I rubbed my eyes, resisting the urge to hunt down that spoiled little girl and beat the ever living shit out of her. I had ‘discussed’ the terms for her to behave and came out of it feeling like I’d been bent over and just reamed, without lube, or dinner first. I had no fucking idea how a fifteen year old girl, apparently she wasn’t a pre-teen little shit, was that good at negotiations. Realistically it isn’t that odd, the fucking kid was an actual Old House Noble from the game, part of a family whose name was relevant throughout the entire fucking thing. Protected by a doting brother, and cared for by family. The fact said family was butchered by Confederate Marines, leading toward the Sons of Korhal rebellion led by Mengsk to begin with only added onto that ‘ability.’

Resisting the urge to rub my ass thanks to the phantom pain caused imagery I sighed. The kid had all but ensured Fernando would be around her at all times, that the ‘old saggy’ would be allowed nowhere near her, Green would love that name no doubt. She had garnered three SCV Riggs to construct her own residence in Bastion, “befitting my standards,” she had stated. Implying that nothing I had fit her now. I’d granted her ten Marines for her own ‘guard.’ That part I wasn’t upset about, with her personality she’d need it. I’d also snagged a glance at her character stat page. As annoying as she was, she would be valuable in the coming months.

Dorothy Mengsk

Grade: Hidden Character

Level: Not Applicable (cannot level due to hidden status)

Attack: 5

Defence: 5

Kill Count: Not applicable

Abilities - Cute Overload +1, Negotiations +1, Trade Management +1, Air of Nobility +1, Right of Command +1, Heir of Mengsk +1, Inspire +1, Legislation +1, Beautification +1, Die For Me +1, Loyalist +1, Royal +1

Negotiations - All acts pertaining to a bargain always end with a minimum of thirty percent in your favor.

Trade Management - All trade deals are ten percent more profitable, and twenty percent more likely to be in your favor.

Air of Nobility - You are a Noble, all around you will feel this and will take what you say more seriously. Five percent chance to make anyone do what you wish.

Right of Command - You are a Noble. You command those of lower stations in life as is your right. Ten percent increase to effectiveness when giving orders.

Heir of Mengsk - You are the Heiress of a Noble House. Able to turn twenty Marines into Mengsk Guard (Hidden Unit)

Inspire - You inspire those around you with your presence. Fifteen percent increase to productivity.

Legislation - Law is all that holds a people together. Fifty percent chance that any and all laws you stand behind are adhered to.

Beautification - You are a Noble and beautiful. Ten percent increase in your personal appearance.

Die For Me - Those you command, and those that are near you will throw themselves into harm's way for your well being. One-hundred percent increase in combat effectiveness while defending you.

Loyalist - All that serve are loyal, all that are loyal serve. Ten percent increase to loyalty for all that follow you.

Royal - You are of Noble Lineage, Royalty most high. The right to make minor lordlings is yours. Able to create one Minor Noble per month.

Ensuring I actually remembered all that was going to be a bitch. In truth, the kid was a wee bit overpowered from a political standpoint. If I could keep Green from killing her then I could use her to ensure all trade agreement, alliances, and peace treaties were always in my personal favor. Thinking about that small bit actually made me feel a little better about being all but mind fucked by a child. It wasn’t much, but I’d take it.

I looked at my personal pad and the blinking message icon. It was about the fifth from Fernando in the last ten minutes. No doubt it was him demanding that the kid be removed from his side. I had explained it to him of course, the situation was less him having an issue with the kid being around him and more with the fact she was almost literally glued to his side. Snorting a bit, I shot him a single message. ‘Good luck, she’s your problem now.’

His response was almost immediate and I swear I actually felt the frustration in that single ‘sir’ reply. Smiling a bit, happy to have gotten under his skin, I turned toward the other object on my desk. The Psi-Matrix Crystal. Arguably the most important item I have actually acquired since The Orion.

The item itself could be installed into anything mechanical. I’d done a few tests earlier with that. Depending on the building it would increase all capabilities by a massive margin. Units, such as the Predator, it would change the Unit into something of alien origin, almost organic in nature, while in Green Facility it would add multiple new functions and abilities to assist the Medics.

It made me want more, a lot more. If it meant going to war with the Protoss to get more, then I would. With luck that would be the last resort situation though. I was going to see if Caspian could reproduce the effects, even if in a limited capacity before having to worry about more drastic methods. Speaking of Caspian, I looked up as my door opened and the small man walked in. I smiled at him and held the crystal up for him to see.

His eyes widened a bit, marveling at the odd bit of technology I was showing him. “This is a Psi-Matrix Crystal, Caspian. I want you to research it, keep it in your lab and work on extracting methods of reproducing any effects you discover.”

Ever the mumbling stutterer he nodded, taking the crystal in both hands, almost reverently. “Y-y-yes!”

Like that he was gone. I laughed a bit seeing that. The kid was a mess, but he was arguably my best scientific mind at the moment. The notification that came afterwards was a bit disconcerting, though I had hope it was a good thing.

You have granted the Psi-Matrix Crystal to your scientist Caspian! Your crystal has been modified for scientific research and will passively assist your scientist in areas he is unfamiliar with. This may lead to major breakthroughs in Terran Science, for good or ill.

I really did not want to find out what the ‘ill’ part might be, but that was a question for tomorrow. A bark took my attention from the box and had me look at Leo. I smiled when I saw what he was up to. The little rascal was chasing his tail and getting frustrated. I decided I should take a break as well. Leo needed to be played with, after all.

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“Are we seriously doing this right now Swann?” I looked over at the fucking space dwarf incredulously.

“My way of figuring things has it as the best time big guy. ‘Sides, don’t you wanna see these bad-boys in action?”

“Well, yes...but isn’t this a little, you know, close to be testing dangerous new explosives?” That earned me a look that implied I was the offspring of some odd combination of varment and buzzard.

“Alright, Swann. We are safe in this neat little dome though, right?”

“Eeeeh, sixty-forty, in favor of maybe not.” I nodded my head, thinking that the odds were good, until he said the last.

“Woah, hold on!” - “Too late!” with a mad cackle after cutting me off the psychotic ass pushed a button and my vision turned white. It was gone a moment alter, the explosion dissipating so quickly that the blinding light was the only registration either of us got. That was when the sound hit, it was like the roaring of a volcano, while it was going off, and you were fucking standing in it!

Following that I couldn’t help but notice that cracks, a lot of them, had formed in the dome that was our ‘protection.’ To my right the fucking insane mech-man was still fucking laughing. I was going to strangle him, I was going to strangle him and beat him with his own fucking arm!

“It worked! See that boy-o? It fucking works!” Another mad cackle escaped his mouth, then I was on him. I tried taking the arm away and whacking him with it, it didn’t work. So I settled with just strangling him.

“Do. Not. Do. That!!” I’m pretty sure I screamed more in my little rampage on the still laughing mechanic when Fernando entered his little machine shop and saw me trying to kill Swann. The traitor actually pulled me off the stout little man. The fact Swann didn’t even look phased made me want to strangle him more. “Let me go, Fernando! Just a little more, let me smack him more!”

A few moments later, a bit of belly-laughter, and a calm down session with Fernando and I was good again, kind of. “What, exactly, was the point of nearly killing us? I know you said you wanted to test a new bomb but with such shitty odds in favor of our fucking safety!?”

He shrugged. “Can’t advance our tech without risks! Besides, we’re fine. I even got to stress test the new bomb shield.”

I’m going to shoot him, many times, in the face. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. “That wasn’t even a tried and tested shield?”

“Nope!” was his happy reply. That shit-eating grin appeared and then he went into some kind of technical description of our near deaths. I ignored it, I was a bit more focused on not killing him. When he finished, and I fully regained my composure. I only had a small urge to kill him now, I actually asked him the point of this bomb.

“Bomb? What? Oh! No, no, that’s next. That was the newest rendition of our Yamato Cannons using some tech inspired by that bauble you gave Caspian last week. The bombs next, one moment.” - “Stop!” I cut him off and used every ounce of my strength to stop him from pushing another button. The fucker was freakishly strong, he wasn’t even putting effort in his action and gave me a funny look.

“I do NOT want to be in here when you test that. Do it on your own time, just send me the results. Back to the Yamato Cannon upgrade, please.”

He huffed out a “fine” before going into it fully. “Basically that crystal showed us far more efficient methods of using our energy consumption. It applies to everything we have and I’m sure that some other egghead will apply it for the people. I decided to put it to use for our greatest defense against air units, the Battlecruisers. I haven’t put the features in place yet on anything but Chimera’s Rage because we are still repairing the other ships. That big boy really did a number on them. The Chimera’s Rage has shown an increase in energy efficiency of no less than thirty percent! The combat use has practically tripled with that big of a boost!”

I froze a moment, the fact nothing came up from the System meant it wouldn’t ‘change’ my own capital ship from what it was, but that meant I could improve everything without a massive risk. I smiled a bit. “Any other uses we can add to our forces with this tech?”

Swann thought a moment, but ultimately shook his head. “Not yet, I have some tests to run for the smaller machines like the Predators, Condors, and the like. I have a joint project with Caspian to try and add some form of energy based assistance for our ground pounders but so far the tests have been a little inconclusive. We just don’t understand it enough yet.”

That was a bit of a disappointment, no doubt it only worked on the Battlecruiser because of the size. I hoped that could be fixed in the future. “Alright, Swann, just keep me updated. We don’t have a lot of time to prepare everything. Make those ships your top priority regardless.”

“Aye, I’ll get them up and running with some nice new hardware as well. They’ll be ready for the big clash that’s coming. No worries.”

But I did worry, I was constantly worrying about what was coming. To make matters worse the Zerg had finally been spotted by The Orion at the very edge of our radar range. They would be here, on Mar Sara, before long. I only had half of the planet under my control as well. The only good thing about that was that the people Fernando recommended had done their jobs, and done them well. The settlements all had walls, they had a trained militia that could be counted among the Marine ranks, to a degree, and the people were thriving. It made any hope of insubordination a minor problem.

It would happen, I had no doubt about that, but at least it should remain a small movement. Fernando himself had been busy ensuring that I now had active Firebats. Both Barracks, since our second in Bastion was complete, were churning out both Marauder and Firebat armor in droves. Thanks to the recruitment drive my overall forces numbered around two-thousand, for ground forces at least. Five hundred Marauders under Granit, and five hundred Firebats under an odd pyromaniac named Smoke. I only knew him in passing, something I’d need to change in the future. The remaining thousand were a combination of Marines and my own Ursine Guard. That was our standing military, not including the forces stationed at each settlement to act as a guard force.

That had been another good bit of windfall. Each of the other settlements had populations and supplies more than triple that of Bastions in a few, double in the others. I did not understand why none had access to Marine armor, but was beginning to believe the Confederate Nobility, the Old Houses at least, wanted that power for themselves rather than the Minor House Nobles.

It made sense in a way, but I still thought it was stupid. It denied a crucial resource that would have stomped me out early on even with my rewards. I knew the Confederates would send more than just the strike force they had originally, though the fact it had only been a ‘strike’ force only showed how vast their military was. Hell, it made me realize that the only real way Mengsk and Raynor beat them in the game was because of how easily it was to corrupt and convert their own soldiers and people toward their cause. It would be something I’d have to do in the future as well, which is where the kid would come into play. Thankfully that wouldn’t be for some time yet. A few more months at least.

I left the shop with Fernando before Swann could start testing new bombs with me still in the fucking building! I wasn’t even entirely sure how, or when, he had obtained such a large basement for said tests but at least it would work. It also would ensure only his psychotic ass went boom if something went haywire. Of course I didn’t want that, but still.

I shot a glance at Fernando, asking him where his shadow was. That earned me a glare but he replied as stoicely as before. “Dorothy is currently learning how very little we have in the way of trade and is using her...guards to help her go about the settlements and find people skilled in making items.” He paused, I could actually feel the frown he was letting loose. “Are you sure it is wise to grant her those ten Marines? I have no doubt they are ultimately loyal to you, Sir, but they are now calling themselves Mengsk Guard, it may have negative effects in the long run.”

I agreed, but I had made a deal. For now I would stick with it. “It’ll be fine, for now. Just have Stone or Pierce keep an eyes on them for me. I’ll take everything at face value, but I won’t be a complete idiot. Ensure they know what needs done if it goes south.”

“Yes Sir.”

I sighed a bit, not liking the train of thought that led me to thinking about having a little girl killed. I knew I was changing in this place, leadership over countless more lives than I cared to think about and just another slew of life or death fights against creatures that were dangerous on a level that was above everything he had experience aside from the Lumerian invasion.

Nothing to do about it for the moment. I’d see about ensuring she was loyal as soon as I could. The fact her actual stat page didn’t describe that was concerning but I hoped it had to do with that ‘hidden character’ aspect of hers. Personally I wanted a soldier like that. In a way I had one in Fernando, but he wasn’t a ‘hidden character’ nor was he someone from the actual game story.

“Well, go on and do what you need to do then Fernando. Get our men and women in fighting shape. We are still on a time limit.”

“Of course, Sir. Before I go though, we located the the signal at last. We have it blocked right now so no one else can detect it but it’s strange. I sent a Ghost team in while a contingent of Marines guarded the entrance. The Ghosts have sense gone dark, though the signal has stopped. I’m concerned that if we let this be for too long it will end badly for us.”

Fuck me, I though. I’m down a Ghost team, how was I going to explain that to Nova? “Alright Fernando. Get the Predators ready, have Trenton gather up the Leonine Cherubin and the Ursine Guard. I’ll head there before the day is out and make my move tomorrow morning. Have Green meet us at the shuttle as well. I might need her if we find the Ghosts. She is our best medical mind.”

“The fact it keeps her from hunting down Dorothy does not play into that, Sir?” I narrowed my eyes at him, not deeming to respond to that. The fact he was right was beside the point.

When he left to complete his tasks I cracked my neck just to feel the ‘tension’ drain down my spine. Sighing in relief I went back toward the Command Center so I could get everything equipped and make sure Leo had everything he needed for the rest of the day, perhaps more, I also ensured one of the technicians in the building would check on him every hour or so.

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“Still no contact from the initial probe with the Ghosts?” Fernando shook his head at my question. I cursed a bit at that. Losing any of my people hurt, more so for the Ghosts. Nova was the only one able to ‘train’ anyone into a Ghost. With her being in that coma meant we had to hunt for those strong enough to become Ghosts. My Trophy helped some with that, but it wasn’t anything like Nova’s abilities.

I tightened my grip on Chimera’s Tail momentarily, the solid feel comforting in a way the people around me could never be. “Right, assume casualties. Primary objective is to locate our people and shut down whatever it is the Confederates are doing here. Pierce, Trenton, Smoke, Green on me. Fernando, you hold the fort here. I’ll bring another ten Ursine Guard and five Leonine Cherubin along with us. Wait an hour then send in another group. Radio contact will be maintained as long as possible. If at any point radio checks are not answered I want you to lead a rescue operation and pull our asses out of the fire. Understood?”

“Sir, the Predators?” I smiled at Fernando while activating my helmet and let loose a single sharp whistle. Ten Predators, our mechanics had been busy, shot off into the opened doors. “They won’t target anything wearing my colors. It’s how they’re programmed now.”

We moved as one into the gaping mouth of the abyss, really we just went in the fucking door. They were old, rusted in placed as if they had not been maintained for a time. Frowning at that, wondering why they were in such disrepair when this project should have still been staffed even after my rebellion. Something didn’t sit right with me. Even the game had missions dealing with failed experimental sites and other bad shit going on in the background of the actual story.

“Stay alert, Smoke you’re up front with Trenton. Anything moves that isn’t one of ours, fry it.”

“With pleasure, Sir,” came Smokes oddly cultured voice, guy sounded british to the extreme. Fernando swore the man was a natural with the Firebat armor so I’d just have to take his word for it and hope the pyromaniac didn’t burn us all up with any enemies.

The problems started about ten minutes into the decent, just after the second status check. I was seeing a lot of things that were...disconcerting to say the least. There were a lot of vats, alot like the Jacob’s Installation map. Unlike there, where it had been Zerg though, this place had people in those vats. All in varying states of decay, dissection, and dismemberment. Brains, eyes, limbs, whole bodies. Everything was lines along the corridor like some sick trophy display room. The fact this was just one of the walk ways was bad enough. When we went into the first room it got worse. Even Trenton all but vomited on the floor. The first room was a fucking butcher-shop horror show.

Tables of decaying corpses were everywhere. Judging by the smell alone when we opened the door, a stale sickeningly sweet stench that clung to you, they had been left there a while. Green had started to move toward the bodies, a few of her people following when I saw something. “Stop, Trenton check that corpse on the ground. It...looks wrong.”

Trenton did as I asked, his shield up and Smoke raising both arms while looking around the dark room, lit only by our lights. Trentons next words gave rise to a very sickening realization. “It’s been chewed on, Sir...all of them have been, a few are missing entire sections of their bodies. Their is also a hole at the back, small, to small for a human.” The facility was something awful, and whatever the fuck they had been doing here had resulted in it getting out.

“Back out of the room slowly, watch all around us. Check the ceiling and walls while you’re at it.”

That was when the, thing, came crashing down onto the lab table just in front of Trenton. Something lashed out while an inhuman screech echoed throughout the room, followed by Trenton falling back and yelling his own cry of pain while Smoke literally litt he fucking thing up.

The creature that was made visible had a dark carapace and looked like an infected...child, but something was off. In the brief second the flames showed the things appearance before it grabbed one of the bodies and all but flew through that hole in the back while screeching in pain, I saw what looked like Zergling limbs sprouting from the creatures back while it ran on two legs.

“What the fuck was that!?” a panicked shout from one of the Cherubin. “Hush! Get me the aesthetic and some gauze, get the treatment ray as well. We have a man down, worry about whatever that was later, trust the big boys with guns to keep us safe.”

She had taken charge and in a moment we had pulled out of the room in an orderly manner while Trenton had a fresh bandage covering one of his eyes. Green had said it was gone, no saving it. Whatever that thing had done during the initial strike was only a scratch, but it had caused the eye to actually begin to shrivel and the flesh around it grew greenish purple in color. She’d taken the infest flesh out, as well as the eye as fast as possible. Without her Facility though nothing more could be learned. Trenton had also refused to leave. Shaking my head at the stubborn man I ordered the doors to that room shut and sealed. Smoke took care of that with a highly concentrated and focused flame, welding the doors shut.

Another five minutes and a radio check in we found another problem. Pieces off of one of the PRedators, a leg from the looks of it. The real horror show started with the body next to it. It was a larger specimen like the one from that first room. Black carapace, humanoid shape and appearing like an infected but was far closer to the Zergling in Nature. Green took a few samples from the body then I had smoke burn the fucker to ashe. I wouldn't risk it still being alive somehow. The fact it had damaged one of my Predators like that, alone, while fighting ten of them was not a pleasant thought.

A few more rooms, a few more dead bodies. The further in we went the more unbearable the rooms became. It went from that butcher house in the first to straight up charnel house. Pieces of blood, bone, and decaying putrid body parts littered the floor and walls. To make it worse, we found more of those...things. They were Zerg, that was obvious. We also now knew they were man-made Zerg. Whatever the Confederates were doing here was horrible. These creatures acted like Zergs on a bad roid rage, they showed a higher pack mentality and some cognitive abilities. I wanted to know how the fuck the Confederates had even gotten Zerg if they had only just spawned in a short time ago. Was this the System making the ‘story’ more believable? It didn’t matter now, but I wanted an answer.

We took down the monsters, for that was what they were. It took damn near thirty shots to kill just one, it even took two shots from my own weapon if I didn’t use burst shot or my Psionic Injection method. Their carapace seemed to actually deflect our bullets. Smoke and the three other Firebats were the real stars here though. Even with whatever the fuck the Confederates had done to these creatures they still burned like any other Zergling.

We came onto the site of a battle in a large room a bit later. I didn’t need to wonder about my Predators anymore, they were all here, and they were in pieces. I couldn’t tell if it was all of them because they were literally scattered all over the floor. Along with them was a veritable horde of the dead creatures as well though. They had taken out dozens in their mad dash. We had also found the Ghosts, what was left of them. They had been in the very back of that room with what looked like black larva crawling around through their exposed flesh. The things had actually hissed at us. I had ordered Smoke to burn it all, everything. It took awhile, but my focus was on the message written in blood, black blood, as it burned up with the bodies.

‘Terrans no belong, flee while can.’

Something down here was intelligent enough to know we were here, smart enough to write a message in common, and cunning enough to do it just before we arrived. I watched the flames score the message away, looking toward Green who actually looked a little green and then Trenton. “Did we find anything in any of those rooms that can tell us what the fuck is happening here?”

“No, Sir. Nothing, but we cannot let it stand. Fernando already has the other team heading our way. He refused to wait the full hour.” I nodded at that, I didn’t blame him. This was fucked up, like really fucked up.

We continued our trek, clearing rooms as we went. I lost one of my Ursine Guard to an ambush in one room. The things were becoming more aggressive, larger variants were beginning to show up as well. Things large enough to rip one of my men in two while fully armored. Those I hunted for exclusively and took out with a Psionically charged bullet to the head whenever I could. Five men killed in this hell, including the Ghosts, three injured with wounds that required fucking amputation. “Pierce, anything?”

“Slight Psionic fluctuations, Sir. Something is here that matches Terran power signatures from my limited reading ability. It’s further in though….It feels, weak.”

I didn’t like this, at all. I shot another of the creatures that everyone was beginning to call ‘Creepers’ thanks to their ability to actually sneak up on us if we didn’t scan at all times. We moved deeper in, I needed answers.

Finally I got some as well, in the form of video no less. It was by far the single cleanest room I had seen. Another message had been on this door. ‘No enter!’ We had entered. The fuckers had grown almost manic in their attacks when we reached here, taking two of my Cherubin and three more Ursine Guard down before we cleared them all. I hoped that we had cleared this infestation, but only a thorough sweep would say for certain.

What I saw in those videos were among the most horrible things I had ever seen another human do to members of their own kind. They were experimenting with Human and Zerg genetics, attempting to breed their own version of a hybrid creature. It got to the point they had artificially inseminated women with Zerg genetics. The results had been shit straight out of Alien with how they burst from the stomach and began ating their ‘mother.’ They weren’t the black creatures we fought though, these things were purple, and killed quickly.

The logs showed breakthroughs when using female Ghosts, that was when the black ones came into being. They could be trained, so they thought. The logs quickly began detailing missing handlers, things happening that made no sense and led to more death. Cages being unlocked, the creatures breeding freely.

The most startling log though was the last entry made by this insane scientist as he spouted off nonsense about creating a living controller, something that would ensure he could further his research with the alien biology. He called it ‘Project - Nano.’ Then the video went dark and screaming could be heard through the audio, a constant no, followed by a sickening wet sounding splat and then heavy breathing, followed by crunching sounds.

I turned the log off then, and looked toward the sealed door. Whatever lay behind that door was probably the main issue. Pierce had stated that the Psionic signal was strongest there, it might be our final room. I ordered one of the men to open it while Trenton and three of his best locked shields at the front and Smoke place both arms on either shoulder so he could launch a stream of liquid napalm on them.

When the door opened, we saw another creature huddled over something, something that looked vaguely human, pale skin, dark hair splayed out. In front of the creatures was another message. “Leave!” Whatever this thing was, it was of the smaller variety, it was also protecting the thing beneath it. Frowning, I lifted my rifle and took aim. I heard a voice then, a soft female voice, inside my head. It was begging, weak, frail. “Stop, please...help us.”