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

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ACT ONE, MISSION THREE: The Great Grave Robbery (0.7)
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    • You glanced down with your forward cameras - and at the writhing masses of zerglings. Your blood went cold as you saw a thick clump of them drawing slightly back, their snouts lifting into the air. They seemed to be almost listening for something...but then, rather than attacking your factories or anything like that, they surged back towards your foot, harmlessly. You breathed out a sigh of relief.

    "I think they're just animals," you said. "Right now, at least."

    Just bugs.

    And you knew what to do with bugs.

    You lifted up the massive foot of your ACU - then brought it smashing down. Zerglings went crunch by the dozens as your fingers played along your console. By the time you lifted your foot and brought it smashing down again, crunching even more of the squalling creatures - blood spurting out from underneath the metal plane of your foot, the first Archie came off the production lines. The four wheeled robotic vehicles didn't need to be told what to do as they came trundling down off the ramp from the automatic factories.

    Their anti-air firepower started to pepper into the air with a rythmic thump thump thump noise. You hastily selected more of your factories with a swipe of your finger, typing in a quick que up pattern - mixing in some mech marines as the zerglings had taken three stomps before their gestalt agression broke in the face of how much crunching you could do.

    The remainder scattered as the Archies filled the air with spitting death. Something thick and red slapped against your camera.

    "Ugh," you said.

    "We may need to upgrade the self cleaning systems on the ACU, General," Stukov said, his voice cheery - at least he was enjoying the show. You took a moment to glance at the red blips cycling overhead. One by one, they were being cut down by the Archies, while the few remaining zerglings were being hunted down by the few mech marines you had worked into the factory.

    You wondered what the Dominion and that smug bastard Duke was thinking of this - how much could they see through your force fields? A small, petty part of you hoped that Duke was sweating in his oversized metal pants. You grinned, then selected the mech marines with your first control group - keyed to one of the half a dozen buttons along the left flank of your console. With them in control, you fanned them out through the ruins of your defensive line. Their machine guns continued to hammer away as you spun the ACU around and started to add to the mass fabricator and fusion plant field - your mind ranging ahead.

    You were fairly sure that you could get the...

    "General, the drones! They're hatching!" Stukov said.

    "That was fast," Matt said, quietly.

    "Incredibly fast, if this biotech could be harnessed..." Dr. Hanson said, her voice excited.

    "Uh, I'm not sure we want this biotech anywhere near us," Matt said, sounding slightly concerned.

    "R-Right, of course," Dr. Hanson said - but you could tell she was still considering possible...hell, for all you knew, she was thinking out medical possibilities. Every the optimist. You? You were too busy checking out what the Zerg had...built for lack of better word. There were several yawning cavern-like buildings, with a hideous esophageal motion to them, like they were breathing. As you watched, a few slithering creatures came from them. Bioforms could enter into tunnels back at the main base, then emerge out here. Fantastic. But there were also these oddly spindly buildings studded with glistening, spherical nodules. You zoomed in on one of them.

    "Theories?"

    "Uh..." Dr. Hanson paused, then you heard typing noises. "All right. We're getting a close up scan. It's creating similar biostructures to the purple mass that they're building on-"

    "The creepy shit," Stukov muttered.

    "Quite, uh, we'll need to come up with a better name than the Creep, though," Dr. Hanson said, her voice distracted. "It looks like they're creating bouyant propelled creatures out of the biomatter, uh, filled with similar material as those orbital cruise missiles..."

    "...they're anti-aircraft turrets," you said, slowly.

    "I believe so, yes," Dr. Hanson said, a bit nervously.

    "Tentacles for stabbing tanks, anti-aircraft, mobile unit transport tunnels. They've turtled as well as we have," you said, frowning slightly. "God, I was just thinking they're feral creatures. How much of this is planning? How much of this is instinct?"

    "Could be all instinct - that facility is being avoided by attack swarms because of their Zerg in hibernation," Matt said, quietly. "They may just be defending a hive."

    You rubbed your jaw with your hand. Attacking through that was going to be a bitch and a half. And you didn't exactly have a ton of time - the countdown timer was still ticking along in the corner of your vision. While you'd be safe, the Confederates would be toast if the OP hit the dirt.

    Well.

    If this shit was easy, everyone would do it.

    ---

    So, breakdown: I have 5 shock - I could spawn easy units buuuuuuut you've smashed the initial attack, and I did promise multiple encounters. Thus, I decided: The fight has wrapped, I spend all 5 shock on adding +5 to their Drone Mutations, bumping it from 6 to 11! You gain 10 XP! Good for you! The sparks in existance all decay into sticky sparks, giving you Expanding Economy (6) and they...get Zerg Defensive Line (11.)

    If you attack that line, it'll be another Danger 10 fight - but that defensive line sticky will turn into regular sparks, which are then added right into their Danger, bumping it to 21! Then 22 by hunted!

    It'll definitely be a fight to remember...still, maybe you can come up with something more clever?

    HEAT
    0/6

    STICKY SPARKS
    Zerg Defensive Line (11)
    Economic Structures (6)

    BASE
    Economic Structures (Work[Waste]: None | Sparks: None | Adds: +3 (Nanofabrication)
    Land Factory (Work[Waste]: People[Size] (2)(2) | Sparks: Land Forces (1) | Adds: +0 (Leadership)

    SPARKS
    Planning 2

    [ ] Unleash Hell! - turn your sticky spark into a buff for buying an Air Factory (which will cost 0 heat, as it's diff 7 versus a skill of 2+8), then attack with everything and hope your robust and huge base carries you through a Danger 21 fight.
    [ ] Do Something Sneaky - write in a sneaky plan! Be creative and I can tell you how you can mechanically manage something if you're not sure!
     
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    • ACT ONE, MISSION THREE: The Great Grave Robbery (0.8)
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    • You considered your options - and checked the counter in the upper corner of your screen. The orbital platform was going to hit soon. Too soon for you. You leaned back in your seat. "HQ, I need a quick orbmath check - where exactly is that OP going to hit? The trajectory has to be narrowed down by now."

    "We have it down to a fifty meter range, General," Stukov said and you saw it was situated about three kilometers to the east of the orange flier hive - and helpfully, Stukov threw up several circular area of effect indicators that would paint out the blast damage from heat, compression wave, fragments. The plateau would protect a chevron of that space from some of the damage, but the Confeds were still in the danger zone and your base was definitely in the blast radius. Fortunately, the comforting blue circles of the shield emitters for your base made it clear that the AOE would be bulked out...for you...

    "...parashields," you said, quietly. "Would paras do it?"

    "In sufficient number, yes," Stukov said. "Ten, fifteen in total."

    You started queing. "I have a plan."

    ***
    ​
    By the time the last unit for your initial push stepped off the platform of your factory, the OP was visible in the sky overhead as a gleaming spark of light, coming closer and closer towards the ground. The Zerg seemed blissfully indifferent, following their instinctive programming - to either protect what they saw as a hive, or keep back what they saw as predators. And you?

    Your army was a sleek and pared down admixture of T1 and T2 units. You had a small core of Pillar tanks that would smash anything heavier than a zergling, a platoon of Archers to handle anti-air, and a swarming mass of mech marines to engage the zerglings in running gun battles - you were guessing that the range you had and the rate of fire would be the deciding point, even if zerglings outnumbered your infantry. And in the center of it all were twenty Parashields - spindly little four tracked vehicles with the familiar Christmas light studded silver antlers of a shield emitter, scaled down and made mobile through superior UEF engineering. They would help against fliers and any ranged units, but you weren't so sure about those Creep colonies designed to attack ground units.

    Still.

    You were running out of time.

    With a flick of your finger and a few taps at your keyboard, the commands went out - and the entire army started moving at once. Your ACU started to march alongside them - you were there for flash repair, to make sure that the Parashields didn't get taken down. The first few kilometers passed in grim, nervous silence as you got closer and closer to the Zerg defensive wall - and then, as your tanks settled down at the very edge of their maximum effective range of half a kilometer, you frowned, ready for the Zerg to do something unexpected. But the writhing mass of zerglings that were scampering around there didn't seem to be aware that you were a threat...yet.

    You wondered what exactly triggered their attack reflex. They had sent a swarm at you earlier, and you had just built a base?

    Maybe there was something like a defensive instinct - tying them close to their organic buildings?

    You didn't know.

    And to be honest?

    You didn't particularly care. You gave the order with a few quick button taps and watched as the Pillars lifted their double barreled cannons and, with a whirr CLUNK - stabilized themselves. Then they began to open fire. Roaring flares of white light burst among the zerglings, yes. But most of the fire landed on the colonies. They were two types, the spore studded ones and the sunken, tentacle based ones. You targeted the Sunks first and it was deeply gratifying to see shells bursting around them. Blood spurted from lacerations and burn marks, then several Sunks exploded into fountains of gore, splattering the surrounding area and the shocked Zerglings and other creatures. Your grin was wry.

    "It is a beautiful sight," you said, quietly.

    "General, I'm detecting something big coming," Stukov said.

    You tensed.

    One of the structures that had been on the second list of targets after the sunken colonies rippled - and then expanded as something as big as an experimental came thundering through - bursting into the field and spreading its broad, serated limbs with a fierce, bellowing roar that echoed all the way into your ACU.

    "What the hell is that?" you asked.

    "Unknown," Stukov said.

    "I'd have thought that inverse scaling would prevent a creature that big from walking, let alone-" Dr. Hanson said.

    "Biology later!" you said as the creature started to thunder forward - shells bursting around it. One hit directly on the shoulder with a roar of orange-white light and it bulled through the explosion as if it wasn't even there. It had writhing mass of squidlike tentacles ending in bladed protrusions for a mouth; curved and armadillo like plating along its broad back, and a pair of immense bladed arms that stretched from either side of its narrow torso, while its legs were huge enough that you were pretty sure it could kick your ACU over and stomp in your head. Worse, it was fast - clearing ground in impressive time.

    Worse, it hit your front line of tanks - smashing a Pillar, and with a single sweep of one arm, sent dozens of mech marines exploding into a billion sparks and pieces.

    You had a fraction of a second to act.

    ---
    Mechanically, you used your Leadership skill to create sparks to snuff out the Zerg Defensive Fortification sparks, augmented by your Land Factory! That let the Land Factory add its people characteristic to your check, so you got 12 sparks for free! ...which completely devoured those 11 sparks, leaving you with Tier 2 Tanks 1 (Parashields 2) remaining. You need to get those Parashield sparks through this battle intact to succeed!

    So, I have a danger budget equal to [XP Value+(XP Value x # of PCs)]+1 For Hunted - which comes out to a cool 21 Danger in total! I will spend literally every single point on Just One Ultralisk


    HEAT
    0/6

    STICKY SPARKS
    Economic Structures (6)

    BASE
    Economic Structures (Work[Waste]: None | Sparks: None | Adds: +3 (Nanofabrication)
    Land Factory (Work[Waste]: People[Size] (2)(2) | Sparks: Land Forces (1) | Adds: +0 (Leadership)

    SPARKS
    Planning 2
    Tier 2 Tank 1 (Parashield 2)

    ENEMIES
    Just One Ultralisk: Difficulty 10, Durability 4, Damage 4, Area 1, Speed 2.

    [ ] Plan: Slow It Down - use your nanofabricate skill and your Planning sparks vs diff 1 to create Mass 6 (Mass 6 (Big Cube 4) to try and slow the Ultralisk down. Then begin to charge up your antimatter cannon by using Vehicle Weapon vs diff 1+1 to create Charging 1 spark, then take 6 more heat to create even more Charging sparks. Then turn your Economic Structures into Charging 6, to give you a total of 13 Charging sparks. Vent 6 heat using Just as Planned to get 1 Planning Spark - and plan to charge some more. (You need to be able to get 24 Charging sparks in total to blast through the Ultralisk's durability.
    [ ] Plan: Reinforcements! - use your Leadership skill, planning spark and your Land Factory vs Diff 1 to create sparks to augment your army, then take 6 more heat to bump that up by +6 sparks - which creates, in total, Mech Marines 6 (Tier 1 Tanks 6 (Tier 2 Tanks 10 (Parashield 2))). Vent 6 heat to use Just as Planned to get 1 Planning Spark. You can use your army as ways to blast through the Ultralisk's durability just like Charge. The difference is that the Ultralisk can target the army and spoil attempts to build up.
    [ ] Write In
     
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    • Vote closed
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    • Scheduled vote count started by DragonCobolt on Oct 24, 2023 at 11:45 PM, finished with 94 posts and 25 votes.
    • [X] Plan: Slow It Down
      [X] Operation: Hunker Down
      [X] Operation: Long Term Plans
      [X] Plan: Walls Forever!
      [X] Plan: Walls Forever! Build engineers to keep building more and more walls around the ultralisk until the orbital platform hits and takes them both out. Continue with the rescue.
      [X] Operation: Aggressive Turtling - cash in your Economic Outpost sparks to get +3 to buying gear, then buy Turrets for diff 9, taking 4 heat to do so. Then, attack the Mutalisks with your vehicle weapon skill. Augmented by turrets, your damage and range work as secondary characteristics, negating their people (3) to nothing! Diff 5+1 vs your skill of 2 allows you to succeed for 4 heat, putting you at 2 overheat - adding +1 Shock and dropping your heat to 0.
      [X] Operation: Drone Extermination
      [X] When You Have a Hammer - build a Klink Hammer (T2 artillery installation) and use it to bombard the zerg defensive line
      [X] Multiple Smaller Hammers - build a fleet of Lobos (T1 mobile light artillery) and use them to bombard the zerg defensive line
      [X] Asmodeus
      [X] Plan: The highest ground
      -[X] Use the Planning sparks and Leadership skill to create Air Transport sparks on ourselves and the parashields.
      -[X] Use the Economic Structures sticky spark to make Charging sparks for ourselves.
      [x] Plan: Slow It Down - use your nanofabricate skill and your Planning sparks vs diff 1 to create Mass 6 (Mass 6 (Big Cube 4) to try and slow the Ultralisk down. Then begin to charge up your antimatter cannon by using Vehicle Weapon vs diff 1+1 to create Charging 1 spark, then take 6 more heat to create even more Charging sparks. Then turn your Economic Structures into Charging 6, to give you a total of 13 Charging sparks. Vent 6 heat using Just as Planned to get 1 Planning Spark - and plan to charge some more. (You need to be able to get 24 Charging sparks in total to blast through the Ultralisk's durability.
      [X] Plan: Killbox - Pin the zerg experimental in place by surrounding it in calcicrete walls and switch the land factory over to building Flapjack mobile missile launchers. Direct the produced MMLs towards bombarding the monster with cruise missiles.
    Click to expand...
     
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    • ACT ONE, MISSION THREE: The Great Grave Robbery (0.9)
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    • "Shit!" you brought your left arm up - bringing a laser cutter into the side of the immense creature. One of it's curved blades smashed into the side of your ACU, sending the entire massive vehicle slewing hard to the side. For the first time in almost two years of battles, you felt your whole body lurching as the ACU staggered and tried to keep its arms up. The massive beast shook itself, smoke hissing from the laser cut you had slashed into it. Dr. Hanson's voice crackled over the line.

    "General, it's regenerating!"

    "I noticed!" You said as the beast opened its bladed arms wide - ready to snap them around your midsection. You stepped backwards, the armored shoes of your ACU smashing apart the Creep underneath you. The purple material came apart in vast, bloody chunks as you skidded slightly, just barely avoiding the sweep of blades. Your fingers played along the console. It usually took years of engineering to design a vehicle or building to be constructed by a nanolathe.

    You didn't have years.

    But, also?

    You didn't need to make anything nearly so sophisticated.

    Your nanolathe flashed and a glittering box of blue energy flared around the immense Zerg bioform - and then, with a flash, it snapped into a solid chunk of steel about fifty meters wide. The tips of both blades jutted from the edges and the creature remained perfectly still. Your fingers slid along your console - finding the energy requirements. You checked the clock, and lifted your free hand off the arm and leg controls to start programming in more orders.

    "Two minuets, General," Stukov said.

    "I'm aware of that, Lieutenant," you said.

    The parashields - their dumb little AI routines barely seemed to know that they were under threat - started to trundle around the creature. Their treads crushed tiny tracks into the Creep, but you could see the material was actually beginning to die before your eyes. Shriveling up and drawing away, as if blowing apart the sunken colonies and the spore colonies had been enough to kill it. You filed that away for later.

    "General, the bioform!" Matt said.

    Your eyes snapped up to the forward view.

    The cube that you had created was...quivering. Shaking.

    "That's impossible," you whispered.

    The cube trembled. Then, with a squealing crash of rending metal, the huge bladed arms shoved to the side and the entire upper half of the ultralisk kicked itself free, the bottom half following as it roared its fury to the air. You started to pilot the ACU forward, breaking into a run as it smashed and shook itself free. The parashields were following your orders - threading along the only navigable path between the Confederate base and their crude firetrap. The shields intersected, creating glitzy, shimmering interference patterns where they met. Those patterns were what would keep the building safe when...

    You could see it.

    The orbital platform was beginning to burn in the atmosphere, hitting its final, cataclysmic decent. The rumbling boom of it breaking apart in the upper atmosphere rattled your ACU. But it didn't cover the thundering of the Zerg bioform charging after you - a creature the side of your ACU, and filled with enough hate and rage that it could bust out of solid synth-steel. You turned around, standing just before the shields as the rumbling sonic booms of the orbital platform's final disintegration hit the air around you. Flaming streaks that were going faster - imparted extra energy by frenetic spinning - started to thud into the landscape, kicking up plumes of dirt, dust and debris.

    The Zerg creature loomed before you and roared a challenge.

    "Yeah, fuck you too," you said.

    Your ACU sparked and hissed as you finished the flash-charging of the Zephier cannon.

    The zerg bioform thundered forward.

    You lifted the right arm of your ACU - aimed and fired. The bead of glittering ruby red light that was the concentrated antimatter chuck flew straight towards it. The creature ducked its head and armadillo back forward, like a gridiron player getting ready to recieve an intense tackle. An instinctive response to incoming artillery.

    Utterly irrelevent.

    The flare of nuclear white fire blotted out your cameras and the gore explosion flashed out - red splattering cameras and hull. Your entire ACU rocked and you hissed. "Ugh!"

    "General! The impact!" Stukov said.

    You stepped back-

    The orbital platform, roaring like a furious god, came smashing down outside the edge of the ruined city. The ground leaped up and the shockwave swept out. The shields glowed brighter.

    And brighter.

    And brighter still...


    ---
    Okay! You make Mass 6 (Mass 6 (Big Cuuuube 4) to try and slow the ultra down, then make 13 charge sparks! Then you vent and the Ultra acts - creating 10 sparks - since it's diff 10 - augmented by its damage. 4 damage and 4 durability (remember, your ACU is durability 4) negate one another out, leaving just 10 sparks versus 6/6/4 - so, the sparks are obliterated down to 2/4!

    Oh, then I realized that the Ultralisk's area characteristic 100% applies to this, so, that knocks out the last of it, down to no sparks!

    Since you've set yourself towards this goal and there's no additional danger to spend to change the situations, we'll roll right into your next round: First, you take a diff 1 action to slap more mass sparks onto the stack - making it into 6/6/2, then throw down 1 Planning and 6 heat and your skill to add +7 to your spark pile, making 20 charging sparks.

    Vent down to 0 heat and make 1 planning spark!

    The Ultra acts again, smashing with their damage and their area and 10 sparks, which lets 2 hit sparks get through! But then it's your turn again - you're at 1/6 heat and decide to shoot the bastard! Planning Spark 1 and Vehicle Weapons 2 vs Diff 10 means you need to take 7 heat to hit, then 4 to get the 24 Charging sparks required to get past durability 4, putting you at 11/6 heat!

    You did it - you blasted the ultralisk and only take a Wounding Option! Which is a nice dramatic end to The Great Grave Robbery! (You get 11 XP for this final battle!)

    [ ] Item Destroyed: You don't get the ACU under shielding in time. While you survive, the shockwave destroys it. You lose one ACU. Permanently.
    [ ] Scarred: What you saw on Tarsonis effected you more than you thought... you gain Shaken (∞) until you can shake it off (this adds +1 to your heat minimum, meaning you effectively only have 5 heat instead of 6 until its narratively fixed.)
    [ ] Real Bad News: When the smoke clears, you find yourself surrounded by the Terran Dominion - Edmund Duke has pulled off a pitch perfect orbital insertion and cordoned off your airspace in record time. You won't be building a Quantum Gate easily out of this situation.

    Either way, you get the following sticky sparks!

    Confederate Scientists (5)
    Zerg Bioforms (10)
    Confederate Tech (4)

    Quite the haul!

    DISCLAIMER: Choosing Real Bad News means that while you have those stickies, you may not be keeping them for long.
     
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    • CINIMATIC: Bad Dreams (0.1)
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    • The white heat grew brighter, brighter, brighter, and the ACU smashed into the ground. You skidded, grunted, thrown hard against the restraints. Your head cracked hard against the forward console as the entire head of the ACU crumpled in around you. Metal bent inwards and you hissed, your hands going to the jagged surface pressing to your left side. Your palm slashed open and you jerked your hand away. Then the screen crunched inwards - a thin blade piercing through, gleaming bone. Acid dripped along it and the blade jerked back, then slammed back in. You couldn't scream. You couldn't move. The blade slammed in again - then ripped hard to the side.

    The screen came apart into a hissing spray of sparks and the whole ACU lurched up and around - you were now hanging from your restraints. The buckles strained, twisted by the impact. The yawning hole before you stretched out into blackness and still, you couldn't scream. Now, it was because your chest was being gripped by the binding belts, tight and fierce. Your nose flared and you tried to move - tried to wriggle, tried to squirm, but nothing responded. You hissed through your teeth and felt a strap give with a snap - gunshot loud. Snap. Snap.

    Snap.

    You plunged forward through the hole, into the blackness, and crashed into something soft and yielding and terribly warm and alive. You struggled to your feet. Each time you got your feet up and out of the purple mass, they'd just sink down again with the next step - your lungs burned as you struggled and struggled and struggled. Veins writhed as you yanked your feet free, ripping into the biomass. Warm blood spurted your ankles. You were sinking. And behind you, they were getting closer. Slithering. Clicking. Chittering. You struggled, harder, faster.

    "Shh. Shhh..."

    You whimpered. It was a noise you hadn't made in a decade.

    Not since...

    Cool fingers touched your cheek. A soft pair of lips whispered in your ear. "Don't struggle."

    The breath on your neck came from something horrible. Multiple limbs, writhing. Chittering. The feathery touch of a moth's wing, of a spider's fur, of the antennas of something slithering and terrible. You opened your mouth and-

    -and jerked up, gasping, soaked in sweat. You were in your bed, and the scream in your throat remained buried. Fierce. Deep. Your hand went to your chest, clenching on your tanktop, feeling the thunder of your heart against your knuckles. You looked around the room, half expecting to see a Zerg in there. The room was spare and empty, and the automatic lights had come on, winking to life and showing the sterile, hard metal. You remained sitting in bed, trembling, your eyes half closed. You slowly laid back into the bed, panting softly. Calming down.

    You hadn't been this fucking rattled since Proxima.

    That had been before the Cybrans had really gotten their ACU tech down - when the fights had been all hit and run. They had pulled back through one of the dome cities that they hadn't had a chance to evacuate. You had just been a Colonel, operating under General Smithers - your testimony had been what had gotten him tried and executed. It had taken you six more years to make General, despite your track record. But you...

    Psyche said you couldn't have smelled the bodies through a hermetically sealed ACU.

    But you had smelled them. How could you not smell them? Fast burning incendiaries were damn good at cooking robotic attack units - there was a reason that attack bombers and artillery were loaded with them. Even if the initial kinetic blast was fine, a lot of delicate components couldn't survive being cooked. Computers ran best when cold, eh?

    Psyche said the memories were safely compartmentalized and could be taken out and examined without trauma. Yeah. Well. Psyche could...go...

    Your shoulders bunched.

    You were terrified. The terror was intense and fierce and irrational - a fierce coldness locking you in place. It had nothing to do with Proxima, and everything to do with Tarsonis - everything to do with your hold. You forced yourself to move. You got to your feet, walked to the wall console, and growled - voice husky. "Show me security camera, Hold B."

    The camera blipped on and you saw crystal clear images of the stacked cryo-containers, the autoturrets aimed at them, the mech marines in their positions, ready and watchful with the dutiful, sleepless attentiveness only a simple AI could give to something. You could see through the nearest of the cryo-container: the tightly coiled tail, the curved bone crest, the sharp razor blade arms of the bioform known as Hydralisk. Dr. Hanson was working with the civilians and new names were burned into your mind. Zergling. Hydralisk. Mutalisk.

    Ultralisk.

    None of those in Hold B.

    Still, you watched in silence, the sweat cooling on your skin.

    None of the creatures moved.

    None even twitched.

    You rubbed your palm over your face, then tapped off the screen. It was four in the morning. You walked to the bed, then thumped down into it, eyes closed, your arms stretched above your head.

    You couldn't sleep. It wasn't that you were afraid of sleeping. You just couldn't. Too keyed up.

    You considered the possibility of going to the tacroom and seeing how things were going there. New intelligence had to be coming in - Dr. Hanson was busy examining the Confederate adjutant that you'd grabbed to see how likely Cybrans in the area were. Tosh had been interviewing the Confederate scientists for more data. And Matt and the communications department were busy keeping tabs on the Dominion and how they were spinning this - thus far, they hadn't reported that the UEF was operating in their area of space. Not too shocking. But...there had been something interesting that he had mentioned.

    You opened your eyes, frowning.

    Oh there's just been a weird shift in Dominion news traffic - they like bigging up their local heroes. Well, one of their heroes stopped getting any play. James Ranyor. Not sure if it means anything, but the speed of the dropoff seems important.

    Do we know anything about him?

    Former Confederate Marshal, turned on them and helped the Sons of Korhal take the Confederacy down. Seemed like Duke before Duke.

    The Confederate scientists had been...somewhat taken aback to learn General Edmund Duke was working for the Terran Dominion. They had also been shocked and furious to learn about "Emperor" Mengsk. Dr. Philips had described him as a bomb throwing anarchist, a terrorist, a mass murderer, someone who wrapped himself in a flag of dead millions to justify tearing down a perfectly legitimate democratically elected government. The Guild War was still somewhat enigmatic to you, but you got the basic gist of it: The Confederates had put an end to it by nuking Korhal until it glowed in the dark.

    You frowned.

    Not sleeping in bed wasn't good for you.

    You got up and squared your shoulders.

    You were going to...

    ---
    HEAT: 1/6

    SPARKS
    Shaken (∞)

    [ ] Go find and talk to Matt - see what he's managed
    [ ] Check on the Zerg in person. You just...want to make extra sure.
    [ ] Talk to Dr. Hanson about her studies
    [ ] Quiz that Samir Duran for more info about the Zerg, Protoss and Terrans.
    [ ] Go to the Gym and beat a punching bag black and blue until you feel better
    [ ] Write In
     
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    • CINIMATIC: Bad Dreams (0.2)
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    • You frowned, then tapped at the console - bringing up the internal schematic. You'd had Matt and some of the other SACU pilots running engineering on the E1, and you were pleased to see that they had taken on the load of additional passengers in stride. The life support systems had been expanded - an easy mathematic scale, just build a few additional units - and the food fabrication system was keeping up with everyone's needs. You skimmed a few attached reports and saw that the civilians were happy enough. It seemed the nanofabrication technology, while impressively advanced, wasn't exactly out of their context.

    Seem to have basic nanofab capacity - nothing as good as food production, but decent metalwork was one note you had.

    Well, it was four in the morning. Were any of them even awake?

    "Might as well take the walk," you said, half to yourself. You looked down at your tank top and rumpled shorts - and at the feat sweat that had soaked it. You made a face, then tugged off your top, chucking it into the recycler. You tapped at the controls and set the clothing fabber into making you an undress blue uniform with general tabs. You got into the shower and let the water warm your shoulders, easing the knots. Not as good as someone's hands...you shook your head.

    You had never married. Never had time for it. Beyond a few small relationships with people at or equal to your rank, and the girl on Deneb, you'd been too focused on your job. On the needs of Earth. You felt that worst at times like this. You turned off the shower - annoyed in one way. Relieved in another. At least now you were thinking normal shower thoughts about lost chances and warm beaches, not about...

    Them.

    You started through the spine of the ship, accepting salutes and greetings from crew at work. You dallied a little checking on the ACU. Some techs who had pissed their CO off were busy repainting it by hand, a punishment detail that was made all the more humiliating by its utter lack of utility or point. Soon, your ACU wouldn't even look scratched. Your eyes settled on the place where the chunk that the Ultralisk had smashed out of your chest armor - clean metal now. You watched as one of the surly techs skimmed over it with a sprayer, misting UEF blue in place. You lifted your gaze to the ACU's masklike face and felt a sense of settling confidence. You could handle the Zerg. One ACU could take them on and win.

    You already had mental plans for artillery and entrenched defenses, airforces and...hmm, did they even have wetnavy bioforms?

    You were thinking along those lines as you came to the civilian quarters. The laughter of children hit a chord you hadn't expected - and you saw that a few of the local Terrans had even taken to decorating the walls with bright splashes of color and graffiti. You supposed it being their part of the ship, it wasn't...exactly against regulations. Still, you pursed your lips as you walked past it - then almost got run over by a twelve year old who was sprinting past, laughing as she held her arms up and waggled them dramatically. "You can't catch me!"

    "Yes i can!" An age mate, also laughing, sprinted after her. "Get back here, you lousy old Zerg!"

    The two went around the corner and you frowned slightly. "It's normal to them," a voice startled you and you saw one of the older civilians was out, enjoying a cup of coffee.

    "The Zerg?" you asked.

    "Aliens in general," he said, sniffing and then sipping from his coffee. His face was all weathered lines. "I lived through the Guild Wars, the Civil War, now this?" He shook his head. "It's too much for an old man like me to take, I think. All these things. Used to be simple."

    "What were these guild wars?" you asked.

    "Oh...some claim jumping and mine stealing between the Confeds and the Kel-Morians. I guess the KM bastards got their last laugh, what with the Confeds going down to dirt and the Dominion rolling in. Course, last I heard, their trade and mining grants are being fierce constricted by the Emperor." He pursed his lips slightly. "The Confeds won in the end, but it was a hell of a fight. And it didn't have these damn Zerg or Protoss or you Earthers sticking your noses in. No offense, ma'am."

    You snorted, dryly. "None taken."

    "...what would you have done? A resource sqabble like that?" the old man asked, in the frank, direct way that you were getting increasingly certain was the Terran norm - at least out in the colonies. You shrugged one shoulder.

    "All mining in the UEF is autonomous. The Kel-Morian combine, if they're a mercentile organization, would need to switch purely to shipping and managemnet. Course, the actual shipping is autonomous too."

    "Aut...so...what, you folks don't have miners? Don't have jobs?" the old man asked.

    "The UEF provides jobs to everyone who wants one," you said, shrugging. "For those who don't want to work for the Federation, you can take BGI. Uh. Basic Guaranteed Income. Similar to how you live now - basics on the fabricators, small homes, access to the public data nets and public transport. Assuming, of course, you follow the law and maintain order as expected by the UEF."

    "Oh is that all?" the old man narrowed his eyes at you, suspiciously. You supposed you could see his reason for fear - but you were being honest. The UEF gave every human everything they needed, organized and maintained by Adjutants - well, those Adjutants who hadn't been subverted by Cybran disloyalty programs. It was the first time in humans long history that someone had made an empire, a real empire, that didn't depend on slaves.

    Technology Sets Us Free, had been the slogan in one political campaign. Couldn't remember which one.

    "We are here to bring an end to the Koprulu's cyclical dictators. I mean, how long did the Confederacy last? Ten years?" The old man seemed unconvinced. You opened your mouth, about to continue to try and batter through his prejudices when a shout came around the corner. "Uh, just a second."

    "It's my turn, I need food from this damn magic box-"

    "It's a line, I was here fir-"

    "Listen, you bitch!"

    The two people squabbling were a craggy faced man, maybe thirty - hell, maybe twenty considering these people's access to medtech - with squinty eyes and a hunched posture, and...oh. Uh.

    The woman was in her late twenties, possibly her early thirties. She was strongly built, lithe and graceful like an acrobat, her physical strength visible even in her baggy colonial trousers and loose tunic with blue dungaree jacket with fraying edges on the sleeves and hem. She had brilliant red hair, tied back into a long ponytail, and was rolling her eyes to the heavens as the man berated her.

    "You've been nothing but a stuck up queen bitch since you moved in next to me - always cutting infront of me in line, stealing my chance to get food first."

    "It's. A. Nano. Fabri. Cator." The woman said, putting fierce, harsh emphasis on each part of the word. "It doesn't run out of the good stuff."

    "What's going on here?" you asked, and thanked Christ you didn't squeak like a schoolgirl.

    "This bitch cut in line," the craggy faced man said, turning to face you, scowling.

    "I just got here first. It's too early in the damn morning for this, uh g...General!" She started, standing up slightly.

    "It's a nanofabricator," you said, dryly, to the man. "In the time you spent berating your neighbor..." You typed at the console and it spat out a coffee cup. You took it and handed it to the redhead, who took it with a wry little smile at you, her eyes sparkling. "...you'd have already gotten the food."

    "I..." The man blinked, and for a moment, looked faintly confused. He glowered at the box. "Ah hell, I'm not even hungry anyway."

    "Cantankerous old coot..." the redhead muttered.

    "I'm glad not all of your neighbors are quite so bad," you said, casually.

    "Thanks, General," she said. "Uh. Clarke. General Clarke."

    You inclined your head. The urge to say oh, just use Sam was almost overpowering, but sounded so...damn awkward in your tongue. You instead coughed and waited expectantly. She blushed - her cheeks were made for blushing, being as pale as they were. "Sarah," she said, offering her hand to you.

    You took it.

    ---
    HEAT: 1/6

    [ ] "So, uh, Sarah, why'd you choose to be a colonist?" (Diff 2 Charm check - 2 heat)
    [ ] "So, uh, Sarah, how are you enjoying the Expeditionary 1? Sorry it's...got such a plain name." (Diff 2 Charm Check - 2 Heat)
    [ ] "I can move that asshole to a new set of rooms, if you want! Or...you?" [Flirty] (Diff 3 Charm Check -2 Heat)
    [ ] Write In
     
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    • CINIMATIC: Bad Dreams (0.3)
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    • You looked at her bright, bright pretty green eyes and found yourself slipping back, oh...ten years. You grinned at her and rubbed at the base of your neck, trying to sound...casual. "I can move that asshole to a new set of rooms, if you want!"

    She smiled at you. "Abuse of power?"

    "I mean, they're all the same room," you said, coughing. "Or, uh, I could get you a new room."

    "General Clarke," Sarah said, placing her hand on her chest, her voice pitching to a different accent - something more rustic and sweet, like she was doing an imitation of a holovid you hadn't said. "Why I never!"

    You actually blushed. You were forty years old and blushing like you'd just gotten out of college again. You chuckled and dropped your hand from your neck. "I wasn't suggesting my room," you said.

    "Shame," she said.

    You coughed out a laugh. "So, uh, other than the neighbors, has the ship been comfortable enough for you."

    "Infinite free food that's like a fine restaurant in Augustgrad and assurances that we won't be killed by Protoss, Dominion maniacs or the Zerg?" Sarah shrugged one shoulder. "Oh, I suppose I can live with it." She sipped from her cup. "I'm just to slightly more pampering."

    "Oh?" you asked.

    "Why, can't you tell?" she asked, smiling at you. "Back on Bel'Shir, I was a Queen. Thousands of servants, beautiful house." She pursed her lips slightly, fluttering her eyelashes at you in the most absurd way. You laughed again. God, how long had it been since someone had made you laugh? You'd forgotten how much you liked it. Sarha jerked her head. "Come on, you're the general, and I've been dying to stretch my legs. Give me a tour of this ship."

    "Well, if you give me the order, oh Queen," you said, dryly. "You do know that my people have been at war with an imperialist monarchy for centuries, right?"

    "Centuries? Really?" she asked. "How can you fight a war for centuries. The big smash up between the Zerg, Protoss and Terran was just a year long, and it seemed to completely wreck the sector."

    "Ah, the wonders of modern technology," you said, leading her from the civilian rooms to one of the ACU hangers. You weren't trying to impress a girl with your fancy technology. It was important for the civilians to understand both the benefits of supporting the UEF and the safety that it would imply. Knowing how an ACU worked, what it could really do, would help that. Sarah's eyes widened fractionally as she saw the huge machine, while you grabbed onto the railing and turned to face her, leaning your right arm against the yellow and black striped support. "This is an Armored Command Unit. They're able to construct entire armies of automated robotic warfare platforms - ranging from infantry, tanks, aircraft, experimental units of larger scales...ships."

    "Like...battlecruisers?" she asked, curiously.

    "No, like, ships. Ships ships."

    Sarah looked more confused. "Battlecruisers are ships."

    "No, ships on water," you said.

    "Why'd you put a ship in water?" she asked, laughing.

    You rubbed your palm against your face, feeling bemused. "Uh, don't your planets have oceans?"

    "Yeah," she said, then frowned. "Are you telling me, back on Earth, people make ships and put them in water? And they float?"

    "Yes!" you laughed. "Metal can be buoyant enough to float in water if you build them right. It's incredibly efficient. Like a train."

    "A...train?" she asked, looking so completely befuddled that you almost opened your mouth - then paused, frowning at her.

    "You're pulling my leg," you said, quietly.

    "Only about trains," Sarah said, turning back to face the ACU. "Putting spaceships in the water seems kinda silly when you can fly in space with artificial gravity and fusion engines. I mean, I'm no expert soldier or anything...just...some colonial backwater hick from New Gettysburg..." She grinned at you.

    "If that's a big city, I don't know it, I'm from Earth," you said, dryly.

    "Dang," Sarah said, sighing. "It was on Tarsonis. I got out on the last evacuation transport..." She looked haunted for a moment, her hands tightening as she gripped onto the metal railing.

    Your smile faded. "That'll never happen again. That kind of attack? Never again, not when the UEF is here."

    She forced her hands to relax. Then, for a moment, she looked downright annoyed. She released the bar and stepped forward, getting right into your personal space. Her grin was playful. "A knight in shining armor?"

    Your cheeks flushed and you found it very hard to not look into her eyes. "Uh, heh, it's mostly blue," you said.

    "I like blue," she said, quietly.

    You smiled at her.

    "Oh! General!"

    You spun away from Sarah and stood straight, feeling for all the world like you'd been kicked back into the academy and he been caught by a teacher. Instead, you lifted your chin, frowning slightly as you took in the sight of Lt. Stukov, who was looking pleased to have found you. He came to attention. "There's some new reports on the data we've recieved from our intelligence networks," he said, nodding. "S-Since you're awake. Uh. Were you busy?"

    "No, Lieutenant," you said. "Have the data rerouted to my chambers, I'll read them over breakfast." You rubbed your thumb against your eye, flicking some grit from it. "Thank you."

    "General," he said, taking the dismissal and turning to go. As he walked off, Sarah stepped up to your side, hands behind her back.

    "Duty calls?" she asked, curiously.

    "Endless paperwork," you said.

    "What's paper?" she asked, grinning at you.

    "Colonials," you muttered. "No respect for human tradition."

    "You're cute when you grumble about colonials," she said, playfully. Your cheeks flushed and you frowned at her.

    "And, uh...I mean, I haven't had breakfast either, you know," she said, grinning at you slightly.

    ---
    HEAT: 4/6

    SPARKS
    Shaken (∞)

    This is a complicated vote, so be sure to make it a plan vote! First, vote for one of these
    [ ] Perception diff 10 - notice the bars twisted out of shape by superhuman strength (gain 8 heat, putting you at 12/6 overheat)
    If you vote for this, choose two options from this list
    [ ] ACU Destroyed (in the excitement, the ACU in this cargo hold is destroyed.
    [ ] Precarious (you are captured by Kerrigan - but remain conscious. A Hit Spark 10 is created - can you beat it before she escapes with you?)
    [ ] Scarred (Kerrigan doesn't capture you - but your ability to trust your own senses is shaken. Gain a second infinite hit spark of Paranoia to go with your Shaken hit spark.)​
    [ ] Real Bad News (Every Zerg spark becomes XP value for a combat encounter.)​
    [ ] Fail perception check, set heat to 0

    Second vote!
    [ ] Say goodbye to Sarah, for now. You do have work to get to (begin next Interlude)
    [ ] "...do you want breakfast? We can, uh, go get it?" (get sticky spark Colonial Girlfriend 4, lose your Shaken (∞) spark)
     
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    • CINIMATIC: Bad Dreams (0.4)
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    • Sarah's eyes were really the most arresting shade of green you'd ever seen. Your cheeks flushed and you quashed a faintly panicky voice that muttered things like she's a bit young, isn't she?

    She looked thirty. You weren't...

    Twenty years.

    ...that much older. When you considered medtech life extension. And all that. You looked aside, blushing and adjusting your collar with one finger. For some reason, every twinge you felt racking up over the past thirty years hitting you all at once. "Do you want breakfast?" you asked, gruffly. "We can, uh-"

    "We sure can," she said, sliding her arm through your arm, grinning as she tugged you off. You allowed her to pull you along - and tried to not feel like you were acting a fool.

    The technician that came afterwards, a few hours later, frowned as he ran his hand along the metal that had warped and twisted like water, dimpling with the touch of fingers. Softly, he muttered. "What in the goddamn?" He didn't take too long trying to figure it out - strange things happened in a ship full of robotic strength enhancement and bored soldier-technicians. He just did his duty.

    And he fixed it.

    ***
    ​
    The door hissed shut behind you and you said, hurriedly. "You know this is just for-"

    Sarah stepped up onto her tip toes and made you very quiet. Her lips pressed to yours, warm and soft and moist. Your eyes slowly closed as your hands gently reached down to her shoulders, holding her in place. Her hands went to your hips, delicate. She released you, slowly, drawing back. Her breath smelled like perfume.

    "There," she said, quietly.

    "I, uh..." You chuckle. "I wasn't sure if you-"

    "Sam, I wanted to kiss you from the moment i saw you impressing Clarence DuFree over the com," she said, quietly. "We were sitting there, terrified about the Protoss showing up and slashing us to pieces and you showed up in the nick of time. It's not something we colonials get used to seeing that often." She paused, then stood up on her tip toes, kissing your nose, gently. "It didn't hurt that when you got out of the big ACU you were tall then too."

    "You like, uh, tall girls?" you asked.

    "Mmmhmm," she said. "And girls in uniforms."

    "Heh." Your cheeks heated. "Are you sure you're not..." Her fingers gently tugged at your collar - then down to your button. "I mean...I'm older than you."

    "Pff, you..." She stepped back, looking up at you, her brow furrowing as she looked into your eyes. "You're thirty, right?"

    "Forty nine," you said, grinning slightly. "Earth medical technology is pretty, uh, impressive."

    "Damn," Sarah said, drawing away fully now, leaving your jacket hanging open, your white shirt underneath as crisp and new as it had been fabricated this morning. "How do you guys manage that?" She asked. You chuckled, softly.

    "R-Right, uh, nanotechnology. The distinction between nano and bio gets quite fuzzy. And, uh..." You paused, blinking.

    Her hands were on her own top, sliding suspenders over her shoulders, letting her pants puddle around her ankles.

    "And, uh..." you blinked.

    Sarah arched an eyebrow.

    "...I'll explain later..."

    Sarah and Samantha share an intimate moment
    You stepped forward and your worries were dropped away as you leaned in, kissing her mouth. She was oh so very eager this time, her mouth opening as her hands snaked around your neck, fingers interlocking through your blond hair. She squeezed and kept you in the kiss, leaning up, tilting her head back, devouring your mouth with hers. Her tongue was playful, darting...she tasted sweet. Your eyes closed and you leaned into the kiss more. When she did draw back, you panted, and her teeth tugged slowly on your lower lip.

    "Oh I needed that," you whispered. Your hands went to what was left of her clothes - the simple cloth homespun she had underneath. Her buttons were heavy and plastic. You tugged one and it pinged off, coming free. She giggled quietly.

    "Excited, aren't we?"

    "Your clothes are garbage...we should recycle them and replace them," you said, chuckling.

    "Yes, GEneral."

    Your cheeks heated. "You can call me Sam, heh..." Your fingers undid the last button. Her shirt now hung around her shoulders, leaving a pale slit of exposed skin between rough cloth. Her belly button was the most kissable thing you'd ever seen, nestled among sleek muscles - the belly of a gymnast.

    "I can. But you kinda like General, don't you?" her voice was playful. Her fingers tugged, slowly, at the center of that curtain - drawing it wider. Her breasts, perky and full, tipped with rosy red nipples, came into view as her last article of clothes puddled around her ankles and she stepped from it, her hips graceful. "Kinda overdressed now, aren't you?"

    "Yeah."

    Her fingers - warm, delicate fingers, swept under your undershirt and your own top skimmed over your shoulders. You lifted your arms, tossed it aside. Her eyes widened as those delicate, delicate fingers skipped over your chest to slide along your shoulder, finding one of the small sockets for your ACU hook up. "What are these?" she asked. "Power armor hookup?"

    "For the ACU. The nanolathe system is...it requires a deep and complete genecode, uh, sample, taken from the-" you realized you were babbling. "Yeah."

    Her lips touched the socket. Her tongue swept along the join of flesh and machine and the groan that wrung itself from your throat was the most hungry noise you had ever made. Her eyes closed and she whispered, softly. "You're...part machine?" She kissed up to your ear, gently. Nibbled. Your hands, feeling like you were completely out of your depth, reached around, found her hips. Squeezed. Her skin felt too perfect to be real.

    "Yeah," you said, huskily. "Proudest day of my life was getting that hooked in."

    Her fingers swept along your sides, to your hands. She traced over invisible scars, scars that she would never know about, scars that had been fixed. But she seemed to almost feel them, her fingers slowing. Her voice was soft. "You've been at war your whole life?" She kissed from your plug to your neck. She tasted the thundering of your heart with her tongue.

    "Yeah..." you whispered. Your hands slid back. Her ass - peach taut and sweet - dimpled against your fingers. You leaned forward, kissing her fiercely on the mouth. This was the devouring, hungry kiss of someone who knew that war could sweep you apart at any time. Your tongue and hers met together and you pushed her back into the bed. The frame squeaked - almost as loud as her - as she lifted her thighs up and snaked her legs behind your back, hooking ankle over ankle. She leaned in more, nibbling your lower lip as your hands took advantage of the fact she was hooking herself to you with her legs.

    Your pants hit the ground. You kicked the last off, pushed her back, pinning her into the bed.

    Every contact point between yourself and her was like fire - hip to thigh, heel to buttocks, breast to breast, belly to belly, cunt to pelvis. She was so wet. So hot. Your mouth broke contact and you panted heavily while she whispered quietly. "Oh General..."

    Your hands grabbed her hands, pinning them above her head. You grinned at her. "Quiet, soldier."

    "Mmm..."

    Your mouth and hers met again. Then, this time, you started to explore. Your lips slid along her throat, feeling the rabbit fast thumpthumpthump of her heartbeat. Your lips grazed along her collar bone. Down to her breast. Her nipple was hard and when you locked your teeth around her and used just enough pressure, she bit her own knuckle to keep from being too loud. Her legs writhed against you and her hips bucked subtly as your hands grabbed onto her hips, holding her down. You kissed that belly button. You kissed that tiny thatch of brilliant red pubic hair, your nose flaring.

    "Sam..."

    Her voice is desperate.

    You kiss her clit. Suck. Slide forward. Your tongue thrust into her sex as your hands cradled that perfect ass of hers, lifting her up and off the bed. You had kissed her eagerly - now you showed her what real hunger was. Your tongue thrust into her cunt, crooking up, finding the spot that made her mewl and squirm and kick one leg. Her hands reached up, squeezing onto the headboard of your cot as you pushed yourself against her sex, squeezing her ass and drinking her juices desperately. She gasped and bucked her hips, her moan tightening as her thighs scissored around your head, holding you close.

    "Sam...Sam! Sammmmmm!"

    She gripped your hair with one hand.

    You tasted her flood, and then drew away as she panted heavily.

    "Fuck..." She whispered, her eyes half closed. "You're...good at that."

    "UEF, Sarah. Excellence in all things." You said. Now, you had your fingers against her sex. Thrusting two into her, you watched her face twisting with pleasure. You worked your fingers in her as her hips bucked, taking a raw, fierce pleasure in how much joy you were bringing her. She moaned your name and your rank in equal measures, her youthful hips twitching around you hand as you used your thumb on her clit. She crested, climaxed, plataued, crested again - her voice growing hoarse. She ducked her head forward, eyes closing.

    "S-Samm...Sammm!" She moaned. Her hips twitched again as you leaned forward, kissing her neck, her ear. She gasped and whimpered and was putty in your hands. Tears of pleasure dripped along her cheeks as she gasped softly. Then, as she quivered with another climax, her hand went to your wrist, holding you in place. She tugged your hand away, gasping. "S-Stop, god, you're...going to fucking kill me..." She laughed. "I surrender. You have me. Ah. Jesus." Her eyes closed.

    You leaned in, voice quiet. "Sarah..."

    "Shh..." She laid back again. Her finger crooked. "Sit here."

    Her tongue darted along her lips. Her eyes glittered.

    You were wetter than you had been in a goddamn long, long time. You shivered, then crawled atop her. Her hands guided you down, caressing your ass. You tried to not compare your own battered, sagging form to her gymnastic perfection - and the way she touched you? The way her lips kissed along your inner thighs?

    It was easy.

    It was so damn easy.

    You sat on Sarah's face and placed your hands on the wall, panting huskily as her tongue slowly, gently, began to lap at you. She had the cautious, slow eagerness of someone who hadn't...been with many girls. But she made up for it with raw passion. Her tongue lapped along you again and again and again and her hands cradled your ass. She thrust her tongue into you and you were so wired up, so eager, so fucking pent that you found your hips rocking against her as brilliant white heat burned through your spine, up into your mind. Your body quivered and you cried out - husky and eager. "Fuck...Sarah! Sarah!" Your hips rocked against her as she tentatively added a finger.

    By luck or skill...she found your G-spot.

    "Sarah!"

    Your spine arched as she drank you and tongued you...

    You swear, your fingers left dimples in the walls

    ***
    ​
    Afterwards, you laid with her in bed, your breasts pillowed under you, your arms under your head. Sarah's finger slid along one of your shoulders. "You're muscular as hell, you know..." She whispered, quietly. "Like a woman if she was a siege tank."

    You snorted. "Not like you," you murmured. "You're-"

    "Shh," she put her finger on your lip. "You're beautiful, Sam. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

    You rolled onto your side, narrowing your eyes at her.

    "Would I lie?" she asked, grinning impishly. "Just cause you control the food, water, armed forces currently conquering the sector-"

    "Liberating," you said, flushing.

    "Mmmm, sure," she said, playfully, tweaking your nose gently. "That's why you pinned-"

    "Ahem!" you coughed. She giggled.

    Your communicator blatted, jerking your attention around. "General," Matt said, sounding as chipper as you felt. "We're ready for the intelligence briefing."

    "She'll-" Sarah started. You clapped your hand over her mouth, her eyes sparkling with malicious pleasure. You flushed and glared at the communicator. Matt's voice came from it.

    "...General?" he asked.

    "I'll be right there!" you said - as Sarah wriggled like a bag of cats. She licked your palm and you jerked away from her, laughing.

    "She'll need a shower first!" Sarah called out.

    "W-Who is that?" Matt asked.

    "Com off!" you snapped.

    Sarah's grin was pure, malicious evil. Then she twigged on something that would spare her little neck.

    "...I can scrub your back?" she said, fluttering her eye lashes.

    You snorted. Then leaned in and found her mouth again. You pushed out of bed and felt like you were a twenty year old cadet again as you sauntered to the adjoining shower. Sarah laid on the bed, watching you go. She bit her lip, then looked away. Her face fell, and she sighed, softly.

    Then she stood, and joined you.

    She scrubbed your back real well.

    ***
    ​
    Matt Horner's expression was studiously neutral, but his eyes were delighted as you entered into the room. "Good morning, General," he said, brightly.

    "Major," you said, nodding to him.

    "...so..." He said, slowly.

    "It's private," you said, flatly.

    "Understood, General," he said, nodding. You glared past him and at the information briefing package that was being assembled. The techs were at work assembling information on a few planets. Matt still sounded pleased as he said. "We've intercepted a very interesting set of transmissions - the Dominion has reclaimed Tarsonis, and they're claiming...they did it."

    You glanced at him. "This, I need to see."

    General Edmund Duke looked like as much like a smug prick in a red dress uniform as he did in his red power armor. He smiled genially at the female news reporter, who was taking his answers as cameras filmed him - the whole holo having been shot in the smoldering wastelands of a Tarsonis city, the background highlighted by countless charred Zerg corpses. "-as you can see, we've secured New Gettysburg and the majority of other Tarsonis planetary cities - and have cleared out all them nasty Zerg critters."

    "But, general, why have similar actions in the outer reaches met with such remarkable failures, such as your defeat and retreat from the planet of Char?" The reporter asked.

    Duke's face grew quite fixed. "Well, uh...I was never...defeated nor...did I ever retreat from Char. My scouting mission-"

    "According to navy insiders, you left with six battlecruisers and three platoons of marines, not to mention siege tanks, wraith fighters and other assorted forces, but returned only with the Norad III. Is this not a defeat?" the reporter asked, brightly.

    Duke's face colored. "Now, listen here, the reason why the Zerg on this here world have been destroyed is because of Dominion steel and skill. The Dominion has never been defeated in the field by Zerg when we choose to put boots on the ground, you can take that to the bank!"

    "But is it true that the Zerg here were merely feral remnants and not controlled by the so called Queen of Blades?" The reporter asked.

    "This interview is over," the General said, firmly - and several Marines stepped between him and the reporter.

    "General Duke, wait, Gen-" The holovid cut off.

    You turned to Matt, frowning. "So, it seems they're keeping our rumored arrival on the downlow, but it still pisses me off that they're taking credit for my hard work."

    "Indeed," Matt said. "But there's something else. The intelligence team has found that there's a growing insurrection in the outlands, centered around a world called Mar Sara - the world that we got our first message from. They've stated to rebuild after the Great War, and the Dominion is leaving them out to dry. Then there's the Adjutant we recovered - studying it has determined that the Terran Dominion has all the weaknesses that Dr. Brackman once exploited to build his Cybran terrorist network. There's some old data in there pointing to some secure communications, but this particular Adjutant never picked any of them up."

    You grunted. Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw that Tosh was watching you intently. You wondered if he had heard the little...communication slip up...

    Dr. Hanson entered into the room, brightening. "Oh! General, fantastic!" she said, brightly. "Before we determine your next target, I've found some possibilities for upgrading our ACUs before sending them into the field, using what I've learned from the Terran, Protoss and Zerg we've studied so far!"

    Now that?

    That was something to listen too.

    ---
    Time to spend some sticky sparks! Turning all the collected sparks for Terran, Protoss and Zerg research into a total of +16, which combines with your skill for a total "Value" of 18! You also have up to 6 heat to spend to add to the "check" - giving you in total, 24 "money" to spend! You CAN buy multiple things, but each one you buy after the first is +1 Cost!

    Some things have a cost of X - meaning they provide "X" and then cost as much X as you want them to have. This is how you can clear up gaps in your expenditures! ...cause...anything not spent is lost!

    [ ] Scythe Class Gatling Laser - using zerg derived biological fluid managements system, your ACU's arm mounted vehicular weapon becomes more accurate, faster firing, and harder hitting. Does periodically need to recharge. (2[1] Damage[Reliability], 1 Range, +1 Add for Vehicular weapons - total cost: 15)
    [ ] Ifrit Pattern Point to Point Quantum Transmat System - using Protoss based crystal-focusing for quantum tunneling events, the Ifrit P2P Tunneler allows for transporting yourself on the ground several kilometers at once. Does periodically need to recharge. (3[1] Range[Reliability] - total cost: 18)
    [ ] Regenerative AGT Shielding System - while seemingly primitive, certain advancements in micronized fusion power technology has driven Terran technology beyond our own. This enhances defensive shielding for cheap. [2 Durability - cost 12]
    [ ] T2-X Fabricator - a synthesis of Terran construction systems, Earth based nanolathe, and utilizing bioplymers derived from Zerg lifeforms, the T2-X Fabricator is capable of mass production at incredible speed and range. [1 Mass, 2 Range - cost 18]
    [ ] ISO-Metric HUD Scanner Array - using reverse engineered Protoss sense equipment, the ACU's scan and detection system can be vastly improved [X ISO-Metric Sparks - these sparks can be spent to learn one fact about the enemy within your line of sight - Cost X)
    [ ] Enhanced Fusion Systems - combining Zerg bioform bioelectric systems with nutrient baths provides a significant edge in power generation. [+X Fusion Reactor Sparks - Cost X]
     
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    • INTERLUDE
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    • You watched as the new backpack attachment was affixed to the last of the ACUs - all three having now been augmented with Zerg and Protoss derived quantum tunneling devices. Next to you, Matt tapped his palm against his pad, frowning. "Now, hopefully they'll work in combat situations." He glanced aside, then leaned in, quietly. "Tosh has an idea to pitch you."

    "Great," you said.

    "...General, can I speak freely?"
    You nodded. "Major."

    "Is it..." he paused. "Is it ethical to, ahem, have a relationship with one of these..."

    "They're going to be citizens of the United Earth Federation. UEF military officers are allowed to have relationships," you said, your cheeks heating slightly.

    "It's just..." Matt looked at the ACU. "Hell, General, it just seems a bit fast is all."

    "Whirlwind romance," you said, dryly as the final technician's hissing, spurting nanolathe finished attaching the device to the ACU. The crews started to swarm away in their bots. As they left, you turned and leaned against the railing, regarding Matt with a stern expression. He was looking out at the ACU, his brows drawn in in an intense, focused expression. He sighed, quietly.

    "I'm not a teenager," you said. "Major."

    His expression of consternation broke into a smile. "Of course not, General. I'm just worrying over nothing."

    You nodded. "Now, lets see what the PolitBeura wants-"

    "Wait, first, before you do," he said, holding up his hand. "Our intelligence says that the facility on Redstone we were discussing? It's still in place. I think the Dominion doesn't know that we know that it exists, so no one has gone to clean up. If they haven't cleared it out after Tarsonis, I think they're confident we don't know where it is. So..."

    "It'll keep if we have other things to focus on?" you nodded. "Sounds good."

    The two of you started away.

    The ACU stood, looking bulkier than ever.

    ***
    ​
    "We have a unique opportunity," Tosh said, his voice jovial as you sat in the conference room. "Currently, the Terran Dominion thinks that they're ontop of us. They don't quite know our full resources, but they know enough to be scared. They're beefing up their defenses on multiple planets - but their propaganda game is trying to pretend we don't exist. That won't last. They will break the news story sooner or later, and paint us as whatever they want."

    "Quite," you said, drumming your fingers on the desk.

    "That's where this comes in," Tosh said, his fingers sliding along the controls. A projection hummed to life and a large, orblike structure appeared, surrounded by curving protrusions.

    "This is the Galileo," Tosh said. "A Confederate scientific vessel, repurposed for broadcasting information and news channels into the outer systems. It's lightly guarded, and it's where the Dominion news traffic is most centralized - other than their broadcasting centers on Khoral."

    You frowned.

    "We can infiltrate it with a small team," Tosh said, grinning. "And we can upload a propaganda program that can break the news of our arrival as we see fit. The outer colonies are already simmering with rebellion - Mar Sara, for instance. There are reports coming in of something called the Raiders..."

    "Not just the Raiders," Matt said, sitting up. "Raynor's Raiders."

    The name was faintly familiar. Your brow drew in and your fingers drummed on the counter. "Isn't he dead?" You asked, slowly.

    "The Dominion stopped mentioning him in any of their propaganda," Matt said, smirking slightly. "We think that they were hoping to utilize him as a martyr. They must have thought he was dead - but, well. As we've noticed, the Dominion's spy network isn't exactly perfect."

    Dr. Hanson, who had been listening to all of this attentively, lifted her hand. "General, sir, Mar Sara was listed as one of the first sites that the Zerg arrived. Large portions of it were glassed by the Protoss - and we have reason to believe that those ships didn't accomplish their orbital attacks without damage. After all, the Zerg are fully capable of surface to space attacks. This means that...Mar Sara could have samples of both species on its surface. And, uh, if there's a rebellion against the Dominion running out there, why not just go to it straight off?"

    You nodded.

    She had a point.

    But, tickling at the back of your mind, there was the question of where to place the colonists. Even Matt had gotten so used to them being aboard, he had forgotten the plan to place them down on Haven. Thinking of Sarah, thinking of those Zerg cryo-containers (what were left after Dr. Hanson's vivisections and harvesting for biomatter and other studiable resources), and thinking of the combination of the two was enough to make your stomach knot. Getting them off your ship and onto a planet had its appeals.

    But at the end of the day?

    The choice was yours.

    ---
    [ ] Head to the Galileo (Begin Operation: Media Squad - installation mission!)
    [ ] Head to Mar Sara (Begin Operation: Alliance Day)
    [ ] Head to Redstone (Begin Operation: Ruins of the Confederacy)
    [ ] Head to Haven (Begin Operation: Safe Haven)
     
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    • ACT ONE, MISSION FOUR: Ghosts of the Confederacy (0.1)
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    • The displacement wave of the quantum tunneling event triggered three rockslides - tumbling boulders the size of small cars jouncing and bouncing their way down the black and red inclines and towards the molten river of lava that seethed between plateaus. When the dust settled and your cameras flickered and crackled to life, you took a moment to do a slow pan around your landing site and winced.

    Redstone was as ugly on the planetary surface as it had looked from the bridge of the E1.

    "The place is mineral rich as hell, but I'm not sure how our extraction tech is going to work in these conditions," Matt said over the line as you started to march your ACU forward. The heavy thump of the armored walker's feet caused red dust to explode upwards in thick plumes, shrouding your ACU's knees and shins in mist. You came to the edge of the plateau you had arrived on, looking out over seeing masses of lava, roiling volcanos, and other examples of tectonic activity. "For an extractor to work, it has to actually have time to extract. We're detecting lava flows that will wash everything away on a regular pattern."

    "And Zerg," you said.

    "And...and what?" Matt asked.

    "We're not detecting any Zerg bioforms from orbit, sir," Stukov said. "The density must be too low for us to register them through the atmospheric disturbance."

    You zoomed in with your camera. "They're not alone."

    Everyone up in the E1 could see what you were seeing: A bulbous Terran airship was cruising through the air, kept aloft by a series of flickering thrusters that moved it sluggishly eastward. It was hovering above the endless lava flows that made up huge portions of the Restone surface - and it was being harried by several mutalisks. The creatures seemed unpreturbed by the smoky, smoggy atmosphere, their wings beating as they swung around it and spat their glistening acidic symbionts at the structure. At your 100x magnification, you could see the armor plating starting to peel away, and secondary fires sparking to life.

    A voice came over the radio.

    "-peat, this is Harvest-01, goddamn it ya'll where are you!"

    "Hold your horses, Harvest-01..."

    "Hold my...there's some goddamn motherluvin' zerg all over my backside, Marauder Actual!"

    You spotted the incoming reinforcements. A single gull winged dropship, cruising towards the floating airship. On the wings of the ship were what appeared to be men and women in combat power armor, with bulky backpacks. They were clinging on with their bare hands while shooting by at supersonic speeds above an ocean of molten lava.

    "Are...are they insane?" Matt asked.

    "It appears to be the case, Major," Stukov said. "Registering twelve...no, thirteen life signatures aboard the dropship, all Terran."

    "I-" you started.

    But the mutalisks had spotted something - either the heat or the movement or simply the new and more interesting target. Their wings beat and they flapped towards the incoming dropship.

    "-I think they are insane, the ship has no guns on it," you said.

    "Yeehaw!"

    The tinny voice crackling over the radio was male and eager. The first of the Terrans flung themselves off the wing of the incoming dropship - and then their backpack flared with orange-white light. Smoke exploded from their back and they actually began to cruise upwards, gaining in altitutde. At the apogee of their flight, their backpack's rocket thrusters cut out and gravity once more started to drag them down. As they dropped, one hand blazed away with a hand weapon, while the other threw something too small for you to see clearly - but whatever it was, it impacted right into the mouth of the lead mutalisk.

    The entire creature's lower jaw exploded with a crack of red fire and a spray of blood. Its left wing beat spasmodically - but it was holed dozens of times. The entire monster dropped into the lake of fire as the Terran maniac dropped onto the roof of the hovering airship. He almost skidded over the side and dropped into the lava, but caught himself at the last second. The other mutalisks were flying at his comrades, who were all repeating the same tactic. One mutalisk exploded in a spray of gore as three grenades hit it at once - but the third spat.

    Its symbiote struck a man in the chest and cut him in half. One half, attached to the jetpack, shot straight upwards and exploded, while the legs dropped into the lava. The symbiote continued on at a right angle, rebounding off the man and slamming into the shoulder of a second - rebounding and slamming into the belly of a third. The first of the two hit smashed, back first, into the hovering airship, skidded, then plunged into the lava with a shriek that came over the radio and cut off with stark, horrible suddeness. The third managed a landing on the roof and was caught by the others who had landed safely.

    The mutalisk continued barreling at the dropship.

    "Eat shit you mother-"

    The dropship slammed, nose first, into the mutalisk and smashed it into the side of the airship. The airship rocked hard on its thrusters, almost spilling every insane Terran on it into the lava. But then the airship righted itself as the mutalisk dropped, both wings crumpled and broken. As it landed, the dropship skimmed backwards, blood smearing the cockpit.

    "Ha ha! Scratch one muta-patrol, Marauder Actual!"

    "Good work, boys," a crooning female voice purred. "See, you get what you pay for."

    "I apparently pay for insane people!" Harvester-01's pilot shouted. "Han, you said you had Wraiths!"

    "Darling, darling, I have wraiths protecting Harvest-02 and 03 from pirates. Much worse than some feral little creatures, yes?"

    The airship had reached the far end of the lava and, to your lack of surprise, came down next to an outcropping of gold, blue and red crystals. As it settled, it extended a series of bracing arms, and unfolded a series of doorways, while the roof swiveled around in a massive twisting circle. The rocket-pack equipped lunatics jetted off and landed among the crowd of workers emerging from the front door, while heavy duty construction machines started to emerge and mine the minerals with sparking, hissing laser cutters.

    "...what are they doing?" Stukov asked as you zoomed in.

    "They appear to be enjoying refreshments," you said.

    The jetpack madmen had pulled off their gas masks, goggles and helmets, tossed down what appeared to be a device for transporting cryogenically stored colonists that had been retrofitted into a beer cooler and were chugging down bright silvery cans of alcohol. Those that finished their cans smashed them on their foreheads, threw them over the plateau edge and into the lava river, and, in one case, tried to use their pistol to blow a hole in the bottom of a can to chug it from the base while the others jeered, laughed and shouted over the radio in an overlapping babble.

    "My god," you said, quietly. "That's not a goddamn army. It's a fucking frat house."

    "Secondary scans, we've managed to isolated the other Terran settlements. All of them are similar nomadic units - but there appears to be a battlecruiser in very, very, very low orbit - hovering over a central part, shielded from prevailing winds by a mountain range..." Stukov said, the clacking, clattering sound of his keyboard at work filling the coms. "An entire mercenary army!"

    "Han's Marauders, huh?" Matt muttered.

    "And the Confederate facility?"

    "Still searching. You may need to dispatch air scouts for that, General." Stukov said.

    You frowned.

    ---
    HEAT: 0/6

    SPARKS: None, yet!

    [ ] Contact the mercs. If anyone's seen the base, it'd be them, right? (Diff 5 Charm Check - 3 Heat)
    [ ] Prepare to launch air scouts and see if you can find it yourself. (Diff 5 Operational Expertise - 3 heat)
    [ ] Do it openly (no check.)​
    [ ] Do it stealthily too... (Diff 1+1 Stealth check, 2 heat)​
    [ ] Do it VERY stealthily (Diff 1+1 Stealth Check, 2 heat - take +1 heat to get 2 Sneak Sparks.)​
    [ ] Write In

    Doing it stealthily will make a Stealth spark. 1 means you'll get to act one time before being noticed, 2 means you can act twice before being noticed!
     
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