"every quote on br.com makes me sound either horny or nerdy"
- WLJ
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| The winds before the tempest | | | Author: | | | IP: | max01-dyXXXX | | Date: | 02/06/02 02:02 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 7, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for Keanu_Reaver: 7.9200 |  | Quickly Shrouding herself in her custom fit zealot armor Kelvena once again stared at herself in the mirror, this time out of admiration. Instead of seeing a hybrid, for once in her life she saw a Protoss warrior, a true zealot. This pleased her beyond belief, she had been gifted with the chance to prove herself, and she made absolutely sure she would make the best of it.
Merrily walking out of her room, she was greated by a worried Xaniir.
"You seem oddly happy young one." The High Templar said, not failing to notice the proud aura easily shown on Kelvena's bright face.
"Of course I am Xaniir, today marks the day that I will finally be able to prove myself a true Protoss warrior!" Kelvena replied with a very proud demeanor.
"It will also be your first true combat experiance, the horror's of the zerg are still vivid in my aging mind, and are far beyond your paltry training programs." Xaniir said very bluntly.
Kelvena slowly bowed her head in humble thought. As a swordswoman she had no trouble besting any of the zealots in the camp in a matter of minutes, but she also knew the zerg were far from one of her duels with the members of the camp.
"As you may know, a psi blade bracelet transforms the power of the zealots mind into a blade of pure energy, amplified through the bracelet itself," Xaniir said, breaking the silence. "That is why I must give this to you, it is much more then a mere psi blade bracelet. I have infused a portion of my own psionic power into the bracelet, increasing its potency many fold."
Xaniir clasped the bracelet tightly around Kelvena's wrist as Kelvena slowly raised her head to meet Xaniir's gaze. Smiling softly Kelvena dove into Xaniir wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug.
"What would I do without you..." Kelvena softly whispered to him.
"Now is not the time for this young one, we must depart as soon as we can." Xaniir said feeling very awkward about the situation.
The two once again began walking through the brightly lit narrow hallways that made up the Nexus, matching eachother stride for stride.
Finally exiting the nexus, the two were pleased to see the entire scouting party already prepared and ready to depart. The zealots had congregated around the few gateways and were warming up with sparring duels. The dragoons were prancing back and forth near the entrance of the camp, testing out the hydrolics and agility of their spider like machines. And the mighty reaver behemoth had already begun manufacturing its powerful scarabs.
Xaniir sent a telepathic message to the scouting party and within seconds, they had all gathered in front of him.
"We have been given a mission of utmost importance, to continue the growth of our species on this planet we must search through this wasteland and mark any resource nodes we find. Our travels will take us a day up north until we find a range of mountains, we will travel near a small ravine surrounded by the mountains to take us safely through. From there we will circle the west side of the mountains and finally travel east approximately 3 days until we find a small oasis, we will hook around the oasis and finally arrive safely back at camp. We expect this mission to take 10 days at the least, and the traveling will be very hard, but due to the urgency of the mission we can only afford one single break per day. This break will be during the day time and we will travel at night, so 95% of the time we spend on this voyage you will be on your feet walking." Xaniir announced, addressing the scouting party.
Kelvena stood by Xaniir's side, listening intently while studying the faces of the zealots. Though most seemed expressionless, one zealot stood out to her, a very young and seemingly ancy zealot.
'Perhaps he was a virgin to battle as well,' She thought to herself.
That thought pleased her, she wasnt alone in her lack of experiance. Her train of thought was finally interupted as Xaniir continued with his speech.
"The Zealots will dart in and out from our scouting party, making small circles before returning, they will report any findings to me. The dragoons will offer support for the reaver and will put its protection as their primary objective. And the mighty reaver will offer support fire should we encountire hostile resistance." Xaniir said offering unit based orders.
"Today you will fight, today you will suffer, today you will bleed, and today you will prove yourselves worthy of the Khala!" Xaniir concluded, intentionally adding in the last part for the benefit of Kelvena.
With that the group of zealots jumped up and cheered ready to give their lives for the mission, while the dragoons and the lone reaver charged out to the entrance on a morale high.
Xaniir turned to Kelvena, pleased with his speech. The two simply nodded to eachother and walked out to the entrance where the rest of the troops had gathered.
Offering the camp one final glance, Xaniir turned to the troops and let out a roaring "Move out!"
The zealots took the lead with Kelvena and Xaniir in the middle and the dragoons and the reaver behind. The giant sun had just begun to set, and along with it, the incredible heat was beginning to subside, making walking a little more bearable.
Night on this planet lasted well over 50 hours, with day time only lasting 2 hours. With no moon and a paucity of stars, the nights were incredibly dark as well. And although it was much cooler during the dark nights, the heat was still near unbearable.
The group started out quick, with the Dragoons keeping their phase disrupters charged as a light source. The zealots made their rounds, with the occasional news of a small patch of minerals, or a vespene geyser long since depleted, but nothing very useful.
The night continued to drag on and morale was beginning to slip. The dragoons found it increasingly hard to keep the sand out of their joints and the zealots were making their rounds much slower then at first. The incredible heat was affecting everyone, even Xaniir's breathing was getting much heavier as the heat pounded upon his back, and many of the zealots had taken off their shields to allow the occasional breaze of wind hit their body. But still they continued on, and without a word spoken, always remaining on the lookout for a zerg horde because in this darkness, even the slightest lapse in concentration could mark their ends to a giant pack of voracious zerglings and hydralisks.
Finally, the unmistakable orange sun began to rise out of Xaniir's left eye, marking dawn. Xaniir sighed and issued the orders to rest, dissapointed that not a single hopeful resource prospect has come up thus far.
The zealots collapsed on whatever they could find to sit on, exhausted from trudging through the burning hot sand for so many hours on end. The dragoons started flushing the sand from their machines, much of it had made its way into the leg joints hindering any form of movement.
Kelvena looked around the cam for signs of the young zealot she saw back at the base, but she was simply too exhausted. She plopped down on an odd formation of rocks next to a weary zealot and brushed the sand off of her feet.
The zealot cast a single glance at Kelvena then bowed his head, taking in every ounce of much needed and earned rest. Kelvena on the other hand, studied the face of that zealot for a long while, seeing a face of suffering and exhaustion.
Kelvena could feel underneath her the rocks becoming increasingly hot. Looking down she passed it off for the heat of the day but looking up the face of the zealot contorted in agony as a puff of green smoke rose through the rock formation and inside his armor.
Kelvena shielded her face with her hands from the scorching puff of smoke and clumsily dove to the sand, only able to hear the agonizing screams coming from the zealot.
"He's been scorched by fresh vespene! He needs help quick!" One of the zealot's announced while examing the burnt flesh of the screaming zealot.
"Get him to the ravine! It's only 3 hours from here if we travel as fast as we can!" Xaniir screamed out while picking the zealot up and rushing to the front of the ranks.
Kelvena quickly recovered and dashed to catch up with the now fast moving group. A few blisters had already risen on her burning hands as she ran with all her might.
Minutes seemed like hours and hours like days as the group charged towards the mountains. Sand flew up from Xaniir's feet as he drew ever closer to the ravine, already able to smell the water in the night air, but still the smell of the vespene eating away at the zealots tender flesh dominated his thoughts.
Suddenly without warning the zealot was thrown from Xaniir's shoulder and into the cool ravine water. The zealot remained lifeless in the pristene water as it cleansed his body of the vespene and alleviated the pain of the burns.
"I guess...we can...rest here for now..." Xaniir said, completly out of breath.
Without a word the zealots fell to the ground to rest, with the remaining dragoons and the lone reaver finally arriving. Faces of exhaustion and faces of relief dominated the group as they relaxed into the sand.
After a short while, many of the zealots began migrating towards the ravine, including Kelvena. Some to check on the still injured zealot but most just sought refreshment from such an exhausting sprint.
Though disheartened by the experiance, Xaniir knew they had stumbled upon a very full vespene geyser and wasted no time in telepathically relaying this info to the executor back at the base. He was very proud of the groups performance and decided to allow them to rest a while longer.
By the end of the break, not a single zealot remained on the sand. Even Xaniir had let the lower half of his body be submerged by the refreshing water of the ravine. The injured zealot had also managed to make it to his feet, though not able to do much more then a limp, he was surprisingly optimistic.
"Alright, you have been granted an extra 2 hours to rest, but now we must move on, this will probably be the easiest leg of our trip since we have the stream guiding us and refreshing us." Xaniir called out.
With that, the group was once again on their way. The injured zealot was placed on the hull of the mighty reaver as they travelled.
With morale once again on the rise, the zealots made their rounds and nearly every time they came back they reported seeing a small mineral patch. Xaniir soon realized this place was riddled with patches of minerals and of course, he relayed the info to the executor.
The injured zealot was starting to move around, finding laying on his stomach on the metallic surface of the reaver was very uncomfortable. He put up his shields to protect his burns and finally rolled on his back with his eyes shut.
Kelvena remained close to the reaver and the injured zealot who she finally identified as the very same zealot she saw at the base.
"I saw you at camp...is this your first true mission?" Kelvena said, finally getting the nerve to speak to the injured zealot.
The young zealot slowly opened his eyes and began to speak, "Yeah this is I-"
The young zealots eyes began to focus above him and he screamed out with whatever remaining energy he had.
Suddenly a volley of glave wurms tore into the reaver's shields nearly depleting them, the young zealot was thrown from the hull of the reaver to Kelvena's feet.
"We're under attack!!! Prepare yourselves!!!" Xaniir cried out looking out into the horizon as a wave of zerglings was advancing on their position.
The dragoons immediatly launched their already charged phase disrupters into the belly of the mutalisk's while the first wave of zerglings were not even able to reach the zealots as a single scarab exploded in their ranks, filling the once clear waters with blood.
The next wave charged forth, and with the reaver still unprepared to launch its next scarab and the dragoons attempting to fight off the mutalisk's, the zealots knew they had to fight off the horde without any support.
With courage unknown to most, the group of zealots charged into battle with their psionic blades charged.
Kelvena sunk her psi blade deep in the carapace of an oncoming zergling while the other zealots continued ripping apart the lings as they came in. The dragoons fought valiantly sending bolt after bolt of plasma into the oncoming hordes of mutalisk's, while their shields and tough shell's held off the volley's of glave wurms.
The dragoons were hopelessly outnumbered though and started succumbing to the mutalisk's when the deafening crackle of a psionic storm erupted in the center of the mutalisk horde. The beast's were torn limb from limb under the psionic storm and came down in a great rain of blood, staining the damaged shells of the dragoons.
The zealots at first were able to hold off the lings as well but as the numbers increased, they too started succumbing, many zealots had to retreat before entering the fray again because their shields had quit on them. Kelvena continued slashing and chopping through the numberless zerglings consumed by the heat of battle, even the injured zealot fought for all he was worth.
Finally when things were looking hopeless the reaver opened its launch doors and out came a mighty scarab screaming straight towards the horde of zerglings. The screams of the zerglings echoed through the ravine as they were slaughtered in a giant scarlet explosion. The remaining zealots were finally able to overcome the horde of zerglings and kill off the rest.
Silence now shrouded the bloody ravine as the remains of mutalisks, zerglings, and zealots lined the ground. Blue juice trickled under Xaniir's feet, signifying that some dragoons had also given their lives for Khala.
Xaniir cast a solemn glance at the ranks of Protoss warriors still alive before finally speaking up, "How many of us did not make it?"
"Only 8 of us zealots remain...including myself," Kelvena said horrified by the sea of death.
"We lost half of our numbers as well," The contorted voice of a surviving dragoon spoke up as well.
"Zerg infestation here is strong...we have done our job we must return to base camp, venturing farther is suicide," Xaniir said remaining completly calm.
The group collected their thoughts and started back the way they came, offering a small prayer to their brethren that had lost thier lives in this bloody ravine.
In a matter of seconds though, the lead zealot motioned for all to stop.
"Three overlords...up ahead..." He said through telepathy.
He slowly walked up ahead of the group to see if the way was clear, but suddenly he drew his psi blades and charged back to the center of the group horrified.
"Hundreds...thousands..." He started breathlessly.
"Collect your thoughts young one! What did you see?!" Xaniir ordered.
The zealot rose his head but was not able to get even the first word out before a wave of hydra spines crashed into the front lines of the weakened Protoss group. The scout zealot took a volley of the spines to the chest, killing him instantly in Xaniir's arms.
What was left of the group stood there watching as a giant horde of zerglings, hydralisks and ultralisks charged towards their ranks. A sense of euphoria engulfed the horrified Protoss troops and without a word said, they let out a blood curdling war cry and charged towards their deaths.
Phase disruptors peirced the darkness and found home on the oncoming zerglings as they rammed into the ranks of zealots. The usual screams erupted from the zerglings as a lone scarab detonated in their midst and the howl's of the hydralisks peirced every ear as they let loose another volley of their deadly spines while Xaniir charged a powerful psionic storm above their heads sending many to their deaths.
Kelvena took the lead with the zealots and carved deep into the cold inner body of the zerglings while ignoring the ripping of their own flesh as the lings engulfed them. The reaver let loose one final scarab slaughtering many zerglings just as a wave of hydralisk spines peirced through its hull and into the mechanical inside, causing it to explode sending shrapnel in all directions killing zerglings and zealots alike.
Just as hope of survival began to rise in the hearts of the Protoss warriors, the mighty ultralisk's trampled through the zerglings and began slicing through what remained of the zealots and dragoons.
After finishing off an injured zergling, Kelvena looked up and saw the young injured zealot warrior cut in half by the kaiser blade of a mighty ultralisk behemoth. Looking down at her psi blade bracelet, then back up to the ultralisk, she blindly charged at him in the heat of rage.
Xaniir, seeing this, let loose a psionic storm between her and the ultralisk, clearing the path of zerglings. He then quickly hallucinated Kelvena making the ultralisk see 3 of her.
Kelvena charged with all her might and drove her psionic blade deep into the ultralisk's carapace, the behemoth let out an deafening roar and took a mighty swipe at Kelvena, but she quickly dodged underneath the blade and slashed at the underbelly of the ultralisk.
Confused by the 3 Kelvena's attacking it, the ultralisk began blindly swiping at the nearest one. Kelvena soon realized what Xaniir had done and quickly side stepped to her right, letting the ultralisk attack the hallucinations.
Kelvena quickly noticed where a peice of shrapnel had lodged inside the carapace of the ultralisk. Taking advantage she began slashing and stabbing into the weak point continually carving deeper and deeper.
The ultralisk finally killed the remaining hallucination and brought its attention back to the real Kelvena. Swinging around and slashing at her, the ultralisk hit her with the dull side of his kaiser blade, knocking Kelvena flying back into the now red ravine.
Kelvena was shaken and her leg was on fire, she looked up at the ultralisk slowly closed her eyes, ready to accept the end.
The ultralisk stood on its back two legs preparing itself to tear through the injured hybrid woman, but hit the ground as its hind leg was chopped clean off.
Kelvena opened her eyes and saw the ultralisk stand on three leg's, slashing at what appeared to be nothing. She continued to stare at it in confusion, when a message entered her head.
now is your chance...attack!
That was all she needed. Charging her psionic blades she lept up and in one feirce slash, cut open the belly of the ultralisk finally killing it.
Refocusing her thoughts she looked in disbelief as the zerg hordes were retreating, with only herself and Xaniir surviving the battle. Suddenly what appeared to be apparitions took form, hundreds of dark templar stood amongst the dead Protoss and Zerg.
"You are Xaniir and Kelvena, are you not?" One of the dark templar said.
"Yes, we are...we were never told there was another Protoss camp on this planet..." Xaniir said staring at the dark templar in disbelief.
"We are not Protoss...not as you know them. We are what's left of the dark templar here on this planet. I am their leader...Come hybrid, there is something here that I have waited many centuries to show you." The dark templar said, motioning to Kelvena.
"We know nothing of you and you ask us to follow?" Xaniir said questiong the dark templars motives, "You have yet to even introduce yourself."
"I have many names, none of which you will hear today," The dark templar said staring Xaniir straight in the eye, "What I have to show you is something I myself have not seen, but our old leader was driven insane by the voices it brought with it."
"Voices?!" Kelvena said shocked.
"Yes, you experiance the same do you not?" The dark templar said turning his attention to Kelvena.
"I do...I dont understand them though...can you help me?" Kelvena responded.
"Perhaps, come with me hybrid, your past awaits you." The dark templar said motioning for them to move on into the mountains.
Kelvena started slowly limping with the dark templar but paused, sensing Xaniir's hesitation.
"There is nothing we can do Xaniir...we must go with them." Kelvena said to Xaniir.
"I understand young one...but I fear for what you may find in the mountains, please reconsider." Xaniir said, almost pleading with Kelvena.
"I...cannot, I must see what they wish to show me." Kelvena said bowing her head to Xaniir.
"Then I will accompany you." Xaniir said with a forced smile.
Wrapping one arm around Kelvena to help her walk, the two caught up with the dark templar warriors and ventured with them through the towering mountains, leaving the valley of blood behind them. | |
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