Laura Rozzen

The Terran Dominion was in its infancy, Arcturus Mensk was the self proclaimed emperor and leader of the Terran forces in the Koprulu sector. He had been instrumental in deposing the Terran Confederacy and now that shadow of leadership and protection was gone. The Dominion had been formed with Mensk as the sole leader to which he united all Terran's under his banner, some willing and some not, however he had made sure that any rebellion was quashed quickly by either force or media manipulation. The Dominion charged itself with one purpose, securing its holdings throughout the sector, and eradicating the Zerg. The Zerg were an interconnected species of almost limitless number, led by the brutal, evil and ruthless Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan. They were a species of their own and their variety ever changing, they would mutate their form and function to suit their situation and every variety bore claws and teeth for them there were very few individuals they all lived for the swarm and Kerrigan's over riding rule.

 

 

Chapter One

 

 

Sun streaked the landscape, it was early morning and she stood there breathing in the cold but crisp morning air. Laura Rozzen turned and removed the reflective ray shades that she had been wearing, her cool turquoise blue eyes drank in the now rising sunlight. Many of the deck hands looked at her, she was striking and one of the best looking woman on the base. She walked with confidence, her long dark hair was tied up in a long braided ponytail, her fringe came down to just above her eyes which sparkled whenever she smirked at the watching men who hung on her every move. Her full lips moved slightly as she chewed gum. Her stride as she walked was elongated, elegant and slender it suited her small but agile frame. She was dressed in a conservative fashion, tight leather flight trousers with a stark white top which hung loose under the arms and across the bust, her black bra with pink edging was visible when she moved her arms giving her an alluring presence against most of the jacketed personnel. She had a 9mm plasma pistol holstered to her leg, the leather straps were well worn but snugly fitted, off her shoulder she carried a C-20 Gauss rifle, its slender long barrel and silencer beguiled the sheer stopping power of the weapon. It fired explosive tipped armour piercing rounds with 20 in the magazine and one in the chamber. It was rarely out of her reach. She smiled at the approaching deck hand and weapons tech, her black choker that she wore twinkled slightly as the locket at the center caught the light. Her voice was cool, calm with just a slight hint of mischief. “Hey Potters, Gas up my baby and make sure you oil change my hardware.” She said, flashing him a slight wink as she walked past him. Potters tipped his baseball cap fringe his thick southern accent rolled as he moved the cigar from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue, “Sure thing Ma'am, I'm sure there is a number of wrongs I gotta right on this crate.” He moved towards her urban camouflage painted Viking.

Laura was one of the few Viking pilots within the Terran Dominion, the Viking was a 20 foot Mech with twin rotating fully automatic Gatling guns attached to the arms, capable of spitting out molten hot lead plasma rounds at approximately three thousand rounds per minute. What made this Mech different to the ones written previously was that with the flick of a switch jets on the under belly would lift the Viking up, tucking the legs underneath transforming it from a walking mechanoid of bullet spitting death, into a flying missile launching master of the skies. The heads up display changing and altering depending on which mode was engaged, either Flight for the sky or Assault for the ground. Viking pilots had to be lithe and agile as they had to quickly reposition themselves within the cockpit to accommodate the movement from a standing to a seated position otherwise risk being snapped in half when the Mech changed modes. Laura nodded as she stepped into the command bunker and flashed her orders at the watch commander. Doogan was an ageing man, in his late fifties, bald and grey eyed, he gazed at Laura meaningfully before his eyes fells to the insignia she had on her shirt, his voice raspy from either not enough water or too much booze, the latter was far more likely. “Storm Crows? Christ I thought you buggers were all wiped out after the last Zerg hit. You the only one who made it?” He asked with an eyebrow raised. “No.” Laura replied her voice cool and calm, “Me, Laithe and Jurz all made it out. The rest, were K.I.A.” Laithe Ashen was the second in command after Laura, he was in his mid thirties, broad chested and tattooed, he drank too much and swore as often as he could. He regarded Laura as a big sister as they had both joined around the same time, few people could believe that he carried the ability to move nimbly within the tight confines of the Viking; many people had joked in fact that he had to be greased up to get in and then pried with a shoe horn to get out. Laithe always wore loose fitting clothes that unfortunately made him look even bigger as he hated anything tailored as it made him, in his eyes feel squashed and fat. He often had the same style 9mm plasma pistol as a side arm, but instead of the Gauss rifle he carried a combat shotgun, knowing that if he had to get up close and personal with an enemy he wanted stopping power rather than bullets. Jurz was short for Jurzack Jaku, he was the silent type, pale skin broad shouldered and was the largest of the group standing just over 6 feet tall, he often had to duck to get inside the cockpit and canopy of his Viking, however he had the agility of a ballet dancer, it had been rumored that he had been trained to be a professional however he quit when his dance teacher died of an overdose. He didn't carry any weapons, however he had stashed two acid edged katana swords inside his cockpit just in case he had to get out.

“I see”  Watch Commander Doogan commented. A red light flashed on his console and he grunted. “Dammit, the radiation is spiking, better spark a red.” He didn't wait for Laura to comment and he removed what looked like a red cigarette from a packed, he offered the packet to Laura who took one. He sparked he cigarette and he took a long draw, handing Laura her new orders he kept the cigarette in his mouth, and continued to puff on it, its long white ash drooping off the end refusing to fall into the empty ash tray. Laura took the orders from his outstretched hand and nodded a thank you. She walked outside wincing slightly as the sun had fully come into view, she shielded her eyes and put on her reflective shades before putting the red cigarette into her mouth and sparks it up with a small pocket size lighter. Laura hated the smoke from it, however it was necessary as it neutralized the radiation within the air. Laithe walked towards her, his voice was clean and he carried virtually no accent, “Hey Laura, can you believe this? We gotta smoke this shit into our lungs, just to stop and remove the shit in our lungs.. Go figure eh?” he said, finishing the cigarette in 3 draws he pinged the butt away in the opposite direction and breathed out a long line of blue smoke. Laura just smiled the cute mischievous smile of hers, flashing her dazzling white teeth. She took a draw inhaling almost right away the smoke, it didn’t hurt just tasted like airborne jet fuel mixed with burnt paper, she held the cigarette between her thumb and her index and middle finger, using third finger to flick away any ash that accumulated on the end of the stick. “So,” Laithe continued, “We going back to the front lines?” He asked while removing a stick of white gum from a silver packet and sticking it into his mouth chewing it vigorously to get rid of the anti-rad cigarette. Laura finished her own Rad and tossed the still burning ember onto the ground before stepping on it, the Rad was crushed under the heel of her size five boots. “Nope,” She sighed out, “We got some backwater colony to reinforce before moving onto Antiga Prime, seems that they have been hit by a few waves of Zerglings and a few Muta's. Nothing we cant handle, but the locals are pissing themselves at the thought of it.” She said, looking past Laithe and scanning the horizon. “Go get Jurz, we dust off in twenty. Make sure you run a pre-flight and all that jazz before we go.” She finished and nodded at him once. “Right you are Cappin” He said with a smile, mock saluting at her with two fingers at his forehead before turning and walking off at a quick pace.

Laura took the opportunity to freshen up, it wasn't often that they were at a full blown outpost and therefore had access to running water. She entered the private bathrooms and slipped the jacket she was carrying over one of the pegs and looked at herself in the mirror. The room was elongated almost like the showers in a gym long benches and lockers. There were names stamped on some of them but not all. Laura eyed herself, she looked a little tired but otherwise good. He splashed some water onto her face and then stripped off to shower. She didn't like looking at her naked self in the mirror so she just glanced at her body. She did however admire the tattoo work that she had on her sides as well as her thighs. She had a rose bush tattooed on her left side flowing past her breast and down her side under her ribs and on her right she had several shooting stars. On her thighs she had ancient Celtic words tattooed that read 'Naer Fedium Der Shide' or 'In the Moonlight we dance'. She showered quickly, and dried herself and got dressed again, only spending time to apply a light level of make up. She wore very neutral colours for make up apart from her lipstick which she layered, a bright green matt covered with a blue green gloss. Against her pale skin it stood out, she smiled at herself just as Jurzack walked in “Sorry Captain, I...” he said trailing off. He eyed her up and down then looked away embarrassed as she only had her trousers boots and bra on. “Jesus, Jurz.... Don’t you knock?” She feigned embarrassment and smirked at him. “I am sorry Captain...Distress call from the local camp. Watch Commander has ordered us to intercept.” he stammered out, his eyes looked all round the room but at her, he didn’t dare look at her directly. She pulled on her loose top and smirked at him, “Come on then Lieutenant, get your ass in gear or I'll leave it behind.” She said patting him on the shoulder as she walked past him and out the door. Jurzack followed close behind her his hands clasped behind his back following her. The base was a buzz of activity, marines running about in their power suits all carrying their large automatic machine guns. Even to the biggest person the power suit was bigger, it augmented and provided armour for the person inside it,  it allowed the human operator to carry the massive machine gun which fired rounds the same size as a human hand. Laura watched them scurrying about all cased in red, they moved through the bustle to their own Vikings and Laura nodded at Potters who grunted at her, his voice was gruff and he had a smoking cigar in his mouth as he directed dock hands to load supplies onto ships. “Your all gassed up an ready to go. Fully locked an loaded.” He paused slightly just to move the cigar from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue; “Also I repaired some of the armour on your left leg, it was kinda hanging off.” He smiled at Laura clearly proud of the work he had done, she returned the grin, “Cheers Poppets.” she smirked as she walked past him and climbed into the cockpit. He nearly swallowed his cigar, “Its Potters!”he exclaimed but it was too late she had already climbed inside sealing the canopy.

 

She flicked on switches and the main console came online, the computerized voice was flat as it attempted to portray sincerity, “Mother Online, Welcome Captain.”, she breathed slightly and tested the systems rotating the torso and arming the guns. “Hello Mother.” She stated almost matter of fact. Mother was never a motherly term, it was short for Mother Fucker, she prided herself on having a massive armored mech and a gun ship all rolled into one. All systems were in the green and she cleared the walk way and marched forward. “Comms check.” She spoke into the speaker, there was a faint crackle before Jurz's voice came back “SC 2 Online.” he said. Laithe followed shortly afterwards, “Yep, SC3 reportin in.” his deep southern accent was accentuated in the small cockpit. “Alright gents, lets form up and move out.” She commanded without tone. They marched forward as one in a pyramid formation clearing the landing bay and into a clearing where they could launch without any danger of any random person being caught underfoot. The move was a standard movement for Vikings but the dock workers still stopped to watch, all three Vikings crouched and then jumped into the air, as they did rockets beneath them fired and the legs and arms folded upwards tucking themselves into the canopy as separate engines engaged and powered the craft forward, instead of the Gatling guns shoulder mounted rocket launchers bristled to life as cluster rockets armed ready for firing. All three Viking's engines engaged at once and the moved forward, they picked up speed and headed away from the base their engines giving off a high pitched whine as they screeched through the cloud cover. Laura had went from a standing to a seated position within the Viking the movement stick had re-positioned for pitch and yaw and one for the firing controls and speed the control were very light and highly responsive. They flew several kilometers towards the settlement which was situated at the bottom of a valley where two rivers converged. It was idyllic, with crystal clear waters several square acres had been set aside for farm land, and the land had started to be cultivated, a few mineral mines had been set up, however the fields and the mines were all abandoned. She banked left and zeroed in on the colony and even though they were still a few kilometers out she could see distinct flashes of muzzle fire and contained weapons fire.

 

 

 Chapter Two

 

 

Laura's tinted Ray-ban glasses reflected the light and the canopy displays of several flashing status screens and warnings. Her eyes drank in the details of the scenery, the tree light that swayed gently in the Westerly breeze that blew. Inside the cockpit she could hear and feel the hum of the engines as she gunned the throttle towards the besieged village. On the outside a high pitched whine and screech of the engines echoed over the landscape. All three Vikings flew in a triangular formation, skimming the top of the trees, which bent and swayed violently in the wake of the jet engines that raced over head. Chatter on the marine bandwidth broke the silence as the marines were attempting to hold the line against their attackers. One marine cut in, “Next wave incoming, keep formation tight, pour the lead boys;” he stated, clearly smiling at the end with the slight hint of a chuckle. Laura used their private frequency to issue orders, her voice was very cool, confident and professional; “Alright gentlemen, Laithe your with me on deck, Jurz you provide air support, no doubt the Muta's are inbound. Prep to break formation in 5,4,3,2, … Go!”

 

Jurzack split off from the group and banked sharply to the right, his engines roared with the sudden acceleration, he concentrated on his radar as he swept for contacts. Increasing his altitude gave him a much greater field of vision and then he formed a search and sweep pattern circling the skies above the village outskirts for any airborne hostiles. He remained silent, barely breathing, his eyes sweeping the horizon as he occasionally glanced down at the radar screen who sensors swept in a full 3 dimensions further and wider than the eye could see. Laura and Laithe started their descent, Laithe despite his usual brashness was controlled, sweeping behind the marines, grabbing the cockpit handles the massive Viking clicked and whirred as hydraulic pistons unfolded the legs and he set the machine down gently on the ground standing fully upright, he rotated the torso left and right eyeing the tree line. Laura was much more reckless, she changed mid flight, a non recommended move as inexperienced pilots often smashed the legs of the Viking, unable to take the pressure of the impact. The hulk of the Viking changed from sleek airborne vehicle to the walking atlas in seconds and Laura landed on her feet with a crash, bending the knees of the walker absorbing the impact ahead of the marines, standing between them and the tree line. She griped the control sticks and flicking the 'Arm' switch on both sticks the Gatling guns at the end of each arm started whirring at a high pitch whine. Seconds later massive muzzle flashes erupted from the barrels as white hot explosive lead rounds poured from each Gatling cannon.

 

Zerglings burst from the tree line, like a pack of dogs and not much bigger, their teeth bared and screeching their high pitched whoops of a swarm of rabid animals. They looked like a cross between a fur-less dog and a shark with legs, all teeth and instinct. Deadly up close, and able to frenzy attack, bite and rend flesh from bone, devouring enemies and moving on and they never attacked alone, they hunted in packs, cannon fodder. They were however totally unprepared for the greeting they faced. The first wave burst from the tree line and were cut to ribbons without any realization as to what happened, they erupted from the tree line and locked onto the marines, seeing the line they burst into bloody chunks of blood, bone and flesh as Laura's Viking churned out machine gun death. The Zergling armour of bone and hardened muscle offered little resistance to the explosive rounds that detonated on impact, they screeched in pain, but it was short lived as further rounds exploded into their writing bodies sending chunks of flesh back towards the line. The marines swarmed round the legs of Laura's Viking using the armour plating for cover as they added their own fire to hers. Several more waves burst from the tree line, all to meet with the same fate, the Terran forces fire power was too great for them to overcome. As rapidly as they had burst from the tree line, the advancing Zerg forced ceased their attack and their numbers thinned out. The marines could hear them though, screeching, barking and hissing, through the tree line. Several of the marines moved beyond the Viking looking deeper into the trees, but they kept their distance. Laura released the twin triggers and the guns on her Viking fell silent, the barrels spinning for a few seconds to release off steam before falling silent and spinning to a stop. She popped open the canopy with a crack of the bubble gum that she as chewing, she had a half lop sided grin on looking down at the Marines as they turned to look at her, their visors slowly lifting. “You boys biting off more than your little guns can chew?” She said with an almost mocking tone. The first marine with sergeant stripes walked towards her and with a short but crisp salute he speaks; “No Ma'am. Trying to protect the colony here but I can feel something else is coming, there ain’t nothin on this rock that's worth a dam, other than us. Ever since we set up that dig site we've had shit poppin up all over the place. Command says-” He was cut short by one of the other marines, his voice flat but panicked. “Incoming Air!” They looked up in unison to see a group of flyers, their wings beating furiously as they ducked and weaved in and out of the cloud cover. There screeching and snarling hitting the marines as the sounds traveled faster than their wings could carry them. They swooped down low as the marines turned their guns on them, their machine guns offering little resistance against the flying attackers as they didn’t have the range their assailants did. Mutalisks looked more ferocious than their Zergling brothers, rapidly beating wings of spun green and gold were stark contrasts to their red bodies, several sets of glowing red insect eyes scanned the horizon as well as their targets. They spat chunks of solid star shaped bone covered in a viscous liquid that had not been identified, however upon contact with the air the liquid caught fire as they spat it at the Viking and the marines.

 

Laura snapped shut the canopy just in time as the ignited bone splashed the side of her armour, the clatter echoed in confined space, she looked out of the cockpit to see three of the marines get caught by the same fire as the Mutalisks strafed swooping down spitting their death glaves at them and then flapping back into the clouds. The three marines who had been caught fell, their armour no where near as thick as the Viking's, one of them doubled over, his visor flicked open as he vomited up a mixture of his stomach contents and blood before he slumped face down into the putrid mess. Laura again attempted one of her unorthodox man oeuvres, she crouched the Viking down and tiled the frame backwards, the twin Gatling cannons pointed naturally into the sky as she jammed her fingers down on the triggers. The guns answered almost immediately, she spat rounds into the air, but her movements were sluggish as the Viking was not designed to be operated in this manor. She punched the communications terminal at the same time, her voice irritated “Jurz.. where the hell is my God Damned Air support!!” Laithe cut in, “Watch it, there coming in for another pass” The Muta's swung down and raked the fields in front of them with more fire fueled bone chunks. Both Vikings raised up and started stepping backwards to retreat when the advancing Mutalisk exploded unexpectedly but rather rewarding into a mist of blood, the second Muta from the advancing trio was peppered with gun fire and screeched before it too was turned to nothing more than ash as Jurzack rocketed through the space that the Muta had just moments before occupied. Three more Muta's rapidly followed on behind him spitting acid glaives at him as he banked away and up into the cloud cover. His voice came over the comm, “Sorry Commander. Got hung up back there, we have thirteen Muta's, two fresh waves of Zerglings, Worms.” He was cut short as Laithe cut in, “And a Partridge, in a pear tree.” He chuckled down the line.  The line crackled abruptly, as the airborne Viking ducked under the cloud line again, Jurzack cut his engine power dropping the Viking out of the Muta's attack line as he free falls, spinning the craft a full 180 degrees, as gravity grabs hold of the heavier engine section, dragging it towards the ground. He lightly presses the fire control trigger and his Viking answers throwing missiles at his oncoming assailants, exploding on contact they rip open the bodies of the encroaching Muta's, cutting the two flanking Muta's in half as he completes his free fall his cockpit now again hurtling towards the ground as he kicks in the engines again. The sharp whine and groan of the engines being ignited and brought to full power crackled across the sky, as he yanked back on the flight stick and swung low to the ground narrowly avoiding the tree line, the Muta's in quick chase. They looked like a swarm of angry butterflies chasing a tin can, their translucent wings reflecting the light like moving stain glass windows; they screeched after him, and lined up in a row and spat at him in unison. The bone glaives shot at him like acid teeth the first two hits struck his armour and warning lights pinged on his dashboard, just as the second two struck him and detonated, an audible warning rang out as gas vented into the cockpit, strapping on his mouth piece with its independent air supply he blinked back tears as his eyes reacted to the gas escaping from the coolant hose that had ruptured behind him. He voice was heavily modulated as he came across the secure channel, yet he sounded calm to the extreme, merely mouthing the words in a robotic fashion; “SC3, going down.” the transmission cut as his engines exploded and gave out, the grinding of metal against metal filled the confined space as he fought the Viking for control. He glided several more meters on sheer inertia, until the craft had nothing left to give him; shutting off the fuel valves he looked down to see the ground racing towards his view line. He closed his eyes as his ship lurched forward and slammed into the ground.

 

Laura looked up as Jurzack's communication came through, her and Laithe were still back tracking at the line of the settlement, six out of the twelve marines who had been standing there in tow with them looking decidedly beaten. There were no wounded, and the Zerg didn’t take prisoners, only food. She looked up to see the Viking come in low and take the fire from the Mutalisks who were certainly angry that he had killed some of their clutch number and attacked in unison rather than their usual staggered approach. Her heart was in her mouth as the call came through that he was going down and she saw the smoke trail blaze from the rear of his Viking before it disappeared into the tree line, even from the distance she was sure she felt a slight tremor, perhaps even just a shudder from the earth as his ship impacted into the ground; but the more she thought, the more she felt that the shudder had come from her own involuntary reaction as loosing another team mate than a shock wave. Laithe's sullen voice came over the comm, his thick southern accent sounded mournful “Sleep well old man, we shall see one another again, on a new battlefield.”

 

 

Chapter Three

 

The whole scene felt cold, and calm, the wind played with the stillness of the light and everything seemed to stop. But it was for the briefest of pauses, the tree line rippled like a balloon right before it burst and just when it looked to have swelled to its greatest girth the tree line broke and hundreds of Zerglings spilled out towards the two lone Vikings and the 6 marine guard,. Those reinforcements Jurzack had mentioned were now bearing down on top of them looking to sweep them like a tide sweeps sand from the beach. Laura burst onto the secure channel her voice cold, and resolve hardened. “Marines, we are leaving. Form up double time. I'll provide point cover, Laithe you take over when guns run hot. While your at it, get on the fucking comm and get us a god dammed drop ship to get us and the techs off this rock.” Both parties said nothing to argue and just signaled with a click to show that they understood. Laithe's Viking turned and walked forward towards the colony lines, Laura held off for two seconds before marching off in the same direction. The legs of the Viking were marching at speed towards the colony, but she rotated the body a full 180 degrees, she couldn’t see where she was walking and at this point she knew she was going in the right direction. She spun the barrels of the twin guns up to speed and jammed her thumbs down on the trigger control as the first wave of Zerglings came into range. The comm of off and she swore repeatedly with the satisfaction that she was dispensing some form of justice as these creatures, the bullet storm ripped through the hardened flesh and cut through zerg after zerg. She swept the canopy back and fourth so that she took out as many of them as she possibly could, her guns were heating up as the warning indicator flashed yellow signalling caution. She ignored it, clustering the Zerglings into groups with controlled fire before turning the guns on them to see them explode into clouds of blood and chunks of flesh and bone. The warning lights flashed to red as Laithe ignited a second stream of bullets upon the advancing line. She let go of the trigger her knuckles white with rage, and in a sigh of relief the guns fell silent steam billowing off the white hot barrel tips as the temperature gauges on her dashboard started to drop. Laithe's voice startled her slightly, “Uhm, we got a slight problem. I cant get anyone on command frequency. I only get a warning buoy in orbit. We been dumped?” “Course not!” she bit back. A rising sinking feeling in her stomach she flicked her own comm switch to the command and carrier frequency as an unfamiliar voice flooded her ear piece. A thick inner space accent with an extremely irritating inability to pronounce a C correctly. “Kommand Kruiser two, too sekondary positions. Rail guns, to point defence prepare for Hyper Jump.” She cut in, “This is Command, Storm Crow's. Request immediate dust off and Evac.” “Impossible Kaptain, we have no drop ships and the Zerg have already overrun Kommand position.” She cursed silently at the information. “Then bring your so called Battle Cruiser planet side and lift us off the old fashioned way.” “Not a chance Kaptain, I am not risking my people for a handful of techs and a Viking wing-” He was cut off abruptly as she heard sirens in the back ground, someone shouting breach and then the comm went dead. Laura's voice suddenly sounded so small, “Command?...” no response came.

 

Laura signaled Laithe, “looks like we are on our own.” she sighed audibly down the comm set, looking out at the ever advancing line of Zerglings. Laithe's guns fell silent as she took over the point defence, even as the numbers dwindled from this attack she knew there would be more waves incoming. Even as the dust ball of the colony appeared in the distance it would not offer shelter perhaps only a grave, and a shallow one at that.