EPTPt. 1: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=98346
“Control Group 2, do you copy?”
Static.
“I repeat, dropship ‘Alliance’, do you copy?”
Static.
“That bitch is ignoring me again,” Sergeant Garrison said, exhaling. “Commander, this is Control Group 1. Relay my coordinates and message to Penny for me, will you? I need to know how much time she can buy us with the drop. Make sure to inform her of what a huge bitch she is.”
Garrison’s squad was standing by. Pale blue dust swirled about the distance, obscuring almost everything in the horizon. The marines chose instead to focus on the sky, where an enormous but distant planet loomed over them.
“Sergeant? We’re not exactly safe in this spot, are we?” one of the marines said. “I mean, especially if you’re not getting a response from ‘Alliance’...”
“Don't worry,” a squad mate chuckled. “She pulls this shit all the time when the Zerg are too weak to be a threat. She’s probably gonna get scourged for it one of these days, but I’ll laugh.”
“I know one thing: Penny’s a damn riot at parties. I was at one where she got piss drunk and clobbered the host, and everyone kicked him out."
Sergeant Garrison raised his hand to silence the marines as the communicator crackled. “This is Command. No acknowledge from Control Group 2. Repeat, signal from Control Group 2, dropship ‘Alliance’, lost. Be advised, lurker aggression in your area extremely probable.”
“Jesus,” the sergeant growled. “We gotta move!”
****
Penny was hit. A voice in her head had repeated, speck is ovie, speck is ovie, the speck is prooobably an ovie, but she ignored it in favor of finding out for her own eyes. The Zerg responded accordingly with a scourge sortie.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Penny muttered bitterly as she struggled to control the damaged ship. “...And seven hot, sweaty hunks.” She curled her lip. “Fuck.”
She had no visual, but Penny knew at least one other scourge was closing in; it was only a matter of seconds before it would impact and finish her off. Her fellow cadets had once joked, “you have just about enough time after the first scourge hit to pray for yourself and maybe your family, but your boyfriend - well, he can go to hell anyway.”
“Lady and gentlemen,” Penny announced into the intercom. “If you don’t bail immediately, we’re all going to die. I know we're flying over a million of those little ass-rapers, but would you rather be blown up now, or shredded alive later?” She paused to ponder this. “Seriously though, you gotta jump out and shoot the scourge down somehow or we’re toast.”
Back in the cabin, James was hysterical. “Jump out? Is she insane?!”
The cabin rocked violently.
“We're all fucked!” he concluded.
The other marines clung to their seats in agreement as the medic tried to calm them down. “She’s seen it done before. We can do it.” But her trembling voice betrayed her terror. During a normal drop procedure, the dropship typically hovers over the terrain as marines make controlled falls to the ground. During an emergency scourge drop, however, the dropship must never decelerate, forcing marines to jump out at dangerous heights and speeds, all while exposed to incoming Zerg packs, and shoot down scourge no larger than a young kakaru.
Before James could even think, “I failed the marine drop exam so I wouldn’t have to do this shit!” the bay doors opened, and he was ripped away into the Medusa night.
Pt. 3: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=98698
