starcraft: dilation

cold fury

I walk down the street as I see barriers are posted. 'By order of the battalion commander, no traffic in these sections until 0900 tomorrow.'. Good. I walk past the berrors as I can see a massive formation. That's the 501rst medical support battalion. Thier platoons are small but the battalion is made up of 4 companies. Three are medics and one is mechanics, SCV pilots, and a few are banshee pilots. They would be separate but the other support battalions are currently merging and realining so they can be separated properly for a more effective work force. I continue walking as I make sure my visor is locked onto my head and can be moved freely. I quickly spot four decorated medic standing infront of the formation. Each one has a separate color scheme that allows others to identify whitch company thier commanding. One of the commanding officers turns around as she quickly alerts the other three. "Attention!" I stop infront of the commanding officers as the second medic salutes me. "Good afternoon sir. I'm glad to see your recovering well." I salute back. "Just needs a little R&R." I slowly lower my hand as she brings hers down quickly. "Carry on." Everyone losens up as the company chatters quietly. "The 501rst medical support battalion is ready for orders sir." Thier suits allows them to be taller than me but she doesn't look down on me but littarly has to look down at me. "I can assume everyone is here then?" I take as few steps forward as I stop at the right side of the medic. "Yes sir. Even the medics that were on leave came to see this sir." I chuckle a bit. "Must be excited to see what's about to happen." The captions chuckle. "I wouldn't miss this even if I was half way across the world." I can't help but Crack a smile. The battalion quickly stops chattering then moves to attention again. "What's the plan sir?" I look to right a little bit as I see the corporal from last night approuching me with two other marines. Thier not in power suits but in regular uniform. I face him as he stops infront of me and salutes. "Good afternoon sir. As ordered, I have the lift of names ready for your review." He brings his arms down quickly then lifts the a small stack of papers in his left hand. I grab them as he let's go then quickly brings his arm down to his side. I look at the packet as the font is small but I'm seeing names on here that are just wierd. "132 marines present, 56 marines absent sir." I lift the top page. "Where are they, corporal?" I open my mind as I peer into the surface of his thoughts. "34 are on leave, 22 failed to report sir." I lift another page. "Why didn't the ones on leave come back?" He tenses up a little bit. "They are on diffrent planets, have kids, and took leave after 24 hour shifts for recovery sir." He's not lying. He's also thinking about telling me that the ones on leave are some of the marines who aren't trouble makers. "Are there any names on this list that are on leave?" The corporal takes in a deep breath. "No sir. I had this list checked by every commander in the 423rd. However, the marines who failed to report are amongst the worst of the trouble makers." He knows better not to lie to a high ranking officer and to a ghost. Or...a former spector. "Where are they corporal?" The caption to my right is frustrated. "All of them are on the instalation ma'am. I gave them one more warning an hour ago. I know half are currently on there way now." I tighten up the packet and hand it to the caption to my right. "Take a squad and get accountability of the marines that are here. We'll get the ones that show up later." The caption faces me. "Yes sir. I'll send back one with exact numbers." Good. "Good idea. I'll wait a little bit out here to brief the plan. I'll brief you and your squad once we gather in the company." The caption nods. "To easy sir." She looks at the formation. "Hill, Brent, Andrews, and Lillian your with me. Jullias, coms, and filtain your going to police the formation and poke around if anyone's hiding." The medics fall out as they rush over to thier caption. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" The caption looks at me. "When will you be joining is sir?" She's grinning ear to ear. "Ill be over in 30 minutes caption. Don't be gentle either. If they mess up, make sure they fix themselves. Put on the drill sergeant face." I look at her as her grin is evil. "Consider it done sir." She looks at her squad. "Your heard the colonel lady's! Put your drill sergeant faces on! We've got fear to put into these 'marines'." The squad forms up around her as she begins to walk. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Now that's the disopline of the raiders. The loyalty we all inspire. The corporal is flabbergasted at the amount of disoline and loyalty that was shown in a small squad like that. "Go ahead and make sure the marines that haven't done anything wrong are put into a formation on the right side of that caption, corporal. There may be more that are lazy and need correcting but those who actually know thier shit don't need to be corrected." He gives me a confused look. "Y-yes sir but..." why is he hesitating. He's thinking about how thier time will be waisted if thier dismissed back to thier homes. "I won't waist thier time corporal. On fact, I have something in mind for them." He tenses up more. "Go get them formed up before the medics get to them. This may be a company wide thing but those who actually did good don't deserve to face the consequences the other forced them to face." He raleaved to hear this. "Yes sir." He turns around and runs back with the other marines quickly behind him. I look at them running back. "Incomming transmission." I whatch as the marines pick up speed as they get around the corner. "Patch it through." I bring two finger up as I press a button on the right side of my visor as outside noise is blocked out. "Good afternoon colonel." I instantly recicnize the voice. "What can I do for you general?" I turn away from the formation. "I'm looking at the report you sent to me this morning. It looks like there's more going on then what I've been lead to believe." I can't help but chuckle. "I take it that you've been lied to then?" I sense something nearly. It's a phyonic presence. It's not very strong but I can pick it up. Thier getting closer to. "It appears so." He pouses for a moment. "It also appears your going to handle this problem yourself to." He seems...calm. I look back at the formation as all of then are waiting for me. "Yeah." I turn back around. "You've been fixing alot of our problems lately. I've been receiving reports from all over this instalation about a ghost going around and dealing with problems with brutal precision. Some of the things you've been doing to some of these people aren't exactly...recommended." I focus as the phyonic presence is growing. There more then one and they keep growing in pure energy. "Just doing my best general." He chuckles a little bit. "That's all I ask for. That's why I'm going to approve this promotion recommendation." I pouse for a moment. "Is it for some of the soldiers who've helped me deal with the problems?" He chuckles again. "No. It's for you. Alot of the lower enlisted have spoken up about some other issues that cropped up some time ago and you've given them a little kick to do something about it. Hell, even some of the other commander's have been talking. You've single handedly turned this backwater station into one of the best places to train people how to deal with problems in a way that hasent been done in a long time." I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn and see one of the captons looking at me as somethings clearly come up. 'Some of the rats are pushing back. If we're going to do this, it has to happen now.' At least she knows I can read her mind. I nod. She turns around and starts giving orders as I feel the ground shake a little bit as the medics start to move around. I turn back around and look to see something I never thought I'd see again. "Effective today, general sheep, your promoted to a 2 star General. I don't know if I can today but I'd like to visit that company your straigting up to pin you." I can't help but chuckle. "This is going to take a while. If you'll have the energy, you can visit at dust." He give another chuckle. "Knowing you, your going to stay there all night to make your point. I can't give you a solid time but I'll let you know when I'm on my way or if this will be postponed to later this week." I can hear how tired he is. "Honistly general, I'd say get some rest after work. I don't know how much paperwork I've thrown your way but I can tell you need to get some sleep." I don't need to read his mind to know that he just slumped down into his chair. "It's good to hear your not like the other ghosts."
"Being something I didn't want to be comes with it's perks." He chuckles more. "It appears so...but to the point, we've got some visitors from one of our allies. They wanted learn more about us so when I saw your report, I figured I'd let you show them who we are trying to be." I look again as I see shimmering armer as the phyonic presence is nearly suffocating. I can't help but tense up as I never thought...I never thought if see protoss again. Let alone as allies. "I'm confident you'll impress them by showing how the raiders work...and how we proved ourselves not just becuase one of our commander's was more loyal than alot of thier own people." I straighten up as the floughting protoss lowers himself down to the ground as I have to look up at him due to his highth. "They'll be there soon and I don't want to take up anymore of your time. Don't be to harsh on the dominion. We are thier allies to so I don't want to explain why some of them ended up in the hospital."
"Yes sir. If someone starts asking questions, just point them and I'll handle it." He takes in a deep breath. "I'll hold you to that. I've already got a few meating becuase of them." Don't doubt that. "Sounds about right. Either way, I'm happy to do what I can. And if it makes your life easier, I'd take that any day."
"It's already making my headaches better. Thanks for your hard work. Know that what your doing is making a difference here. Hell, maybe it'll reach to the dominion scumbags who still treat us like there's still a revolution going on." It better. "I'll contact you soon. We've both got alot of work to do." The transmission ends. "General Warfield has sent the details of the protoss visit. They will being whatching you work today." I lower my hand as sound comes back as I hear the medics talking amongst themselves. "Commander Warfield has asked us to meet a general sheep here. I can assume he means you, if I am correct." I gather myself completely as the two standing behind him are clad is golden armer that covers thier chests, pelvis, arms, legs and thier heads are donned with a seemly traditional helmet. Thier glowing eyes pierce my mind as I struggle to stay calm. "That's right. And I can take a guess that your here to learn more about how we operate." The protoss bows his head a little bit. "Yes. We have made great strides by being allies with you for so long. Now that the end war has drawn to its end, we have finally been given a chance to attempt to fully understand our allies." He lifts his hands as his voice echos a few times before settling. It's strangly calming. "I am high executer kalas and these are my elite guard. Please do not feel threatened by thier presence. We have learned of a feral zerg presence nearby so an escort was demanded as a safe guard." Didn't need to explain that. "No need to explain. The whole instalation was put on high alert to. Honestly it's kinda nice to know that we've got support if something happens." It is conferting to know that the raiders are still allied with the protoss. The zerg just wanted to be left alone to do what they want with the world's they've already conqured. I wouldn't be surised if that new queen of thiers wants to try and take back the feral zerg that was used by that dark God or whatever. "It appears you are being called, general." He looks past me. I turn around and see one of the captons approuching me. "Looks like we've got some guests." She smile as she's comepletly content. She's remembering times when she interacted with some of the protoss in the past. "Yeah. Thier here to learn more about us since we're not currently fighting anything anymore." I turn around as she comes up to my left. "High executer kalas is here more as diplomat than anything else. General Warfield sent them to us since we've planned on fixing a problem that's been going on for way to long." I look back at kalas. "It is a pleasure to meet you." Just by that sentence alone I can tell he's humble. That comes with experionce. "It's good to meet you to executer. I'm capton Davis of the 501rst medical battalion." She's growing more excited. "It'll be an honer to learn how you cooperate togeather as a team." She chuckles. "You don't need to go that far executer. It's more of an honer to know that your still a close friend dispite what we've been through." I get a small glimpse of his mind as he's happy to know that we're still as loyal as ever. "Our hierarch and your commander have always shared a bond that lead us through many battles. It makes us happy knowing you have not forgotten the bonds we've forged through those hard times." I completely forgot about how far back the raiders and the Templar go. "It's unfortunate you have to witness us correcting a problem like this. I wish we knew you were comming. We would have planned something that would have been more fitting." Kalas shakes his head a bit. "We are aware of what your plans are, capton Davis and this is something we've wished to see for some time. As you are aware, we hold pride in our disopline just as much as our loyalty. I cannot think of anything more fitting to witness how disopline is enforced amongst yourselves."
"Some of the greatest strides we've made was becuase commander Rayner enforced a certain level of disopline. It's why we also take pride in being so loyal. Even if we know the odds of winning can be close to none." Kalas looks at me as it's clear he's pleased to hear it. "It also takes more then strict disopline to inspire loyalty. It takes a strong leader willing to follow his intuition on what he believe his right." Davis chuckles. "It's why we've stayed togeather, even after all of the fighting is over." Kalas can't help but nod. "As your commander once said. 'Old habits die hard.'." I'm impressed on how much he accualy understands us. "Looks like his influence keeps inspiring people of all races. Even to this day." On of the zealots takes a step forward. "High executer. May we join the medics to begin studying how our Terran allies manage to survive the injuries many have suffered?" His voice is gritty and powerful. No wonder thier phynic potency is intoxicating. I can sense his experience in combat has honed his skilled so much that it makes me curious how much training they've gone through to stand and fight for so long. "With general sheep's permission, you may." The zealot looks at me as both of them approuch me. "May we be allowed to learn from your medical experts. We wish to learn forms of medical aid so we attempt to aid wounded worriers return to thier feet and not suffer in a cold shell for the rest of thier natural lives." Looks like even the protoss have things to learn to. I look at Davis as she nods. We look back at the zealots. "Knock yourselves out. It'd be a pleasure to teach you something while your here." The zealots bow a little bit. "All i ask is you try and apply the skills you learn and try to save as many lives as you can." The zealots straighten up. "Then if you would be so kind as to allow more of our breatheren to come and learn in the future. We no longer wish to allow ourselves to suffer injuries in combat and choose to reside in the cold shells of dragoons and immortals. The resources required are costly and many suffer even now due to resource shortages." Looks like even the protoss are limited in what they can do. "I'll do you one better. We can send teams that are trying to learn more about protoss biology so we can start to produce medical equipment more suited for your wounded." All of them are supprised to hear this offer. "I remeber fighting with one of your armies and constantly being shirt handed in our medical equipment to properly heal the zealots that suffered wounds that us terrans just can't survive. We managed to save alot of lives but there was still a large portion that we just couldn't help becuase our tech just wasn't strong enough." I remeber the fight I was in with a small protoss squad that took me almost a month to just wound them enough to fall back. I still have no idea how I killed two of them and wound the other four enough to force them to fall back. "It would be a great honer for your medics to come and aid our breateren. We have grown past our own limits so much that we've lost sight in how much damage we suffer dispite fighting at full power while on the field of battle." Kalas comes between them. "That will be a discussion for a later time. For now, please allow us to learn what we can now so we may apply it when we return to our carrier." The zealot face kalas and bow slightly. "Yes high executer." The zealots look at Davis. "The let's get going. Your not going to learn if we keep standing around and talking." I look at Davis as I'm just itching to give those dominion dogs a taste of my mind. "Good idea." I face kalas as he focuses on me. "Well plan a date for the medics later. For now, I've got a problem to fix and even I'm curious to how your going to react to how we do things." I can also sense the shift from simply talking about how we do things to pure curiosity in kalas's mind. "Then let us begin, general sheep." I look at Davis. "Go ahead and introduce the elites to some medics so they can start learning everything they can. I've also got a feeling they'll learn more later in the day when I'm working." Davis gives me a big smile. "I hope so. These dominion dogs will learn not to harass anymore. My medics have been through to much to have thier last few years being filled with harassment." Could have said it better myself. I look at kalas as he's growing more excited. "Then follow me executer. We've got work to do." I turn and start walking as kalas is close behind as every step is a loude and thunderous thud. It's starts to get me pumped as now I'm getting more excited with each step I make. It'll be nice to have a protoss friend insteed of an enemy.