MarineQueen

A stimpack.

That's what it feels like to be with MarineKing. It's such a rush. It's short, it's probably bad for me in the long run, but his personality is such that I can't help but be healed.

Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Clare. How I got here was inauspicious. I was just a humble fangirl of the glorious celebrity. Of course, there were the more well-known soldiers that won the hearts of my friends: Yo Hwan, the pugilist, Jonathan, the beastly gentleman, but I set my eyes on a different hero, an environmentalist who only used gas to protect his own men or for medical purposes. I never really thought I had a chance, nor was I really sure I wanted one. As factionalized as the Dominion is, I would end up effecting the death of other Terrans, something I really couldn't live with. And on top of that, I'd heard that the private militias of the other Terran leaders were terribly intolerant, inflicting terrible, terrible harassment on its female members.

Not MarineKing's army. When I was 19 Earth Years of age (arbitrary metric, but who am I to question?), I asked about his militia. I was told that there were nonviolent roles for those unwilling to harm others. That was me; I forced to sign up. Yes, I knew that his camp would be intolerant of women, but I was pursuing my dream: no petty hate can bring me down! So I thought, going in, determination steeled! As I walked in, I saw a large clump of his esteemed marines, all collected together in a sort of ball that I really couldn't walk around, and I expected the worst. But no! Upon seeing me, they all fanned out and dispersed expertly, as if they were accustomed to this! 'Wow,' I rather foolishly thought to myself, 'this might work out!'

That, of course, was before I actually learned that the glorious hero was already taken. A movie star, I heard in the cafeteria. Some tramp named Ellen Page. I rolled my eyes. Well, looks like I signed up for nothing! I was forced to steady myself, and this surrender was quickly replaced by a reminder that I, pilot of the Medical Evacuation Dropship, was responsible for saving lives of marines, lives precious to MarineKing. I may not be able to win his heart through romance, but I could well win his admiration through brilliance.

And so, having spent several weeks learning to pilot the machine, I went out for my first run. I was waiting in the wings, and was going against some Old Guard general, a misguided reactionary called... Nothing? I wasn't sure, I just asked who we were engaging, and I was told that he was NaDa. Well, I suppose I don't need to understand it to know what I needed to do. And what I needed to do was pilot a medivac on this really rather strange Protoss world called Shakuras. I have no idea why this particular location was the ideal location for a human war, but hey, I'm not going to question.

When I was called into action, I was told we were to circumvent the rather static forces of... NaDa... and his so-called tanks. Seriously, these tanks are supposedly the vaunted artillery of MarineKing's enemy, yet they can shoot, what, about a hundred feet? ...right... Anyway, we're forced to fight this scary, scary army (I'm a girl, not a coward), and my task is to prevent NaDa from attacking us by preventing his forces from getting to MarineKing's base. My goal, I'm told, is to take out one of his Command Centers. I'm not unique in this respect, unfortunately; there are three or four other medivacs with us on this very same mission. One of them was Ms. Page. While the bad news is that I can't distinguish myself on this mission, and that the marines are being really ROWDY WITH THE STIM BACK THERE, I suppose by sending Ellen Page, it's not a suicide mission. Yay?

Alright, so I'm going to try to relay this next part to the best of my You should probably know I don't remember much about what follows next, as it seems like it was just ten minutes, but here goes. I dropped off the soldiers assigned to me, and they stimmed to destroy his command center. Objective completed. Afterward, we got an order to destroy his income source, and so the gents below took care of as many of them as they could before NaDa's army came back to us, at which point, we high-tailed it out of there.

Things looked bad, I'm not going to deny that. For a long while afterward, I thought we were absolutely dead. I saw NaDa's army, and it looked like they could kill us all without even breaking a sweat. We were outnumbered. I swore to myself that if I survived this, I would make a move on MarineKing. Fuck impropriety. Not like I'm going to survive anyway. The other medivacs didn't. It was just three of us left against a gigantic army. Worse, one of the other two was Ellen.

So I thought. For some reason, they decommissioned most of their army to get an air fighter. Must be a bitter war if they're killing their own men to kill MarineKing. 'No shit, Clare,' I corrected myself. 'If they're waging war, of course it's bitter.' Yet, despite this, I didn't actually see a Viking, but his army looked damn smaller. This makes no damn sense, but it seems to be working out, since we're rebuilding our own base.

Then MarineKing orders that two of *OUR* medivacs be 'decommissioned.' Oh. Well, that sucks. Guess I don't need to make a move on him. Saves that embarrassment.

Bam. One medivac down, the shards flying onto the ground below. I brace for my two supply to be freed up. 'THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!' I thought. Oh, hell. Those are awful last words. I get to die a tomboy. I'm really actually looking forward to my explosion, now.

Bam. Second medivac... down. It wasn't mine. I looked around, steadying myself against the medivac. Did they misfire? MarineKing's sweetheart just got shot down. I don't remember what happened afterwards... I mean, I survived, and I drove a dropship around to the orders relayed me, but I'll be honest, all that was overshadowed by a numbed confusion that followed me until we returned victorious to the camp.

I, however, was not enjoying the Jinro Soju that the veterans were imbibing. I was far more preoccupied with the transpirings at fourteen supply. I marched to the elevator of his main complex, and went straight to floor 4 - 3? Again, told you, don't remember details from the determined marching, and whether it was the 4th or 3rd floor definitely falls under 'unremembered details.' Anyway, whatever floor it was on, his office was pretty darn conspicuous, behind an ornate but thin, scarcely baneling-proof, wall. As I approached the door, a man boomed out in a frighteningly deep, loud voice: "MarineKingPrime.WE!" Yeah, that knocked me from my stupor, only to have him, seemingly a secretary, say in a much softer voice, "is playing poker with his allies and is unavailable." Uh, yeah, not listening to that, so I push open the doors, and I see a collection of Prime generals sitting around a table.

"ALL-IN!" Cries BitByBit. Everyone else at the table rolls their eyes at this apparently completely expected turn of events. All except MarineKing. No, he continues staring at me.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but a medivac pilot wishes to speak with me. As you know, marine's can't stim without pilots, so if you would step out... yes, Maka, you can set up a proxy card table outside," MarineKing concedes, and they fall in line as MarineKing and I are left alone. Oh, shit. I kind of need to make a move on him now. I've been in battles, I've barely survived encounters with enemy marines, but it's this prospect that scared me; it was really more frightening to me than the prospect of Clide speaking fluent English. I, consequently, dodge both that issue and my romantic issues for the time being.

"Ellen Page. You and she had a thing. Why did you order her killed?" I asked, seeming, in retrospect, far more aggressive than was necessary, much in the manner of Kyrix.

MarineKing sighed. "Yes, she and I were once as one. But these rumors you received are outdated. See, Ellen Page has recently been getting the idea that she was in a sort of waking dream. Convinced that this actually was a dream, she requested I kill her. So, given that I needed to get rid of a medivac, I was just fulfilling her request. This, of course, is apart from you being the healthiest and most competent medivac pilot we have." Woo. Win his admiration through competence: Objective complete. On to phase two.

"Are you certain that my grand experience of two weeks is the only reason you allowed me to survive?" I asked, pushing the issue instead of getting myself more ahead.

"Do you think I believe that you actually joined because of some belief in the righteousness of my cause? There are at least fourteen premier, S-Class generals. The Terrans have an unstoppable hegemony and the Zerg can't hold a candle to us, yet in-fighting is all we're capable of. For anyone to have an unbridled faith in human integrity in this time would be... unrealistic. No. I'm quite certain you joined my group for the same reason I saved you," MarineKing concluded. My, was he a FoxY gentleman. His words as smooth as his hands. Into his bedroom we went. Oh sure, the doors weren't soundproof, but I don't think it mat[CENSORED BY THE GOMTV STAFF]

And that's why, in the deep recesses of his luxurious bed, I call him Optimus.