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

The red-black walkers continued to scuttle forward, their particle weapons slamming into your arm. They clearly were used to dealing with the locals - who seemed to have military tech at least a step below your own. Their bunkers had seemed well enough. But you weren't some...backwards marine in a trooped up suit of power armor. And these aliens had played right into your hands. Your grin was feral as you turned, aimed, and fired. This time you aimed your overcharged Zephier ahead of the enemy.

The walkers tried to teleport. They had a range, it seemed, when they didn't have time to build charge.

It wasn't enough.

The white bloom of atomic fire whited out your screen - but you kept your arm leveled and swept along an arc, scything through the remaining walkers that staggered away from the impact. Shields popped and then the housings exploded into flares of red and white light. As the cameras cleared out, you saw their rubble was already beginning to fizzle away - like it was designed to combust itself into the smallest components possible. You ignored it.

"The enemy quantum signatures are growing more coherent, General," Stukov said.

"I know," you said, fingers flying across your controls. The engineers you had tasked to building a gate were given a new task - the gate was still going up, damn it, you just needed a moment of time. You came to the ridgeline, standing among your defenses, and saw the enemy flier was starting to fold his wings up. You thought you saw why: The first of the portals had snapped into solidity, revealing a glowing crystal of red hue, banded by a circular black outline. Your radar threw up a crazy static of exotic energies coming off it - and Dr. Hanson started to speak.

"I think that crystal is serving the same function as-"

"I know, Doc," you cut her off.

Your engineers trundled forward on their huge wheels, crunching over gravel, dirt, and smashing through a single tree that had been left unmolested so far. The prism turned to go - but then thin beams of electromagnetic pulses slammed into it from the relatively weak emitters on the front of the engineers. You frowned, slightly, watching as the flier staggered in the air, then twitched, then sagged backwards.

"Our subversion programs are...working!" Stukov sounded half shocked. "It's an entirely automated craft - no biology to worry about. We're brute forcing through the computer systems, replacing them with our nano. It'll...be a bit ugly in there, but...we have it!" The flier twitched left, then right, then started to fly back towards you.

"What about the base?" Dr. Hanson said.

"I don't think we can capture a building that complex without a better grasp of their tech..." you said, then lowered your arm. The high powered cutting beam sliced into the shields jacketed around the crystal. They hissed and buzzed, crackling loudly as the portal behind them started to grow brother and more focused...and then, at the last second, the shields cut and the crystal shattered, blowing apart into a thousand pieces as your laser cutter bore into it. You lifted your arm as the almost coherent portal warbled, wavered, then collapsed.

"I hope no one was in that building," Stukov said, quietly.

Misjumps...weren't anything anyone liked to talk about.

They were rare these days. It was still more dangerous than taking a cab, but it wasn't more dangerous than driving a car outside of a city's autonomous guide systems. Still. You shook your head - frowning a bit.

"The aliens are building up for their next attack," Stukov said. You checked the map. Grunted.

"They don't have time. Tell Tosh to fab something simple for the civilians, we're getting them out of here."

Behind you, the gate solidified, cohering from energy and mass into an intricate, delicate machine - not built to handle combat, not like a proper frontline gate. But it'd do for what you needed. You stood on the ridge, glancing from the map to the camera view, waiting to see if a second shoe dropped. You weren't sure if the aliens knew what you were doing, or if they simply didn't have time to react, as you had predicted.

You watched as Tosh, in his smaller support ACU, stomped forward with a crudely fabricated carrying harness on his armored walker, carrying dozens of civilians. Behind him, in a motely collection of ground vehicles and trucks, came the rest. They looked shell shocked - stunned. All save for a collection of ten men in articulated power armor suits, walking behind an eleventh man in a sleek black uniform that looked studded with complex machinery - thin wires of pale red light sweeping around him, outlining him. The sensors on your ACU went immediately crazy upon looking at him.

"That man has some kind of microsized generator, it's producing...something..." Dr. Hanson said, quietly. "I have no idea what he even is, but he's not...entirely human."

You enlarged his face on your camera.

It was Lt. Samir Duran.

"Ah, Lieutenant," you said, your voice picked up by the headset that he wore. "Glad to see you."

"We had to stay low, General," he said. "As you can see, my forces are somewhat reduced compared to yours." His hand gestured back to the marines. "Ten men are all we have left - we were running on fumes when you arrived. We've got some material, though, packed in that truck." he pointed at the last of the truck. It ran low. Heavy. Like it was carrying more than it should.

Behind you, the gate crackled and buzzed as the first of the civilians went through it.

"What is it?" you asked.

"...when the Confederacy was falling apart, we were given some munitions for use, in case we had the chance too. I am a Ghost operative. That means i am authorized to utilize atomic weaponry."

Your head snapped back to the truck. Your sensors swept over it - and the warning deet of an radioactive alert came up.

"You had nukes?" you asked.

"The warheads, yes, but our launch infrastructure, we lost three planets ago," Lt. Duran said, shrugging one shoulder. "Along with most of our tank and walker forces. There was some hope for use as...surprise weaponry. But the Dominion have more of them, and can take the losses. But it seems they may be wasted in your case. Assuming, of course, you wish to take us with you through...that." A note of actual wonder came into his voice as he peered at the gate.

"A standard quantum gate. How did you get around without one?" you asked.

"Ways and means," he said, then chuckled. "Stolen starships, hitchhiking on neutral vessels. Most recently, we had to hijack a feral zerg Levithan."

You frowned.

"Your gate sounds far more comfortable. Less...slimy." He smiled, slightly at you.

---
Okay! I'm out of shock, and the remaining stalkers can't get to you before your last spark decays and the gate is finished and the civilians can leave. So, while if you stuck around, the Tal'Darim could whack you...you're not sticking around!

But, that does lead to a question...now, as the GM, I can just generate sparks outside of combat whenever I want based on the narrative, so you get some found sticky sparks to go into your resource tab!

[ ] Take Lt. Duran and his offer of intelligence and free atomics (gain the sticky spark of Lt. Duran (4), Grateful Civilians (3))
[ ] Take Duran, as a refugee - you won't be needing him in a military capacity. His atomics can stay behind. They're easy enough to fab. (gain the sticky sparks of Grateful Civilians (3))
[ ] Take Duran as your prisoner. He was a soldier of a governments you planned to depose. And you don't trust him (gain the sticky spark of Prisoner Duran (4), Grateful Civilians (3))
[ ] Write In