"Counter-offer," you said, smirking slightly. "You forget the base ever existed and I'll let you work for me."
MIra's brows drew together. "Work for you?"
"The pay's better than any two bit colonial dictator," you said, nodding.
"You think you can pay better than the Kel-Morians?" she asked, her voice scornful.
"I can pay better than Mengsk," you said.
Mira snorted with derision. Her cybernetic eye glinted as she leaned back in her seat. "That is a tall request. He's not a two bit dictator, he's the direct ruler of six planets!"
For the purposes of an independent colonial empire, that was fairly impressive - though you supposed that it was made a hell of a lot easier with the Adjutants that they had. Earth needed entire armies of those things to keep the Federation running across the worlds it controlled. Your fingers slid along your hair and you looked right into Mira's.
"The United Earth Federation controls fifty eight," you said, flatly.
Mira narrowed her eyes. She pursed her lips. You felt like she was judging your words, your face, your inflection. Then her eyes flicked to the side - and you guessed she was reading through a technical dossier. Whatever her scanners were telling her about your ACU. You were fairly confident a great deal of the technical information would be inexact due to the relatively primitive nature of Terran sensors, but even inexact guesses would be scary.
Your guess proved right - her eyesbrows shot up.
"...do you pay in gold?" she asked, playfully.
"We can," you said.
"Deal!" Mira said, then leaned forward. "Though, I do hope that I will be working very closely with Mattie, yes?"
"Of course," you said, with the merciless attitude towards subordinates that any officer needed to have if they were going to lead. "He is my XO. He manages the people when I'm busy and I'm a very busy woman. Now-" Your eyes flicked aside as you saw a com request from TacCom. You nodded. "Now wrap up your business here and join the E1 in orbit with your battlecruiser. I have something to take care of."
"Of course, Sammy-"
You turned her com off as Matt and Stukov's faces appeared in her place. Matt looked at you with the most kicked puppy expression you'd ever seen on his features before - but Stukov was focused. "General, the Zerg bioforms we detected? I think they can smell that Mira Han is backing off - they're beginning to approach your position again."
"How many?"
"A lot of fliers," he said.
"All right then," you said, squaring your shoulders. It looked like you had one last bit of clean up before you could put this hell-world behind you. Turning your ACU, you surveyed your options. There was a few outcroppings of minerals that you started to cap off quickly, while Stukov added some additional intelligence - throwing it through into your minimap. You were a bit relieved, this wasn't going to be a slugging match with land taken and land held. The lava-landscape of most of Redfall, it seemed, meant the feral Zerg had taken up scattered hives and bread fliers. Or, maybe, they simply bred fliers and land units and the land units all fucking died. You were still not entirely sure how much feral Zerg
planned and how much of it was just...reaction.
Still, the view was impressive.
Mutalisks, winging through the air by the dozens - with those broad bodied crab things wobbling along with them. You scrolled in to look at one intently, frowning as Stukov said: "Those have been identified as a breed known as Guardians. Siege bioforms, capable of launching long ranged acid projectiles. They outrange most of our T1 antiair defense, unfortunately."
Okay.
You could handle this. Your mineral extractors were sending a steady flow of mass to your nanolathe - and you aimed the arm at the ridgeline of the island.
"W-What are you doing?"
You started, and saw that the child was still in the cockpit. They had slipped from your attention and memory like water - and you wondered how much of that was the fact you had the maternal instincts of a rock and how much of that was psychic powers. Your cheeks flushed and you explained as the beam flicked out and the first of the antiair towers started to rise up, dull gray-blue against a reddish sky. "There are Zerg coming. So, I'm building defenses with a nanolathe. It's...like a very fast SCV. You know SCVs?" Their head bobbed as you built another turret and another and another - throwing up two rows of them before the mutalisks were visible through your forward cameras.
The child watched nervously as the first wing of the mutalisks sweeping in. Their symbiotes slashed through the air, rebounding and bouncing off your turrets - but the turrets were as fearless and stalwart as anything run by a rudimentary target seeking AI could be. Their tracer rounds filled the air like fireworks and mutalisks started to splatter against the ground as they were hewn out of the air with a bloodthirstiness that made you wonder if you should cover the child's eyes. You glanced at them.
They didn't seem...too upset as the Zerg died. Then they pointed and you looked back at the screen.
"Ah," you said, cutting off a worse oath as the guardians did exactly as Stukov had predicted. They floated outside of the range of your weaponry and started to loose globs of acid. The huge splatters looked big enough to envelope entire mech-marines in a single hit. You gauged one, two hits would be enough to take out a basic infantry. Fortunately, there were only a few of the crab-things, and their splatters took time on the buildings, which started to slump, hiss, and spark.
"What do you do now?" the child asked, nervously.
"Watch," you said.
The nanolathe worked again - fabricating a factory in a few flickering moments. The factory itself started to augment your abilities as your forehead beaded with sweat. You were pretty damn sure that you had timed it just about right. The engineer trundled off the factory just as the first acid splashes started to slam into the large building. The huge globs of green glop started to hiss and bite into the steel and duranium - and you grinned. "They go for the big guys first. Good."
The guardians continued to splat your factory for a vital fifteen seconds as your nanolathe spat out streams of energy and mass at the framework the engineer threw up. The factory's internal reactors went up with a flare of white light and a WHUMP that shook the ground just as you jerked your nanolathe up and away from the tech two flack gun, which swung its barrels around and started to jackhammer, the recoil flinging them back into the housing of the antiair turret. Flack exploded around one of the guardians - and it instantly ruptured into a spray of blood and green acid. The other started to try and hover away, pincers clacking, but flack burst directly in its maw and it exploded like a bloody firework.
"Hah!" you said.
"Wow..." The kid whispered, then tentatively, put their hand on your hand. You coughed.
"All in a, uh...a day's work..."
***
The E1 meeting room was somber. You tried to keep the big goofy smile off your face, but the tingling buzz of Sarah's kisses - gently along your shoulder blades during your shower - kept you from feeling too poorly. Matt sat up straight at his chair, but Dr. Hanson was hunched over her tablet. She lifted her head as you took your seat and said: "Report."
"The child's name is Beaumont Riceling," Dr. Hanson said. "I was able to undo some of the mental blocks that they put into them - memory wipes." She made a face. "It seems that memory purges were relatively common during the training, and I had to put some back."
"Why?" Matt asked.
"The...training process was traumatic," Dr. Hanson said. "Bea is currently recovering in our nanosuite, they had pretty significant vitamin deficiencies. But...what's unusual is how well they were...um...preserved. I'd have expected them to be nearly unable to walk considering the amount of food they subsisted on. But instead, they will be physically unharmed within a few hours. I believe that their training in psychic abilities was focused on using those abilities to augment themselves, as I've been detecting a lot of quantum energy in their body from no particular source. Checking with our own former Ghost, Lt. Duran confirms that that is how he was trained."
"Never thought I'd feel bad for that shifty bastard," you muttered, quietly, drumming your fingers on the countertop. Your gaze turned to Matt. "And the Marauders?"
"They're a reasonably large auxiliary force, with the capability to manufacture and deploy additional forces on the ground," he said. "I'd say they're about on par with one of our unsupported armored platoons. But the battlecruiser they tool around on is something else entirely - it's nearly big enough that it could transport the entire E1 population and half our supplies."
You nodded.
The doors to the meeting room opened and Tosh entered. His smile was beatific.
"Excellent news, General," he said.
You frowned. "What is it?"
"A transmission from Earth just arrived," he said. "Quantum interference, it seems, can be beaten through enough effort. The President is on line for you."
You felt your face heat as you realized Tosh had just delivered his report before you could vet anything. You stood, your jaw tightening slightly. "I see. Dr. Hanson, keep studying Mx. Riceling. Major Horner, I want you to integrate the Marauder's into our command structure as auxilaries. Dismissed."
Tosh kept smiling at you as you headed out.
Then...
You heard something that made your face go from hot to cold.
Tosh sounded so damn polite and helpful - like he was just trying to be useful. "I had them patch the President in to your cabin, for privacy."
***
The door to your cabin opened and you saw Sarah leaning back in your desk chair, her feet up. "Really?" she was saying. "She was never in a football team once?"
"Nah, Sam always said that if she was going to get hurt, it'd be doing something real. Considering how many concussions I got, I think she might have had a point," President Riley's voice came over the com. You stepped into the room, frowning.
"Sarah," you said. "I need the com."
"Of course!" she said, then sprang to her feet. "Been talking with your friend Riley here." She grinned. "I didn't know you were buddy buddy with the President of Earth."
"Sarah," you said, frowning. Sarah, seeming to recognize your mood, gave you a sympathetic smile. She kissed your cheek, then sauntered for the doorway. You took the seat she had been in and looked as serious and official as you could. Riley, as befitted your long friendship, was giving you the biggest, most shit eating grin you'd ever seen.
"...she's cute," he said.
"Sir," you said.
Riley pursed his lips, then lifted his chin. "I've received your reports through a quantum repeater network that the eggheads have fabricated. Took over a thousand of them to bridge the realspace gap, but now, we should be able to punch a message through to Earth whenever required. This Korpulu Sector seems like it's going to change the war on its head. Psychic powers, aliens..." He shook his head. "It's like reading bloody science fiction."
"Quite," you said.
"That's...why I contacted you," he said. "The eggheads have been going through Dr. Hanson's reports. Did you know that the psychic phenomenon she has detected, the quantum events...they have particular...ah, hell, they called it 'harmonic polarity', but whatever the fuck that is." He waved his hand. "The comparison they chose was like magnets. North poles, south poles. Or antimatter, which is like normal matter but spinning the wrong way."
"That's the lay explanation, yes," you said.
"They say that that could be the answer to Project Black Sun," he said.
You frowned. "Project Black Sun was a bust, sir," you said. The incredibly secret failure of the Black Sun prototype had been what pushed President Riley to his colonization initiative rather than blustery war- claims. Three presidential administrations all secretly pouring scientists into a war-winning super weapon and the damn thing had proven to be physically impossible at the last second. Riley had been more furious at that than you'd ever seen him be mad at anything in his life.
"It
was a bust. They say that the trick to unlocking the quantum events required is to combine both kinds of...psychic polarity. Upspin and downspin, together in the right material, could induce the Black Sun event in a guided, directed waveform. We could wipe out the Aeon and Cybran coreworlds from Earth without needing to lift a finger."
Your brows furrowed. "Materials?"
"That...Tal'darim thing you captured," he said. "The crystal was full of upspin energy."
"So, we just need to find the counterpart?" you asked.
"Well, the eggheads said that the crystal would need to be more pure - the Tal'darim was too unfocused, unrefined. Like the difference between raw uranium ore and some refined tritium." Riley's eyes were hungry. "Get me the good stuff, General. That's your new directive, not the Terran Dominion. We can bring the weight of a galaxy down on his head once our real enemies are dealt with."
"Sir," you said, emotionlessly. You knew that Riley at times like this was...almost impossible to argue with.
He still heard your opinion, despite everything. His face grew more set.
"That's an order, General." Then, with all the political cheerness he could muster, he smiled. "So, tell me about your new colonial girl."
"I have a lot of work to do, Riley," you said.
His lips pursed. "Understood."
His face vanished from the coms and you rubbed your palms against your face. "I am going to airlock that smug politsci dipshit," you whispered.
"What's Black Sun?"
You jerked your head around and saw that Sarah was peeking in through the door. "I thought I said I wanted privacy," you said, scowling at her. She giggled, then walked over and sat her rump down on your lap. Her arm snaked around your shoulders, her forehead pressed against your forehead.
"I'm a curious girl. Can you blame me?"
You sighed. "It's classified." You brushed a red strand behind her ear. "Now..." your eyes closed, and you laid your head back. "Where the hell do we get more Tal'darim crystals."
"Well, everyone knows where Protoss space is," Sarah said, shrugging. "Their homeworld is a mystery, though. Don't even know it's name."
You grunted.
Sarah sighed, quietly. "I believe in you." She leaned forward, then pressed her mouth to yours. Warm and soft. She caressed your cheek and you felt your own hand gliding along her back. When she broke the kiss, her voice was soft. "And I know one way to help cheer you up after a job well done saving kids and smashing Zerg."
Your grin was wry. "Yeah?"
"Yeah!" she smirked, then pushed herself off your lap.
You laughed, softly. "Sarah, I do need to...uh..."
Hm.
You could stand to be late...
---
Author's Note: Playtesting is useful! So, in throwing a small lil' battle at you, I was all ready for you to make decisions between plans, but then I was looking at your abilities and powers and the battle I had created and realized, there was basically only one really "good" strategy to choose for this battle? The others would have pointlessly overheated or injured yourself in what was a simple, easy fight by not playing to your strengths. Now, in tabletop, this is fine! Like, a XP 5 battle doesn't really exist to challenge players. It exists for them to show off and feel cool! But the problem is that stopping the quest for you guys to go, "uh, we do the obvious thing?" seems stupid.
So, I didn't do that! And instead, showed off!
BUT!
This nets you 5 XP and the found sparks of Mira's Marauders (6) - which importantly, pushes us up to level 2!
At level 2, you get +1 to two skills and a power!
Skills! Pick Two - both mut be different skills
[ ] CLOSE COMBAT (1): +Brawling
[ ] CLOSE COMBAT (1): +Edged
[ ] CLOSE COMBAT (1): +Blunt
[ ] CLOSE COMBAT (1): +Flexible
[ ] CLOSE COMBAT (1): +Polearm
[ ] GUNS (3): +Shotguns
[ ] GUNS (3): +Rifles
[ ] GUNS (3) +Sniper Rifles
[ ] PERSONAL (3): +Athletics
[ ] PERSONAL (3): +Finesse
[ ] PERSONAL (3): +Sneak
[ ] SOCIAL (3): +Charm
[ ] SOCIAL (3): +Bluff
[ ] SOCIAL (3): +Taunt
[ ] UEF GENERAL (3): +Political Connections
[ ] UEF GENERAL (3): +High Tech Weaponry
[ ] UEF GENERAL (3): +Support ACUs
[ ] ACU PILOT (3): +Teleportation Piloting [Range]
[ ] ACU PILOT (3): +Laser Management [Damage]
[ ] ACU PILOT (3): +Survival Instincts [Durability
Powers! Pick one! So, whatever power you pick, I will narratively justify and refluff to make sense, so go nuts!
[ ] Corona Of Destruction - charges enemies with energy that, if timed right, causes them to explode
[ ] Flash Flight - short ranged teleport
[ ] Gravity Swap - lifts enemies into the air so they can't act
[ ] Magic Missile - a kinetic blast that flings enemies backwards and damages them
[ ] Wall of Blades - makes a shield of razor blades
[ ] Transmorph - turns target into a sheep
[ ] Aura of Strength - enhanced strength for yourself and allies
[ ] Circle of Peace - enforce a no shooting/fighting zone for some time
[ ] Rebuke Evil - makes enemies flee and adds buffs for you to attack them while they run
[ ] Serpent Staff - creates a piece of gear representing a big snake that fights for you
[ ] Back to Back - allows allies on the field to make free melee attacks with you
[ ] Clash! - interrupt an enemy attack with your own melee attack
[ ] Cleave - give your melee attack an AOE.
[ ] Flourishing Disarm - remove the enemies ability to fight by removing their weapon (KO's them if they have no weapon.)
[ ] Reversal - turn an enemy's abilities against them in combat
[ ] Swashbuckle - gain free acrobatic movement
[ ] Assassin - use after killing people to make the murder unnoticable for some time
[ ] Carnage - augments a firearm so it does extra damage but overheats for some time
[ ] Hot Swap - rapidly refreshes anything that needs to reload/cooldown/recharge
[ ] Overkill - makes inaccurate weapons more accurate for the duration
[ ] Aquatic Might - become a The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Become highly mobile in alternate environments. Can be refluffed to be space instead of water.
[ ] Desert God - become a The Mummy (1999). Turn into a sandstorm and desiccate enemies, control swarms of beetles.
[ ] Spectral Form - become a ghost! You are intangible and can possess objects
[ ] Undying Body - become a Frankenstein. Become super-tough and super-strong, but gain a new weakness (fire, radiation, ect)
[ ] Red Thirst - become a vampire! While power is in effect, take damage from sunlight, lose heat by drinking blood and can turn into wolf, bat or mist
[ ] Warshift - become a werewolf! While power is in effect, take extra damage from silver, be better at melee, and gain superhuman strength.
