1 Year, 6 Months Earlier
BCS-3119 Prometheus, Unknown Space
Captain Josef Callahan grimaced slightly as he climbed off the rough and worn deck plating of the ancient battlecruiser.
He was one of the few to have not changed loyalties from the extinct Confederacy that had been smashed first by the traitor Mengsk and then by Marshal Raynor. He'd been newly promoted, given an almost obsolete battlecruiser of the same class as the Hyperion which was made famous by Raynor. Recently the Prometheus seemed to be the last operating ship of its type after the Hyperion was turned into a Museum on New Terra after Liberty was elected President and had named the Marshal to be head of the military.
A small part of Josef's mind now wished he had accepted the offer to join the Alliance, if at least for the chance to have one of the newer ships in his current state. His own pride and dislike of the other race in the Alliance at the time had held him back, at least that's what he decided had caused it after some honest thought, but at the time he'd said it was because of his oaths and the fact that he knew his ship was better than anything else.
He'd been operating as a merc of sorts, playing escort to ships heading to the outer colonies.
The two squadrons of Wraiths, four dropships, four grizzleys, and a pair of bombers that had seen better days, though three of the dropships were bad off and one of the Grizzleys had no working weapons if he were honest and he only had fuel for one of the squadrons of Wraiths.
But he'd been escorting freighters to the Gemini station near Zerg territory when his troubles had begun.
The Prometheus had turned to leave when the Swarm entered the system, trillions of them from a point between the station and the local star, the light had been entirely eclipsed by their sheer numbers...a sizable portion of which had followed him into hyperspace as he watched in shock and horror.
Everything had seemingly gone wrong from that point on as one of the creatures that seemed like the older Overlords attached itself to his ship right when everything went to hell as Hyperspace seemed to shatter and reconfigure in an instant. His body felt as if it were ripped to pieces and then shoved back togather as the hull breach sirens sounded and the lights flashed bright red.
He hit the deck as one of the lights above him detonated into a shower of brilliant sparks that seared his vision.
It was then that his senses returned as the ship reverted to realspace and it all began.
Without thinking he ordered the ship to make another jump to get away from the Zerg forces that had followed through the last one, a brief prayer that they wouldn't have another jump like the last one.
xXx
Prometheus, Cargo Bay 3
Captain Jim Harris grimaced as the few soldiers aboard the battlecruiser assembled in the internal airlock of the cargo bay. The heavy rifle he carried rested easily against his shoulder as he checked the readouts of the interior.
The Zerg thing was attached and had burned through the cargo bay doors and it seemed like a handfull of slightly odd Zerglings had entered the bay.
He grimaced slightly as the sensors zoomed in to one for a deeper scan and his eyes widened slightly.
"Devouring ones," he hissed as the half dozen soldiers, ten marines and a pair of firebats, positioned themselves around the hatch while the enemy out numbered them at least two to one with a pair of Hunter-Killers moving clear of the attached monstrosity.
He paused a moment as his eyes surveyed the troops as they positioned themselves for the battle to come.
"Men, stay in cover, these ones are nasty and we're here to keep them from killin' everyone on this ship," he ordered calmly, "Stay frosty and don't get your asses killed."
A nod came in response as a medic exited the elevator behind them and he hit the controlls.
"Now!" he yelled in a commanding tone, "GO! GO! GO!"
One of the firebats seemed to have ignored his warnings and went charging headlong through the hatch as it opened.
"CHARGE!" the flame wielding lunatic roared as he passed through the enemy groupings.
"Jenkins?" one of the marines yelled, "What the fuck do you think you're doin!"
"Stick to the plan!" Jim stated quickly, "Move it people, Jenkins being a twit doesn't mean we go nuts to, keep cool, keep alive!"
"Sir, Private Jenkins vital signs have ceased," Doctor Tanya Janson stated calmly from behind, "He's dead Jim."
"Ah hell no," one of the marines growled as he pulsed fire into one of the Hunter Killers, leaving it a twitching corpse, "You killed Leroy!"
"You bastards," one of the others added in indignation as they drove the monsters back with their weapons fire.
An idea hit Captain Harris as he picked off another one of the almost insectile abominations, an exploding round tearing the remaining HK in half.
"Fall back people," he yelled, "Change of plans!"
"Roger," came the quick response as the soldiers dashed back into the relative safety of the airlock.
Jim paused for a moment as he pulled one of the grenades from his belt and let the computer in the armor take over the aiming function and let it fly before diving through the doors and started them closing.
The remaining Zerg inspected the flashing and beeping object and realized what it was to their horror as it settled beside the shredded carcas of the dead firebat...
xXx
Prometheus, Bridge
Josef nearly fell for the third time as an explosion rocked the ship and the section of the hull that was pierced flashed on the screens before him to show the new damage as the ship dropped into realspace once more.
"What the hell was that?" he yelled into the comms with the troops he'd sent in.
"Situation under control, Zerg neutralized," came the response from Jim Harris with an audible sigh, "Had to use some extreme measures to suceed, we lost one of our firebats, a Private Jenkins, Sir."
"Next time I send you into a fight on this ship," he snarled back, "Assume I want you to do as little damage as you can."
With that he shut off the comms and glanced at the navigator.
"What's the nearest station we can get repairs at?" he asked.
Lieutenant Jason Miller shrugged, "We're off the maps, nothing matches the star charts."
"Then where the hell are we?" the Confed captain asked as he seemed to collapse bonelessly into his chair.
xXx
Unknown Space
A cerebrate watched the new space around it with almost bemused interest as something best viewed as a savage smirk crossed its thoughts.
A new place to expand and conquer. This place would kneel before the Swarm...
BCS-3119 Prometheus, Unknown Space
Captain Josef Callahan grimaced slightly as he climbed off the rough and worn deck plating of the ancient battlecruiser.
He was one of the few to have not changed loyalties from the extinct Confederacy that had been smashed first by the traitor Mengsk and then by Marshal Raynor. He'd been newly promoted, given an almost obsolete battlecruiser of the same class as the Hyperion which was made famous by Raynor. Recently the Prometheus seemed to be the last operating ship of its type after the Hyperion was turned into a Museum on New Terra after Liberty was elected President and had named the Marshal to be head of the military.
A small part of Josef's mind now wished he had accepted the offer to join the Alliance, if at least for the chance to have one of the newer ships in his current state. His own pride and dislike of the other race in the Alliance at the time had held him back, at least that's what he decided had caused it after some honest thought, but at the time he'd said it was because of his oaths and the fact that he knew his ship was better than anything else.
He'd been operating as a merc of sorts, playing escort to ships heading to the outer colonies.
The two squadrons of Wraiths, four dropships, four grizzleys, and a pair of bombers that had seen better days, though three of the dropships were bad off and one of the Grizzleys had no working weapons if he were honest and he only had fuel for one of the squadrons of Wraiths.
But he'd been escorting freighters to the Gemini station near Zerg territory when his troubles had begun.
The Prometheus had turned to leave when the Swarm entered the system, trillions of them from a point between the station and the local star, the light had been entirely eclipsed by their sheer numbers...a sizable portion of which had followed him into hyperspace as he watched in shock and horror.
Everything had seemingly gone wrong from that point on as one of the creatures that seemed like the older Overlords attached itself to his ship right when everything went to hell as Hyperspace seemed to shatter and reconfigure in an instant. His body felt as if it were ripped to pieces and then shoved back togather as the hull breach sirens sounded and the lights flashed bright red.
He hit the deck as one of the lights above him detonated into a shower of brilliant sparks that seared his vision.
It was then that his senses returned as the ship reverted to realspace and it all began.
Without thinking he ordered the ship to make another jump to get away from the Zerg forces that had followed through the last one, a brief prayer that they wouldn't have another jump like the last one.
xXx
Prometheus, Cargo Bay 3
Captain Jim Harris grimaced as the few soldiers aboard the battlecruiser assembled in the internal airlock of the cargo bay. The heavy rifle he carried rested easily against his shoulder as he checked the readouts of the interior.
The Zerg thing was attached and had burned through the cargo bay doors and it seemed like a handfull of slightly odd Zerglings had entered the bay.
He grimaced slightly as the sensors zoomed in to one for a deeper scan and his eyes widened slightly.
"Devouring ones," he hissed as the half dozen soldiers, ten marines and a pair of firebats, positioned themselves around the hatch while the enemy out numbered them at least two to one with a pair of Hunter-Killers moving clear of the attached monstrosity.
He paused a moment as his eyes surveyed the troops as they positioned themselves for the battle to come.
"Men, stay in cover, these ones are nasty and we're here to keep them from killin' everyone on this ship," he ordered calmly, "Stay frosty and don't get your asses killed."
A nod came in response as a medic exited the elevator behind them and he hit the controlls.
"Now!" he yelled in a commanding tone, "GO! GO! GO!"
One of the firebats seemed to have ignored his warnings and went charging headlong through the hatch as it opened.
"CHARGE!" the flame wielding lunatic roared as he passed through the enemy groupings.
"Jenkins?" one of the marines yelled, "What the fuck do you think you're doin!"
"Stick to the plan!" Jim stated quickly, "Move it people, Jenkins being a twit doesn't mean we go nuts to, keep cool, keep alive!"
"Sir, Private Jenkins vital signs have ceased," Doctor Tanya Janson stated calmly from behind, "He's dead Jim."
"Ah hell no," one of the marines growled as he pulsed fire into one of the Hunter Killers, leaving it a twitching corpse, "You killed Leroy!"
"You bastards," one of the others added in indignation as they drove the monsters back with their weapons fire.
An idea hit Captain Harris as he picked off another one of the almost insectile abominations, an exploding round tearing the remaining HK in half.
"Fall back people," he yelled, "Change of plans!"
"Roger," came the quick response as the soldiers dashed back into the relative safety of the airlock.
Jim paused for a moment as he pulled one of the grenades from his belt and let the computer in the armor take over the aiming function and let it fly before diving through the doors and started them closing.
The remaining Zerg inspected the flashing and beeping object and realized what it was to their horror as it settled beside the shredded carcas of the dead firebat...
xXx
Prometheus, Bridge
Josef nearly fell for the third time as an explosion rocked the ship and the section of the hull that was pierced flashed on the screens before him to show the new damage as the ship dropped into realspace once more.
"What the hell was that?" he yelled into the comms with the troops he'd sent in.
"Situation under control, Zerg neutralized," came the response from Jim Harris with an audible sigh, "Had to use some extreme measures to suceed, we lost one of our firebats, a Private Jenkins, Sir."
"Next time I send you into a fight on this ship," he snarled back, "Assume I want you to do as little damage as you can."
With that he shut off the comms and glanced at the navigator.
"What's the nearest station we can get repairs at?" he asked.
Lieutenant Jason Miller shrugged, "We're off the maps, nothing matches the star charts."
"Then where the hell are we?" the Confed captain asked as he seemed to collapse bonelessly into his chair.
xXx
Unknown Space
A cerebrate watched the new space around it with almost bemused interest as something best viewed as a savage smirk crossed its thoughts.
A new place to expand and conquer. This place would kneel before the Swarm...