I didn’t have a whole lot of time to prepare for this fresh new Hell at all. I’d managed to get out of the medical section of the Barracks, Fernando arguing that I remain in bed until I fully healed. He was right as well, I wasn't in much of a condition to do anything. The problem was that if I waited, I died. Not that he knew that of course, so I bullshitted my way through it.

“I have to complete the objectives sent through Colonial Affairs, Fernando. Get Nova for me, two of her Ghosts as well…” Needed them for this, badly. Two Ghosts, Nova, three Medics? Maybe, keep medical on hand for my lily white ass that way as well.

“No, Sir. If you insist on this idiocy, I will be joining you with my men. Nova can remain under house arrest until we return so you can handle the situation in regards to her failure.”

I froze at that, turning to eye him. He had a set, stubborn, look on his face while looking at me. God dammit, I don’t have time for this. “Fine! I don’t have time to wait, brings Medics. Only five others can join, understood?”

I hobbled my happy ass off to the Command Center after he gave affirmation that he understood. Damn, this was going to be so much harder without Nova, and her detection. God, I felt like my body was made of jello, what the hell did that poison do to me?

I’d managed to make it to the Command Center, needed armor, a weapon. Had to get to Caspian to check on the weapon he was supposed to be making for me. The fact it took me half an hour to hobble my way to his quarters was disgraceful enough, at least I had regained something like natural movement during the process. I no longer looked like a gimp-legged crab walking.

I banged the pad, opening the door to Caspians lab and rushed in. “Weapon, is it done?” I saw the little man rush for a pad and growled, no time! “Just tell me!”

He froze, fidgeting and went to grab something. It looked like the S-10 Rifle Mark IV, but a larger suppressor, and longer barrel were evident.

S-10 Rifle Mark V (Prototype)

Damage - 15

Range - 9

Abilities - Snipe, Stabilizing shot, burst round.

I frowned at it, the two new abilities mostly. Stabilizing shot seemed self explanatory, more accuracy? He handed me a little note and started trying to stutter out an explanation. “Later! Good job.” I added the last as an afterthought as I grabbed the gun and paper and took off toward the Adjutant, making a stop at my quarters to put on the Marine Armor I had in there.

I’d read the paper on my hobbling jog to the armor, it was short and sweet.

S-10 Rifle Mark V - The prototype has multiple ammunition slots, comes equipped with an upgraded scope and barrel, greater suppression abilities. Capable of firing standard rounds with the addition of .50 cal rounds, holds three at a time, for single fire penetrating blasts (greater accuracy but higher kick). Capable of firing explosive incendiary rounds. (Inadvisable to use, not fully tested.)

Well, at least I knew what the hell those abilities were, and I knew not to use the bloody grenade launcher it came with at the moment. I didn’t wanna blow up while shooting something that tried to kill me.

Armor on, I made my way to the Adjutant room. It was a lot easier, the mechanical and computer aspects of the armor replying smoothly to stimuli, rather than fully relying on my ability to move. Thank you for small favors, I did not want to do my funky wobbly walk in Marine Armor.

Fernando was already in the room, I don’t actually remember telling him to meet me there. With him was a single Medic, a very bubbly looking woman named Andy, Granit, a Marine I didn’t know in armor, not unlike Fernando’s, it just had more black. His name was Trenton, and apparently was one of my Imperial Guard. Following him was Stone, looking uncomfortable, but remaining silent. Not sure how Fernando managed that, but I wasn't going to question it at the moment.

“Ready to roll out, Sir.” It baffled me that they thought we were transported from within our Command Center via shuttle to these missions, but I chose to ignore the obvious indicator that The System was the ‘God’ here.

“Right, get ready Fernando. Um, Andy, right?” She nodded her head and smiled at me. “Ok, I’m counting on you to keep us alive.” She saluted and adjusted what I assumed was the medical device Medics had, allowing for expedited healing. Thankfully we had those, though I had no idea how they actually worked.

I turned to the Adjutant, the creepy synthetic woman moved around a bit before speaking.

Welcome Magistrate Fern, Campaign Map Wasteland available.

Objectives -

1) Locate Jim Raynor, Mar Sara Marshall within one solar cycle 2) Escort the convoy of SCVs without loss 3) Destroy all Zerg that attack you en route to Jim Raynor.

Addition hidden objectives available, requires four days to unlock for viewing.

Begin Campaign Map?

Fuck! I could have obtained more info, I need to keep an eye on that in the future. The clock was ticking though, I selected yes, confirming the people coming with me, and was promptly enveloped in the white light.

System Announcement!

You have entered the Campaign Map - Wasteland - Difficulty setting of Hell+1 has decreased available time to locate Jim Raynor from one solar cycle to ten hours. -WARNING- Zerg assault will begin immediately after moving five yards within the map. Assaults will continue until Jim Raynor is located.

Ok, fine. I looked around us, Fernando was looking around curiously, an odd gleam in his eyes, Stone was prepared to move out. I noticed he kept a certain distance from Fernando as he systematically checked his load out. . I’d have to address that another time.

Trenton fell to my right, coming to a ready stance with his rifle hefted, and shield equipped. I still wasn’t exactly sure how he gained that much ‘training’ so soon. Andy was moving toward me with some kind of tablet in hand, probably going to check my vitals again, ugh.

Granit just stood still while looking around in a daze. Around us were an additional ten Marines, and about twenty SCVs. Well fuck, that was a lot of SCVs to cover and keep safe. These SCVs seemed smaller than my own though, something I noticed in the Boot Camp mission, maybe we could bunch them up while we prepped a moving defensive line?

“Gather up!” I shouted Fernando, coming to attention, moved toward me with a determined gait. Well, he had a plan it seemed. Good. The SCVs starting gathering up near me, the Marines that The System provided lining up in front of them at attention. Thankfully these boys seemed to have a more attentive mentality than the last ones, something to do with each Map maybe? The ‘side’ you were fighting under?

“We need to keep these SCVs safe while attempting to locate the local Marshal, Jim Raynor. Stay alert, Fernando you set-up the convoy as you see fit. I want Stone on recon though, he needs to be actively scanning for anything dangerous.” Dangerous was right as well, I knew there were going to be a lot of Zerg dogging us at almost every turn.

“Sir! Form up, men! I want those SCVs bunched up tighter than a crabs asshole, interspersed rates of fire will be used in defense, conserve that ammo!”

Fernando started shouting orders, getting the group of people organized, with four Marines behind the SCvs, Granit taking the fifth slot in the rear guard and three Marines on each flank while Fernando, Andy, Trenton, and I were at the front. Stone was waiting to be told to range further afield and scout.

He moved toward me a moment before taking off. “Be careful Sir. I’m seeing a lot of movement all around the area in front of us, but no visible threats. I think it’ll be like last time.” Of that, I had no doubt. I nodded, then he turned invisible and was off.

It was pretty obvious when he went past the five yard mark as well, because roughly twenty Zerglings burst out of the ground and began rushing toward us. I tried to lift my weapon, planning to test out the new toy, only to have Fernando’s heavy hand push it down while giving me a severe look. “No, Sir. It’s our turn to fight, focus on recovering more. Andy, tranq him if he keeps trying to be foolish.”

“Now wait just a fucking minute!” - “No! You gave us our orders, let us do our jobs!” - God dammit Fernando! He just had to be right as well, even trying to lift the weapon was still making me dizzy, the mechanical servos only helped me move, not so much with the mental fatigue.

I saw Fernando lift up his massive Gauss Rifle, then the booming that bloody cannon caused with each shot rent the air around it. The recoil was enough to actually visibly push Fernando back an inch or two, something I noticed only because I actually had to watch now. The result was pretty damn amazing though, each shot took two or three Zerglings at a time because of how bunched up they were, turning them into so much goo.

I was blinking a bit rabidly at the sight, ‘BOOM’ three Zerglings dead, ‘BOOM’ two more splattered bugs, on and on until around five remained and then they actually started to split up. “Trenton! Keep The Command safe!” Fernando shouted, and I was unceremoniously pushed behind an armored wall with his shield held out, his stance indicating incoming force, and his rifle shoved out like a lance might be, it made sense considering there was a fucking bayonet at the end of it.

I saw one Zerg simply go down before it arrived, likely Stone taking a shot, another ‘BOOM’, a single Zerg goo pile accompanying the sound, and then three Zerg bum rushed Trenton. What I saw after that was nothing short of bloody amazing.

The Zerg were biologically designed to be little mass murdering monsters by the Overmind, I knew that! I knew Marines couldn't really go head-to-head with them in a melee bash. Apparently that did not apply to Imperial Guard Marines, because that man moved forward a fraction of a step, bashing his shield at the center Zergling that had jumped mid rush, screeching like seven kinds of hell, and was sent flying back, not getting up, another took the pointy end of his bayonet in the head, a quick three round burst of fire accompanying it, the final had managed to get behind the imposing man, aiming for Andy and me, only to have that big shield come crashing down on-top of his head, the audible crunch of carapace sounding out while he clawed, wiggled, and screeched at being held firm. From there, he moved the rifle over and popped three more rounds into the Zerglings head.

The small skirmish lasted...maybe half a minute, and this man had utterly decimated three Zerglings in a melee clash. I had to know what the fuck was going on, so I pulled up his stat screen for a moment, eyeing the purple blood covered shield, a black Chimera looking back at me with cold blue eyes.

Trenton

Level - 1

Unique Unit - Imperial Guard

Specialization possible - Melee, Ranged, Defense.

Damage - 20

Defense - 25

Skills - 360 defensive stance, Lance-rifle Combat.

Abilities - Protect, Thrust, Controlled.

I read it, looked at it, tried to see if I could mentally pick it up and shake it all about. What in the actual fuck? I turned to regard Fernando who was making sure nothing else was rushing us, then Trenton.

Had he actually given me a fucking Minor Hero in the form of a unit like this? How in the actual fuck was that possible? The skills alone were something I’d check later, though they sounded far to strong, he had three specializations, though I wasn’t sure what ‘Defense’ meant, a small inkling but nothing concrete. The most unique aspect was the level though, the man had no kill count, so I wasn’t sure how his level would increase to begin with, though there seemed to be an almost invisible bar under the Level, maybe he gained XP? How the hell did that work? Figure it out later, gotta move.

“We gotta keep moving Fernando, I think that was the first of many. We have to find Marshal Raynor in ten hours, any later and we may not survive.” More like I wouldn’t, but he didn't need to know that either. I saw him nod his head, Trenton fell back behind me, slightly to my right, and we moved out.

Right, Fernando was going to answer a few questions later, and I was going to look at his Status Screen when we cleared this fucking thing. Something didn’t add up, because I sure as hell never gained a notification that he could do this. It made me think that each Hero Unit might have hidden skills, might make sense. Nova’s screen updated information about her personal BIO as I learned it. Did it work the same for skills and abilities? I sighed, moving behind Fernando, while Andy continued to monitor me through whatever the hell method she used.

“Large mass moving to your location, five clicks out from your current position, orders?” Stone’s voice came over our Com after about five minutes of walking, Fernando raising his hand to halt the convoy and looked ahead of us. I froze though, that was obvious, right? I had a huge difficulty modifier in this hell-hole, no way would it be that simple. Think, try to remember lore on Zerg tactics, anything...ambush! Fuck! “Fernando!”

Of course the second I shouted out, Zerg started popping up from our rear, but these weren’t Zerglings, oh no, that would be too easy, and might explain why Stone couldn’t detect them, these were Hydralisks. Larger, meaner, all around more deadly. Thankfully it was only three, one went down immediately with Granit popping a hand in the thing's mouth when it lunged at him and firing a grenade. That was...nasty, another went down under a sheet of bullets fired by the Marines, and the last turned to goo when a loud ‘BOOM’ sounded off. I was absently thinking it was a good thing that the SCVs were smaller than my own back at Bastion, those were the same size as the Marine Armor and would have never allowed Fernando a clear shot.

“Incoming.” What in the hell was that grating voice? I whipped my head around to look at Trenton, his face covered by the visor, and squinted. How the hell do you have a voice as deep and rough sounding as that? Did you chain smoke thirty packs a day? Good Lord, that was frightening. Oh, yea, walk into a dark alley and hear that voice, I’d probably piss myself at first.

‘BOOM’ More screeching and death followed us for the next five hours, multiple ambushes happened over the course of that time, but each one was shut down in seconds by the coordinated effort of Fernando, Granit, and Stone, who had returned from forward scouting periodically.

More amazing, we had not lost a single Marine yet, of course just thinking that made me look for wood, didn't want to jinx it more than I already had. In the end, the mission didn’t even require the full ten hours, Fernando kept us moving at a steady pace. Combined with Stone scouting and giving forewarning for each incoming swarm, as well as everyone now expecting ambushes, we made it to Jim Raynor in quick order.

I won’t lie, I geeked out a bit, young Jimmy Raynor was fucking amazing. I looked at him, in his dented and scratched blue armor, and was all but bouncing where I stood to shake that man's hand. He’d been fucked over in a lot of ways in the game, yet still came out on top...well, as close to ‘top’ as he could.

“Howdy Boys, welcome to our neck of the woods. I’ll get those SCVs building, and get those men working.”

White light consumed us shortly after. “NOOOOO!” I was kind of certain that was internal? I had wanted to speak to him though! Fuck you, you dirty fucking System, I wanted to speak to Jimmy God dammit!

System Announcement!

Congratulations Player! You have completed ‘Wasteland’ with a perfect score!

For locating Marshal Jim Raynor, with over four hours to spare, you have been awarded - Jim Raynor's Vulcher.

All SCVs survived. - Mining Tool Upgrade rewarded.

All Zerg destroyed en route to Jim Raynor. - Commander level increased by one!

Secret Objective Achieved!

‘All Units survive’ - Hero Upgrade Card rewarded.

Secret Objective Achieved!

Twenty Zerg killed in melee by a unit under your control. - Passive Skill Card rewarded!

Congratulations Player! Hero Unit - Lieutenant Fernando has increased his level to level eight!

Hero Unit - Lieutenant Fernando has gained improved armor and weapons!

Congratulations! Unique Unit - Imperial Guard Trenton has reached level three, all ability proficiency increased by ten points, base damage and defense stats increased by five.

The amazing awards aside, I wondered why Fernando gained only one skill for achieving three levels, but was happy he was getting better armor and weaponry. I wondered about the ‘proficiency’ thing with Trenton, but would look at it later. More than anything, I just wished the fucking System would stick to a single delivery method, because the changing text was annoying…

The System acknowledges this, it amuses me.

What…??