopers?" he boomed. "Come to despoil this sacred place with your...profanity?"

"I am General Samantha Clarke. You must be a Protoss," you said, frowning.

"I am Templar Relashem of the Tal'darim and I have sworn an oath to the Dark One, this world will not be befouled by your kind any longer! Even now, my forces seek to obliterate the mewling wretches that lurk at the edge of our sacred jungles. Once they have been reduced to ashes, you will be destroyed as well. This, I swear!"

The image of the Protoss vanished.

"You can see what threat we're under," Lt. Duran said, seriously.

"General," Stukov said, his voice concerned. "I'm picking up multiple energy signals heading for the refugees. They are definitely hostile!"

You checked the ob-sat. The blips zoomed in on your view and you saw graceful, gull winged craft that twirled in place as they flew, escorting sleek, silver-black vehicles that looked all too similar to fightercraft for your tastes. Your gut said...transports and fighter escort. Even if you saw no way for the gull winged ships to carry anything close to enough troops for an assault, even on a lightly defended colony.

---
Looks like we're in our first fight! It's relatively easy - you're facing three Scouts (diff 2), and two transports representing the Zealots (Diff 1 each.) Defeating a bad guy is just beating their difficulty with a skill check! However, there's some complications! Firstly, each action you take adds +1 difficulty to the next action. Secondly, the enemy also has 8 Shock points (since their total danger is 8: 2+2+2+1+1!) Shock points can be spent to spawn more enemies, or make things more difficult for you!

If your check ever exceeds the difficulty - and you can do this intentionally by gaining extra heat at any time, you can create a Spark. A Spark is a narratively coherent chunk of plot control. So, so long as it makes sense for the thing you're doing, you can chain Sparks together!

so, here are some example turn orders you can do!

[ ] Plan: Airstrikes! (Make a Diff 2 ACU Pilot [Nanofabrication] check to take down the first scout by manufacturing a wing of fighters. Then gain 1 and 2 heat to defeat the other two using your Social [Leadership] skill versus diff 2+1, then diff 2+2. Gain 2 heat to make a diff 1+3 nanofab check to make bombers and blow up the first wave of zealots when they hit the ground. Vent 4 heat to use TAKE COVER, MEN and have your bombers lay down napalm between the last zealot squad and the refugees, creating a "Take Cover" spark for the Refugees.

[ ] Plan: Ground Pounders! (Make a diff 1 ACU [nanofabrication] check to take out the first Zealot group by fabricating a platoon of rapid Mech Marines to engage the enemy infantry. This grants you +1 spark, which you'll use to take out the second Zealot group as they land to try and support. Then make gain 1, 2 and 3 heat to do a diff 2+1, 2+2 and 2+3 fabrication check to build three platoons of tier 1 anti-air Archer tanks to shoot down the first scout! Vent 6 heat to create a "Just as Planned" spark for the Refugees in case they do anything.

[ ] Plan: Working Off Some Tension (Make a diff 2 Guns [vehicular weapon] to start blasting with your ACU's antimatter cannon. Blast the three scouts for 0, 1 and 2 heat. Then vent 3 heat to use your Marksman power twice to blast the Zealots, generating two sparks of "Shock and Awe" which will induce panic in any Protoss units until they're removed!


So, uh, hopefully that makes sense! It's all kind of loosy goosy cause this is a fast and frenetic game. HEAT is big on playing as big damn heroes!