"It's a well known fact that I have my head up Mark4's ass."
-Punck
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| I Dream of Ghosts chpt 3 | | | Author: | | | IP: | 149.168.XXXX | | Date: | 07/17/02 11:07 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 5, Min: 5
Lifetime Rating for Zephyrus: 4.2000 |  | Sean had reached the bunker at about the same time that the rest of the crew did. Now from a defensive point, New Taipei was impregnable. At least that’s what the designers wanted it to be like. The city was situated on top of a plateau which the only means of transportation to the ground was an underground passage way to the bunkers, which when the bunkers are abandoned, could be self-destructed. Surrounding the city during combat, were three rings of Arclite Siege Tanks. In siege mode from the plateau, they could fire upon miles away. On the outside of the tanks, are two rings of bunkers. These were unmanned until the ones at the bottom of the plateau are abandoned and manned by those marines. At the base of the plateau sits the vulture squadron. They are expendable units whose sole purpose is to support the bunkers and lay spider mines. Further out from that lay the first line of defense, scores of bunkers. Manned by marines and firebats alike, these were the pride of New Asia.
Looking into the horizon, he could not even see the Zerg yet, but he knew they were coming. From scouting reports, it seems that this was going to be one long and doomed battle. The commander in charge had already called from the nearest starports as much dropship as they can spare to evacuate the city. God knows they didn’t have enough within the city for that many people. The civilians had already begun their transport as well as much of the science staff.
With the help of the bunker AI, Sean had been able to pull up a magnified view of the swarm on his helmet. It wasn’t a pretty site. On the front lines were the expendable zerglings and following them were hydralisks. This was a pretty impressive ground force as it stands, but behind that were the ultralisks which toward over all the units. In the skies, Sean could see guardians’ way ahead of the group moving slowly but surely across the sky. He knew that by the time the got here, they would be in the midst of the aerial force. Behind them were the mutalisks and devourers, which made the sky look like a sea of brown organic mass. The overlords were pulling up the rear making sure that no units strayed.
Sean looked on as the squads of vultures zoomed at high speeds to place the spider mines in front of the zerg swarm and return to refill just to go out again. Miles out with the help of the bunker AI, Sean could see the tiny specks of explosions caused by the spider mines, as they sensed their prey and popped out of the ground to deliver their breath of death. Countless Zerg units lied burning in the aftermath of each explosion, but like the sea, the rest of the swarm clawed and climbed over their fallen brethren into yet another round of explosions.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Resounded the Arclite shells. The swarm had entered the range of the tanks. Sean looked on through his helmet and saw the craters caused by the shells. He saw the burning flesh and flying carcasses of unfortunate Zergs who were caught in the explosions. Being miles away, his suit thermometer showed him that the outside temperature had already risen 50 degrees. More and more explosions lined the front lines as the mines and tanks fired in unison.
NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED! Sean jumped inside his suite. He had no knowledge that the base had hosts to ghosts. He quickly accessed the main computer to bring up the locations of the cloaked ghosts. The were a few miles in front of the bunkers each standing cool and jitter-less as they delivered the co-ordinates of the nuclear attacks. As soon as the nukes launched and achieved their target, the ghosts one by one slowly walked back towards the base. Overhead, Sean saw a dropship flying quickly out to pick up the individual ghosts. How Sean envied those people, but now was not the time to think about things like that. He watched, as the nukes strike right after the Zerg swarm had completely flowed over the area. Each perfectly timed to destroy hundreds of the organic hordes.
Mushroom clouds erupted all around the city. According to his thermometer, the temperature outside had just jumped 200 degrees. At a nice 350+ degrees outside Sean was impressed that the swarm showed no signs of tiring or fatigue, though Sean knew the Zerg were tough, he was impressed at just how tough they were.
The front lines of the bunkers had started to fire. Like the revolutionary war battles, the Zerg would marched right into the black mist of heated lead and fall, but they would be replaced by another line, then another and another. Again and again, the swarm slowly advanced towards the city. What drove these animals on was beyond him. The ratio of death was thousands of Zerg and not yet one human.
FRONT LINE BUNKER RETREAT! Sean heard the clanking as marines ran quickly under the tunnels toward his bunker to take position for the next run. He saw the explosions as each of the front line bunkers exploded and sent shrapnell and other foreign objects into the surrounding Zergs. At that instant his screen had started to pick out targets, and it didn’t take but a second for Sean to start firing burst into the endless flow of Zergs. Pootsh! The vultures had started to fire on the Zerg making the ration of deaths even higher on their end.
This was madness, Sean knew that he was going to die. On the screen he saw a couple of miles of Zerg behind the first line of them. He knew it was just a matter of time before the Zerg would over-run this base. Whzzzzzz! He heard as the aerial force came into range. Sean and the Zerg alike had under-estimated the air defense of this base as hundreds of turrets sprang from the ground and began launching what seemed like a sheet of missiles into the thick of the organic mass in the sky. Hundreds of thousands of organic mass fell from the sky crashing into the battle worn bunkers. CRASH! The left side of the bunker crumpled in a mass of metal and acid taking with it 3 of the occupants of the bunker.
“Retreat!” He said into his com as he knew that his commander was under that mass of debris.
He and the other occupants opened the hatch set the auto-destructed and started running for the next set of bunkers. Sean knew the odds, there were only five sets of bunkers left and the had but taken out 1/8 of the Zerg force. This was going to be one long day, if he lives that is.
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