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

You had to admit.

The sight of the TDSV Galileo made you want to give these colonials some credit.

For one thing, it was huge - a sprawling steel sphere bracketed by dozens of engine pods, sensor antenna arrays, laboratory attachments and makeshift spacedocks for the smaller collection of ships that were serving as the Galileo's primary backup and support in this backwater solar system. The sheer fact that a collection of motley colonies that barely had access to nanofabrication technology and only the most paltry smattering of Adjutants for administrative tasks had still managed to mine, refine, smelt, cast and kick this entire mass into orbit was enough to draw an impressed whistle from your lips. But there was more to the bulky ship than its scale that impressed you: It was also the...attitude of it.

It was a ship without weapons of any kind, protected only by class two armor and no gravi-shields or energy barriers. It didn't even have a flight deck for tac-fighters or an air wing. All it had was the surrounding ships protecting it and the blithe hope that it could scoot away from any fight it found itself stumbling into. And all those places to put weapon mountings had been filled with sensors, scanners, survey gear. It was a ship that the UEF could have used to chart dozens of worlds in the time it had taken President Riley to chart five.

Of course, they'd all be lifeless anyway. Most of the galaxy wasn't as blessed as the Koprulu Sector.

"We are right in the sensor blindspot, sir," Matt said, turning from the tactical control console. "The quantum jump was completely on point. Our micro-probes are several scales smaller than the local tech allows for - they won't pick us up."

"Good," you said, rubbing your hand along your jaw. "Our plan is to infiltrate a platoon of mech marines aboard, take the command center, then broadcast the propaganda announcement. Tosh, your boys have the message ready?"

"Straight from Earth," he said, warmly. "The PolitBerau psycho-linguists, mm!" He kissed his fingers together. "They made a pretty speech for you. Even got your vocal inflections down. Better than real."

You scowled, slightly, not sure how you felt about having some engineered pap coming out of a simulated version of your own mouth. "I see," you said.

"Listen, it's better to get it right than to flub the line. You don't want to go down in history as the next Earnest Deiterling, yeah?"

You frowned even harder. "I think I can be trusted to not say 'oh god we're all going to fucking die' on a quantum uplink to three billion people before the Aeon attack wave comes in," you say, then turned to Matt. "Do we have any scans on their defenses?"

"There's a lot of marines in there, turrets on the exterior...that's interesting...I'm detecting a knot of bioforms here and-"

There came a sudden squeal of static that caused one of the tac-com officers to yank her headseat off and start swearing in Pashto. You turned your scowl on Dr. Hanson, but her fingers were too busy tapping away a console. Lt. Stukov, moving among the techs, started to growl out orders, but before anyone could get the squealing sound to shut off, it refined into a loud SEEEEEEEEEEEEE-hit!

Then the forward screen buzzed up showing the waveform wriggling of a voice com. "...hello? Is this on?" Tink tink tink. "Raynor, are you out there, buddy?"

You frowned, hard. "Lt. Stukov, can you explain why we appear to be detected?"

"The signal is coming from the science ship, but it's not...coming from the science ship. It's an interference pattern, being broadcast on their...their garbage scow interlocks..." Stukov said. "That's unusual."

"Someone is talking to us through a garbage scow?" You asked, flatly.

"It appears to be the case, General."

A second warbly line appeared, next to the first - and a deeper, bassier voice grumbled. "Stetmann, work quick. Even these Dominion assholes are going to notice when you start talking into a goddamn lighting fixture."

"Uh, right," the first voice said, sounding nervous. "Mr. Raynor, uh, the mission's kinda gone...a little...F U B E...A...R?"

"Fuba- oh, FUBAR," Dr. Hanson said. Then quietly. "That man must be a technical genius."

You pinched the bridge of your nose. "Hypothesis?"

"Another rebel group got here first, snuck in- Raynor?" Matt jerked his head around. "Mr. Raynor, he means James Ranyor."

"The dead man?" Tosh asked.

"He's back and running the exact damn mission we're doing," you said, scowling fiercely. "Except he seems to have f...can we signal back without alerting the Galileo that we're here?"

"Yes, General," Lt. Stukov said.

You picked up the com. "Unidentified contact, this is General Samantha Clark, United Earth Federation Expeditionary Force. Identify yourself immediately, and explain what you are doing on the TDSV Galileo."

"Hah! Told you it'd work, Swann, I-"

"Stetmann, did you hear what she said?" The second voice, Swann presumably, grumbled. "Earth! There ain't no such thing as an Earth."

"ACtually, historical records make it extremely clear that-"

"Shut up, both of you. Explain, now," you said, your mounting irritation growing even higher and even hotter.

"R-Right! Um, Egon Stetmann, technical specialist. Raynor's Raiders. We're here to, uh, do a little mission. Simple sneak in in disguises, with the Hyperion off the bow in a sneaky place to provide, um, overwatch. But we kinda got caught. Then when we called for Raynor, uh..."

"He didn't show," Swann said. "Probably crawled into a damn bottle again." He sighed, his voice sad. "Oh hell, Jimmy, what have you done now..."

Your palm rubbed against your face, slowly.

Matt frowned, intently. "These people seem like they could use a better ops officer," he said, adjusting the collar of his uniform.

"I'll lend you to them at the soonest opportunity," you said, then shook your head. "No. This is going to take longer than expected." You made a face. "Go to the quantum launch. Take the civilians to Haven."

"But, General-" Matt started.

"I can handle Joe Aeon and Cybran Lunk by myself," you said, nodding. "Get the kids and old men out of here."

Matt came to attention. "Sir," he said. "Godspeed. And remember...in the comics, it was always Joe that got them out of the trouble. Lunk just hit people."

You snorted, then turned back to the screen. Your arms crossed over your chest. "Send every technical spec you've got on hand to me as quick as you can. And for Christ's sake, try and keep the com from being noticed."

"Got it!" Stetmann said. Pause. "...what's a Christ?"

The forward operations center for direct command of the boarding party was not exactly where civilians should be. But Sarah had a way of charming her way past anyone, even soldiers that should know better. She peered down at the map, and as you turned to face her, she grinned. "You could boil an egg with that face," she said, playfully.

You chuckled, despite yourself. "You do know that the quantum launch and one of our ACUs are going to be taking you to Haven, right?"

Sarah clicked her tongue. "I thiiiink...nah," she said. "Besides." She jerked her chin down at the map. "Before Tarsonis...my parents, uh, they used to work on one of those. The Amerigo." She looked a bit haunted, her legs kicking as she popped herself up onto the side of the planning console. "I could be helpful."

You sighed, then brushed your hand along her cheek.

It wasn't exactly a dangerous mission - all your mech marines would be commanded from here...

God, were you really thinking that?

---
What do?

[ ] Fine. Kerrigan can help. (Gain access to the Beet Red relationship effect - negate any hit sparks from a single source by Kerrigan providing timely assistance.) Adds +4 Colonial Girlfriend sticky sparks.
[ ] No, she's...she'll be distracting. (No effect)

Oh, also...
[ ] Infiltrate at the docks (social encounter, lots of enemies if it goes hot)
[ ] Infiltrate at the garbage entry (tech encounter, small number of enemies, lots of hazards)
[ ] Infiltrate at the prison level (immediately goes hot, medium enemies - closest to Stetmann and Swann)