The plan I had come up with, amazing as a concept...failed from the start. We started our march well enough of course, but about halfway to the designated staging ground for our shelling Zerg started moving from the rearmost section of the swarming mass. At least a third of their number, maybe one-hundred or so, turned on us as if it had all been planned.

I remember screaming fuck as loud as I could, shouting orders left and right. Granit firing near nonstop into the oncoming Zerg, taking huge chunks from their numbers, but with how they were massed the shrapnel didn’t deal killing blows after the initial explosion that took out five or so here and there. Fob wasn’t having much better luck.

Well, I say they didn’t take out a large amount, but to be fair I was more focused on the ground beneath our feet suddenly rising up and throwing us out of position. Nova hadn’t reported anything like this, so they must have tunneled their way to us, or had a set-up ambush. This was worrying as well, it hinted at a higher Zerg driving the Swarm in the area.

I saw Fernando go down, pinned to the ground by a Hydralisk that was trying to rip his head off, Georgie moving to assist him as fast as he could. Kelper had just started firing his weapon without setting up his placement properly, he had three of Raynors Marines around him, fighting as best as they could. They were split off from the group though. Nova and Raynor had been thrown off on the other side of a line of Zerg that was bulldozing toward us, trying to overwhelm everyone. Andy, Trenton, and I were together. Trenton was making good use of his unbelievably amazing defensive capabilities and decimating the smaller Zerglings, Andy was shooting Zerg with a pistol (Something I didn’t even know she had) while I was aiming for larger clusters and using burst shot on them.

I could see Fob in the distance, next to Granit. Both were unloading their entire reserve, trying to thin the numbers more. But they ran out, the armor forcibly entering a cooldown state, and the Zerg swarmed them. They were screaming into their Comms, but not going down just yet. Granit was smashing Zerg with his oversized fists and Fob was smacking them mid-leap. Fob went down soon enough though, the Zerg frantically ripping at his armor.

I felt my heart drop, even as I shot a Hydralisk that had turned on me, readying a spine, with a three-round burst. “Fob! Granit! Get the fuck out of there!” I screamed at them. They weren’t responding, just yelling as they fought for their lives, one of Fobs arms being torn free from the main body of the armor, blood gushed out in a wave as his actual arm was torn free as well.

Shit, shit, shit. “Trenton, move with Andy toward Raynor and Nova, meet up with Fernando and Georgie afterward. Gather the Marines between them and head toward Kelper and the Marines with him.”

I didn’t wait for them to answer, hearing a high pitched scream of ‘Sir!’ as I barreled through the Zergling waves, shoulder checking one mid-leap and braining another with the butt of my Mark V. The next few moments went by quickly, though it felt like an eternity as I ducked, dodged, and shot my way through the Zerg between me and my Marauders. I heard a pain filled scream, followed by shouting, then I was through. The Zerg had torn a leg from the armor, entirely. Fuck! I put a bullet into each of the Zerg tearing my soldier apart, then swiveled on Granit, who had already taken care of most of the ones on him, screaming “Get some you bug-eyed fucks!”

Fob wasn’t moving right now, but he was alive, judging by the vitals my visor was showing, even if barely. I went to work from there, firing without stop into the Zerg around us, using my last Burst Shot to clear the knot of Zerg charging us, while emptying a clip into another fifteen surrounding us. Granit did his job, keeping them off us with his sheer size and increased strength.

“Trenton, I need a report!” I screamed into the comm, it was Raynor that answered me though. “Hey there,” he huffed into the comm, screaming about something I was fairly sure was anatomically impossible. “Your man, Trenton, saved our asses. Took a spine to his shield arm though. He’s moving, we got Fernando and Georgie and most of my Boys. Kelper is in bad shape, only one of my Marines with him made it. We’re moving toward you. The zerg numbers are thinning. Not sure what’s happening.”

I started shooting more frantically after that. The entire ambush and turn in fighting had maybe lasted two minutes. Two fucking minutes of such intense fighting and adrenaline-fueled fear that it felt like hours. The Zerg were decimated though, at a massive cost. Three of Raynor’s Marines were dead, two incapable of continuing on, leaving Raynor and one other still mobile. My own were just as bad. Kelper had lost a leg, Fob was unconscious and being treated by Andy to staunch the wounds and prevent further blood loss, Georgie took a spine to the collarbone, the poison had thankfully been stopped in time, but he was out of the fight as well. Fernando had come out of the fight with gashes all along his armor, his left arm nearly ripped free of his body, but he was still in the fight and wouldn’t listen when I told him to sit his ass down.

I was breathing hard, glaring at Fernando who was actively showing his pain, his oh so perfect face a mass of bruises and blood flowing from his cheek where a Zerg claw had pierced through the visor. He was lucky it didn’t pierce his skull. “Listen here you obstinate bastard, you’re sitting the rest of this out!” I shouted at him, he just stared with his normally unflappable expression, marred only by the pain twisted his features.

“I don’t have time for this, you wanna kill yourself rather than do what you need to keep breathing fine!” I had enough of this pissing match. Looking toward the Confederate position I saw men moving toward us. According to Stone, they had sallied forth once the majority of the Zerg had turned toward my small band of misfits. The fact we only lost three Marines was already a miracle, the ones made incapable of continuing would at least retain their lives. I also knew that they could create prosthetics that allowed them to continue fighting if they wished. I was unsure if Fob and Kelper would continue, regardless I was glad they survived.

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I knew my Regeneration should kick in, but it wasn’t strong enough to regrow limbs, I had a feeling that once they left this map it would be a permanent loss due to that as well. I could only hope Caspian and Swann could come up with something to help them.

When the Confederates showed up, led by Stone, a Marine in pitch black armor, and two Firebats, each about the same size as a Marauder armor I went to them with weary determination. The sooner this mission was done, the better.

Nova, with a few more bumps and bruises, and Raynor joined me. “Stone! You brought friends?” I knew he did, obviously. I was just too worn out to remember who they were right now. Oddly enough it was Raynor who spoke, seemingly knowing the man in black armor.

“Walter? Holy shit, Walter! You joined the Confederates?” Ok, apparently they DID know each other.

“Yes, Raynor. You and yours saved my men, what’s left of them after Command left us to die. Least we could do was take out the rest of the Zerg to protect you.” He had a deep baritone of a voice, but it held an edge of humor as he spoke to Raynor. Stone moved toward Nova, whispering something into her ear, then Fernando’s. Both nodded and looked at me. Now what?

“Good on ya! Glad you could pull us out of the frying pan back there. How many men you got left, and do you have anywhere our wounded can go?” The man, Walter, nodded before ordering the five Marines behind him to help load out wounded onto some objects that looked remarkably like stretchers.

“That I do, Raynor. Now then, who’s the man beside you? I understand the Ghost belongs to him, his aid proved invaluable to us.”

“This is Magistrate Fern. He’s been invaluable all around I think. The man seems to show up at the worst possible moments and pulled my ass out of the fire, him and his people. You can trust him.” I swore I was almost crying hearing Raynor say that, but I could geek out later. Time was running out before nightfall, I wanted this hell over with as fast as possible.

“Walter, Raynor is correct. I am Magistrate Fern, I’m here to help you get rid of as many of these bug bastards as I can and deal with the source of the...Infested people. We take that out, it’ll be harder for them to get more. We don’t have long before they come back in force though. No matter how many of the Zerg we destroyed here, there will always be more.”

The man looked at me, his visor still down. “Not sure how you, a Magistrate, know that much about the threat we face, but you’re right. We even know where they are coming from. It’s on the other side of our position. Command ordered us to guard the area, keep what we could inside, and study it. The Infested you fought were no doubt the ones that made it out before we arrived.”

What the fuck? Fine, deal with this idiocy later. “How I know doesn’t matter, soldier. What matters is I’m here and I can help.” How exactly I was going to do that, I didn’t know, but I knew what we needed. We needed those fucking ammo crates.

“I see, well I have no reason to keep following the Confederates after they left us here to die for some fucking Monsters they wanted to research. I’ll even help you blow the fucker up. Think a Nuke will do?”

I heard the magic words. Fuck the crates, a Nuke would solve the issue entirely. “Oh, that will do wonderfully,” I said, though I think my words slurred a bit at that. I was just happy that this would be over soon, or I hoped so at least.

Turns out, the remainder of this mission was surprisingly lackluster. Nova went in and placed the Nuke, obtained the Data from the science section of the structure, and left. Thankfully the Command Center was the only building infested at the moment.

We blew the Command Center, the resulting explosion was massive enough that the concussive blast made us all move back some before the winds died down. We were far enough out that the danger zone wasn’t an issue, thankfully. The bonus mission about an Infected Corpse could suck it, honestly. Green probably got something regardless, but bonus objectives were far from ideal right now. The data would be enough, hopefully, the kill count for Raynor's men as well.

I closed my eyes as the white light enveloped me and my people, looking forward to a day off to recover, heal my injured, and then move forward into the next mission. No sooner had we arrived back at Bastion than I was assaulted with a plethora of messages, some good, one amazing, and two horrible.

Congratulations Player!

For completing the Campaign Map - Backwater Station, in a single day, your difficulty has increased by a modifier of one! New difficulty is Hell +2

Congratulations Player! You have successfully destroyed all available Infested units and structures available at the time of completion. You have been granted one Amenities Card!

Amenity Card - Grants the Player a random amount of one kind of item. Numbers range from one to one-thousand units of whatever item is chosen.

Congratulations Player! You have kept Marchal Jim Raynor alive! You now have increased likability with Primary Character, as well as an increased chance to gain him as a Hero Unit from Hero Cards!

Congratulations Player! You have Obtained secret Confederate Data detailing experiments the Confederates have been doing on Zerg Infestations! The system has granted you one level of Regeneration for furthering your knowledge of Zerg biology!

Congratulations Player! All surviving members of Marshal Jim Raynor’s men have killed over seventy enemy units each! Player has been granted one Hero Card, as well as One Unit Upgrade Card!

Congratulations Player! While you did not obtain an Infested Terran body, your Semi-Hero Unit Doctor Elizabeth Green, collected many blood samples from the Infested before the son destroyed their bodies! Awarded increased knowledge of Zerg biology, Regeneration increased in level!

Congratulations Player! You kept a Legendary figure alive during the mission - Walter Derk - You have been granted the Firebat schematic and three prefabricated Firebat armors.

Congratulations Player! For reaching level five with Regeneration, it may now begin affecting your people outside of Campaign Maps! Be advised, regeneration will not grow limbs outside of Campaign Maps until Level 10! -WARNING- Excessive use of Regeneration may lead to Zerg Infestations occurring in your people. (Small chance of infestation possible)

System Announcement!

For bringing back active samples of Zerg from a Campaign Map the Zerg will now begin appearing in your Game Universe! The system has generated an OverMind to control and direct the Swarm as well as ten starting Cerebrates!

System Announcement!

Zerg Incursions will now begin in the Game Universe! Advised that all Zerg within the Game Universe will diverge and evolve differently from the Campaign Maps!

I could feel my eye begin twitching, reading each message. I loved the Regeneration increase, it would help immensely. I love the idea of the random amenity card. The idea of getting a lot of food was nice, the new Hero Card would be amazing. Personally, my favorite was the one concerning Jim Raynor. Following that was the Firebat schematics, those would be useful, more so now than ever with the Zerg coming to this version of my game.

When Is aw the last part, my eye began twitching in full force. “Suck a dick, System…”