Starcraft Nuclear launch detected. |
- Nuclear launch detected.
- Scammed by PartinG yet again
- Artosis Anti-Dentite Rampage
- That's some next level advertisement made by tasteless!
- FearDragon describing his stream
- Nate's impression of Rotti on a plane
- Guess No Practice Then
- 2020 Global StarCraft II League Season 2, Group Stage #1, Group F match thread + Group Selections thread
- Hi guys! I want to buy Nova Covert Ops Bundle, but seems that Campaign Collection has a better price, I will have all Nova Covert ops mission in Campaign Collection?
- How to make neutral units go on a players team when found
- Is Serral not playing much, or just not advancing far?
- After 2 months of making more workers, finally achieved my goal of D2 for all races. Macro works!
- Rebirth of Starcraft VOD is live! (200 sign ups 8 hour Chilean tournament)
- PvZ win rate in DH Europe so far 28% in 72 games/32 series, after last Protoss gets eliminated from upper bracket in RO8
- Is there a post that shows the overlord hiding spots for the currant map pool?
- Is there somewhere I can learn the overarching explanation of the units instead of endless builds?
- PSA: Tournaments/events on the 8th of July
- StoryCraft: Backwater Station
- ESL DreamHack SC2 Masters Summer 2020 EU winner's round 1 match thread
- Where download a replays packs ?
- What's the current use of a banshee ?
- StoryCraft: Wasteland
- Tonight's donation fiasco
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:50 PM PDT
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| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:40 PM PDT
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| That's some next level advertisement made by tasteless! Posted: 07 Jul 2020 11:56 PM PDT
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| FearDragon describing his stream Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:27 PM PDT
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| Nate's impression of Rotti on a plane Posted: 07 Jul 2020 11:39 AM PDT
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| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 11:39 AM PDT
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| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:10 PM PDT Welcome to the final group of GSL 2020 Season 2, Group Stage #1! Today's games will be immediately followed by the Group Selections, so stick around afterwards! Any newer viewers may want to click the link for more detailed information on how the Group Selections work (just swap top 4 of 2019 with top 4 of GSL 2020 season 1). ----------- Countdown to LIVE----------- Liquipedia Tournament Page. Includes a regularly updated bracket visual as well as timestamps ----------- Tl.net match thread----------- For newer viewers CreightonOlsen's guide to watching a game of Starcraft------ Liquipedia stream with extra informative and cool overlay YouTube stream (English)AfreecaTV stream (English)AfreecaTV stream (Korean)AfreecaTV stream (Spanish)AfreecaTV stream (Chinese)AfreecaTV stream (Russian)AfreecaTV stream (Japanese)IndyStarCraft stream (Polish)----------- All series best of 3 ----------- Results:
--------- Group Selections table:
Each group's top seed will be bolded. Players swapped around by the #1 seed, TY, will be marked with italics. --------- If you've read this far, do also check out the event calendar on tl.net for further tournaments or events. There's plenty of Starcraft going on before and after GSL! ---------- Enjoy the games! [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 08 Jul 2020 01:57 AM PDT
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| How to make neutral units go on a players team when found Posted: 07 Jul 2020 03:04 PM PDT | ||||||||||||||||||
| Is Serral not playing much, or just not advancing far? Posted: 07 Jul 2020 09:19 PM PDT I've been trying to at least partially keep up with the competitive scene in these Covid times, mostly through Wardi's channel. I've noticed very few matches featuring Serral - is he just not competing much in the online tournaments, or is he just not qualifying or advancing very far? [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| After 2 months of making more workers, finally achieved my goal of D2 for all races. Macro works! Posted: 07 Jul 2020 08:12 AM PDT
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| Rebirth of Starcraft VOD is live! (200 sign ups 8 hour Chilean tournament) Posted: 07 Jul 2020 11:49 PM PDT
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| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 08:01 PM PDT | ||||||||||||||||||
| Is there a post that shows the overlord hiding spots for the currant map pool? Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:47 PM PDT Hey guys. [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Is there somewhere I can learn the overarching explanation of the units instead of endless builds? Posted: 07 Jul 2020 01:43 PM PDT I was recommended to watch Winter, Zuka, and a few others, and I've noticed that I'm not really learning anything overarching about the factions from them, or from many other places online. I eventually learned Protoss, but only after an absurd amount of time playing them. I still am not good. But I know why I win and lose against Protoss, especially while playing Protoss. I'm wanting to find somebody that explains the overarching pieces of each faction, what units are going to do what for you, etc. Right now, I search "Terran unit guide starcraft" and I get about 600 build orders that assure me, "No no, you don't need to know WHY you're doing this, you just need to do this." I want to know WHY I make a unit or why I get dumped on by Terrans and their BCs 24/7 (aside from my poor scouting). But even if I scout as zerg and know they're making battlecruisers, I can't figure out how to counter them with an overarching change to my strategy. I can on Protoss, but nowhere else. Is there anybody out there that explains the game like this? [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| PSA: Tournaments/events on the 8th of July Posted: 07 Jul 2020 01:03 PM PDT Mid-week reached! Here's what's going on in Starcraft this Wednesday: 2020 Global StarCraft II League Season 2 From 08:00 GMT / 11:00 EEST / 17:00 KST / 01:00 PDT / 04:00 EDT The premier Korean tournament. Group Stage #1 concludes with Group F of TRAP, PATIENCE, BUNNY* and RAGNAROK! ESL DreamHack SC2 Masters 2020 Summer: Europe From 14:00 GMT / 17:00 EEST / 23:00 KST / 07:00 PDT / 10:00 EDT Qualifier event for the EPT season finals. Line-up on Liquipedia to avoid spoilers. ESL Official Twitch - Additional streams are listed on Liquipedia ---- From 17:00 GMT / 20:00 EEST / 02:00 KST / 10:00 PDT / 13:00 EDT Online tournament by Raise Your Edge Gaming. Qualifiers are to be played, with line-up TBA, but expect some of the best in Europe! Raise Your Edge Gaming Twitch - Additional streams are listed on Liquipedia ---- Liquipedia Shinhan Tank Proleague Season 3 From 19:00 GMT / 22:00 EEST / 04:00 KST / 12:00 PDT / 15:00 EDT Online BroodWar TeamLeague organized by Qikz. Week 10 begins! ---- ESL DreamHack SC2 Masters 2020 Summer: North America From 20:00 GMT / 23:00 EEST / 05:00 KST / 13:00 PDT / 16:00 EDT Qualifier event for the EPT season finals. Line-up on Liquipedia to avoid spoilers. ESL Official Twitch - Additional streams are listed on Liquipedia ---- That's all, more or less. Check the tl.net event calendar for any additional tournaments. Thank you to the good folks at tl.net and Liquipedia for gathering all the information here reproduced! ---- Should you know of any StarCraft events going on on this date that are not listed here, do leave a comment and I'll add them promptly. ---- Enjoy the games and have a great Wednesday! [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 03:55 PM PDT Backwater Station We rode out into the desert again. Myself on the Vulture, Horner riding shotgun behind me. Tychus, having commandeered the Zephyr for himself, hung back some. Close enough that he could get a couple good shots off with that rifle if we decided to break for it, but not so close that he could hear us talking. "What's the plan, marshal?" Horner whispered to me. I kept my eyes on the dunes. "The plan is that I am going to arrest him, and then he is going to hang for murder of those soldier boys of yours." The emissary shook his head, "You can't. He's got to be tried before a colonial judge. That's justice." "Not around here it ain't." "And just how are you gonna do that with these?" He held up his wrists. They were shackled with handcuffs. My handcuffs. There was an identical pair around my wrist. "Let me worry about that." "Where do you think he's taking us?" Horner changing the subject." "My guess. Backwater. It's the nearest town with a spaceport. He's going to have to get off world, and quick before more of your people come looking for him." My hunch turned out to be correct. We soon reached a feeder road that spilled onto Route 10, the Erye highway. From there it was a straight shot into Backwater. These roads were not trafficked much, especially in the summer when the heat was high enough to melt the tires off your more pedestrian vehicles. But there would usually be some. As I looked down one long stretch of highway to the next, though, I saw none. We flew past a sign that said Backwater three miles and that was when Tychus motioned to a gas station on the side of the road. Off in the distance I could see the bone dry cooling towers of a vespene refinery. Backwater was about as out of the way as things got around here. After the discovery of the Sarengo, it hadn't been long before the Morian's arrived. The mining corporation had swept over Mar Sara, checking under every rock and patch of dirt for anything worth anything. They'd found a fair bit of iridium and one by one, excavation towns had sprung up overnight. But when the iridum dried up so too did the towns. The Kel-Morians packed up and left, leaving behind ghost towns like this in their wake. "You can't just hang him," Horner said, as we pulled into the gas station. "He needs to be tried before a colonial judge. That's justice." "Not around here it ain't." Horner got off the bike, clumsily because of the cuffs. "Were taking him to the magistrate." Tychus was walking over towards us, steering us into the gas station. "Tychus," Horner said loudly, still focused on me, "why don't you tell us about these monsters of yours? The ones that attack the squad. What happened? What did they look like?" The marine chuckled. "What do monsters always look like? Like nothing you've ever seen before. Truth is it don't much matter what I say they looked like, does it? You folk ain't gonna believe me unless you see 'em with your own eyes." "I know what monsters look like," I stared at Tychus, "They always look the same." There was a look in Tychus eye. The same kind of look a man gets when he stops caring about his fellow man's life. I had seen that look before, many times. It had been there when I'd first come back to Mar Sar as the newly appointed marshal My first stop had been the local biker club. Where Miguel Omer and his cronies used to hang out. I'd gone up there to introduce myself. Let them know that I was the new law in town and that things were going to change. They had laughed at me. Omer perched up on his souped up Vulture bike with that same look in his eye. They wouldn't be laughing for long. The gas station looked empty. There was a convenience store attached to the pumps and that's were we headed now. Tychus walked us into the store. At gunpoint. A tiny bell over the door jingled as we came in. There was a ripping sound too, like velcro. I lifted up my boot, stuck to the bottom of it was a moldy substance, like black jam. The stuff was all over the floor, in little puddles and such. And that wasn't the worst of it. Place looked like it had a herd of bulls run through it. Shampoo products, cleaning supplies, snack food just littered all over the place. The coolers in the back were all smashed, water pooling in the space below the machines, mixing with the jam. There was no one behind the counter. "What the hell?" Tychus said, coming up behind us. "What do you suppose happened here?" "Heck if I know," I scraped the jelly off my boots. It was sticky, had a way of clinging to things you know. Tychus, meanwhile, had made his way around one of the aisles. He was grabbing first aid stuff and shoving it in his pockets. Pain medicine. Bandages. His shirt was completely soaked with blood by now and the man was beginning to look a little pale. Horner and I helped ourselves to some refreshing beverages in the back. "You're gonna need more than that." I said once we were back out at the bikes. I was drinking a redbull and leaning against the repulsor plates. "Them wounds are gonna fester something nasty in this heat." I took another swig. "Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't pop a lung." Tychus ignored me. He had wrapped the dressing around his thorax and popped a good number of those pills. He was putting food and supplies in the hoverbikes. He had the look of a man at the beginning of a grim journey. Determined to face what lay ahead. I was right, then, he meant to skip town at Backwater. Hitch a ride up to orbit. "I wonder how you got them. Those don't look like bullet holes." The marine glanced over at me. His lip curled but he didn't say nothing. "Look, you need a hospital," I continued. "You don't get one, you'll die. Let me take you in. We'll patch you up good as new and, and then I'll hand you over to Horner's men. They'll give you a fair shake." Tychus laughed. Then pointed the gun at us. "Break times over, ladies. Lets go." We reached Backwater just as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. The entire town was lit up by the last rays of daylight, shades of orange and grey. I could hear the sounds of the desert now. Deserts always came alive at night. The heavy buzz of insects at dusk. A lyote howling. The expiratory sigh of barometric pressure coming down from distant mountains to rest in the valley below. The same could not be said for Backwater. It was quiet here, and still as the grave. We passed by the local bank, "Prosperity and Price," a rundown casino, a couple grocery stores and an improv theater. All empty. Abandoned.There was a crash. Glass shattering. Horner and I turned to see Tychus had broken through a window display of a mom 'n pop store. The fool had snatched a boonie hat and was admiring himself in it. We came to the middle of town. There was a Command Center here. The thing had been there since forever, since the KM days. It was called a Command Center because 'mobile smelting plant' just didn't have the same ring to it. It had a hemispheric shell, like some kind of giant shy tortoise. This was covered in ablative plates, capable of withstanding everything from hostile wildlife of Brontes to the firestorms of Char. Centers such as these were the cornerstone of Terran expansion. Whether civilian or military, these babies were the first thing to touchdown when humanity claimed a new world. In addition to ore refinement these facilities offered logistical and communication support. Even housing for new colonists. And anyone who'd ever seen the Atlas boosters riding down the atmosphere can vouch that it's a damn sight to behold. We parked our bikes and went inside. It was dark. The smell of coal hung thick in the air. I could hear iron chains swinging in the rafters. We walked through into processing. A blast furnace was here, easily three times my height. Coming off of this black cauldron was a network of feedlines, conveyor belts and flux tubing. Horner climbed up one of the gantries peeking into the observation deck at the very top of this dome, then came back down again. "There's no one here," he said, reaching the bottom of the walkway. "It's completely deserted." "Weird," was all Tychus said before a pain caught him in the side. He bent over, face all twisted up. And I knew that this was my only opportunity. Quick as a cougar, I threw my wrists up over his head. Then yanked back. Hard. The chains of my handcuffs squeezing around that tree trunk thick neck of his. I pulled. Took him by surprise and off balance and this giant came crashing down with me underneath. It knocked the wind out of me but my grip held fast. Horner was yelling. Something about justice. "Get…his gun," I struggled against the man. He was strong. Horner as he was told. Grabbed the Gauss rifle. Was trying to figure out how to get the safety off when I made a mistake. I had been trying to get Tychus in a crucifix hold but he reached up and grabbed my leg. Tore me off from him, scrambled up and made a break for it. I took off after him. He still had my gun. I chased after the marine as he fled out the front of the command center. Tackled him as he cleared the loading dock and we wrestled to the ground. He caught me square across the jaw which felt like being hit with a bacon-wrapped brick. I counterpunched into his ribs, where I knew he was wounded. The marine just ignored this. I dodged his left hook. Got a knee up under his belly and pushed off, grabbing my revolver from his belt as I did. I tried to scramble away but Tychus grabbed me with both hands. Threw me, like a barrel of hay into the side of the CC. My gun flew from my fingers and before I could get up again Tychus was on me. Pummeling. I was seeing stars. Couldn't think straight. Horner was still hollering. Another hit. I was going to die. Then, suddenly, he stopped. I blinked. Gasping for breath, looking up at Tychus who was looking at something in the distance. The sun had set. It was dark all around us, just a thin pool of light from arc lamps on the loading ramp. I twisted my neck to look in the direction Tychus was staring. And that's when I saw them. People, maybe a hundred of them, shuffling down the pavement. Towards us. They moved like things on puppet strings. Fast twitches. I could smell them from here, like rotting meat. Their skin was covered in these fungal spores and boils. One woman's tongue had swollen up so big it looked like a tentacle sticking out from her teeth. You could hear her, struggling to breath. Another, this one only a kid, maybe twelve, had compound eyes, like a spider and a scaly rash all across his body. Tychus and I retreated back up the loading ramp, into the command center. I debated going after my gun but there were too many of them out there. Horner gave me the rifle, instead and I stood on the ramp, facing the crowd. "Stop or I'll shoot," I shouted. They were eerily silent. None of them acting as if they had heard me. "Last chance," I announced. Gritting my teeth, I raised the gun and aimed for the tallest person...thing in the crowd. It was a lanky, older man with a cauliflower growth where his...its eyes used to be. I squeezed the trigger. His head exploded. But he kept walking. "Well shoot," Tychus said. He reached up, grabbing hold of the shutter doors at the edge of the ramp. There was a loud sound as he pulled these down, I had to duck and rolled to get back inside the building before it slammed down. Horner found a padlock near by which we used to secure the door. We all stepped back and looked at each other. "Those were zombies," Horner said, stuttering. "No, they were not." I ejected the clip, checking how many rounds remained. Not enough for what was out there. "You shot that man through the head. It didn't even flinch. How is that not a zombie?" "Because." "Because what?" "Because zombies don't exist," I shouted back at him. "If I could interrupt you too for a moment we have more pressing needs then taxonomy. Such as how the hell were going to get out of here. I looked at Horner. He looked at me. I shrugged. It was a goddamn pickle. "We could…" Horner started. Then stopped. "What?" Tychus asked. "It's nothing." Tychus stepped towards the emmisary. "What? Spit it out boy, if you've got an idea were all ears." Horner shrunk, "it's nothing just, we could use the boosters. All of these modules have Atlas boosters for easy relocation. They land on a planet and if the prospects are slim, pick up and float to a better one." Tychus glanced over at me, "Would that work?" I shrugged again. "I suppose. It's worth a shot. Ain't never flown anything before much less a building." "We can't," Horner blurted out. "And why's that." "This command center has been here since this town was built. Who knows why the Kel-Morians left it behind but they did. If we lift off…" "...it'll incinerate the town," I said, finishing his line of thought. "Look around you boys," Tychus knocked on the shutter doors, several nasty things clawed back. "Ain't no town here anymore." I frowned. He was right. Whatever those things out there were, they weren't people. At least not anymore. It didn't take Tychus long to convince Horner that if we didn't blast off he was going to be zombie food. Figuring out where the controls were, up in the observation deck, and how to work them, took a bit longer. Luckily, the emissary's login credentials were enough to grant us access. This thing might have been built by Kel-Morians but it belonged to the Colonial Magistrate now. Horner fired up the Atlas boosters and the command center lifted off. It rose on a plume of destruction away from the town. Carrying us away to safety. "Adios motherfuckers," Tychus yelled from the window, seconds before the heat shields deployed. I was thinking about my bike, melting into molten slag. I was going to miss her. [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ESL DreamHack SC2 Masters Summer 2020 EU winner's round 1 match thread Posted: 07 Jul 2020 06:56 AM PDT Welcome to the first day of the third week of the DreamHack SC2 Masters Summer 2020 tournament! This event is the qualifier for the DreamHack main event that will be played starting on the 16th of this month. Finals winners qualify. Full list of the players that have so far qualified and more info on the main event can be found on Liquipedia Today I will unusually include scoreboards, as the EU winner's round 1 is the sole DreamHack played today. ------ Tl.net preview for week 3 (includes schedules and other info)Finals results for OCE/RoA, TW/HK/MO/JP and Latin American regionals ------ For any newer viewers CreightonOlsen's guide to watching a game of Starcraft------ ESL Main Stream - Currently showing EU playoffs3DClan (Russian) - Currently showing EU playoffsCrankTV (Korean) - Currently showing EU playoffsIndyStarcraft (Polish) - Currently showing EU playoffsCaiobex (Portuguese) - Currently showing EU playoffsTaKeTV (German) - Currently showing EU playoffsOGaming (French) - Currently showing EU playoffsESL B-Stream - offlineRobzki (Swedish) - offlineCosmos (Portuguese) - offlineKabyrage (Russian) - offlineAlex007 - offlineMaddox (Korean) - offlineHorussTV (Spanish) - offlineLegendk (French) - offline------ ScoreboardAll matches best of 5
------ Enjoy the games! [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Where download a replays packs ? Posted: 08 Jul 2020 01:11 AM PDT I back after 7 years out of Starcraft. I dont know where download replays packs. The WCS links don't work and i don't find a packs with GAs replays. Someone can help my ? [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| What's the current use of a banshee ? Posted: 07 Jul 2020 11:30 PM PDT Banshee used to be an early-mid game harass unit. You usually make 1 or 2 and cloak them. I feel that nowadays they're totally outlcassed. In TvP, shield battery totally negate banshee's ability to kill workers. In TvZ, easy to get spore crawler combined with queen's efficiency to deal with air harass units makes it hard to find some use. In TvT gas first opener gives numerous efficient counter to the banshee. Any time I think about "maybe I should make a banshee" I end up thinking that it's just better making a liberator and send it into the mineral line. Is there any use left to banshee so far ? [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 07:36 AM PDT Wasteland They say when the Nagglfar first set down on Tarsonis that its passengers wept tears of joy. Banished from their homeworld, they had awoken from a cryogenic nightmare to find a planet much like their own. They took this as a sign from providence and vowed to never allow for the kind of oppression and greed which had poisoned Earth. The passengers of their sister ship, the Sargengo, we're not so lucky. That vessel crashed upon landing, thirteen thousand souls perishing in an instant. It would be over a century before a young prospector, himself lost, would discover the wreckage. He named the desert planet Mar Sara. It means "Wasteland." The mood in Joey Ray's that morning had been unpleasantly sober. I'd been up all night before, tracking down wayward cattle from Ms. Welke's ranch before the Lyote could get at em. Which explained why I felt all sorts of bushwhacked and beat up. Joey was in his usually spot, behind the bar, wiping mugs and nozzles with a rag that was dirtier than anything you'd ever see and certainly the glassware. The jukebox was caterwauling, those oldies which Joe seemed to favor. Sweet Home Alabama. And I was staring down the barrel of a shot glass, at the whiskey-brown reflection of someone I used to recognize. "...and in other news," the TV buzzed, "a global manhunt continues after the bombing of a local hospital yesterday. The Sons of Korhal have claimed responsibility for the attack. The current death toll, five hundred and seventy…" The doors wheezed open, letting in the rush of mid-day heat. Then closed again. I turned around to see a man in the doorway. Cleanly shaven. Three button suit. Jodhpur breeches. The "not from around here," type. For sure. I turned back to my drink. "I'm looking for Marshal Raynor," he announced. He had the voice of someone from Tarsonis. Proper and high-toned, the kind of voice that could still look down on you from the bottom of a gravity well. "Looking for Marshal Raynor," he said again as if we hadn't heard this fellow the first time. "Who's asking," said Joey. I looked up. The bartender had stopped tending to his bar and was eyeing the man instead. Trying to decide if this meant business or trouble. I knew the answer to that. Someone came calling for the marshal, it was always trouble. "Matthew Horner. Emissary of the Grand Magistrate to Mar Sara." The man, Horner, took a seat beside me at the bar. He looked over, nodded my way, asking Joey. "This him?" "Yeah," I said, swiveling around on the bar stool so that I could look him in the eye. "What can I do you for...emissary?" The man had enough polish on his boots for a gymnasium floor. "Marshal Raynor. By order of the Colonial Magistrate your services are hereby requested and required. There is a squad of Confederate Marines. In the canyons up near Perdition's Crossing. We need your help to find them." "Perdition's Crossing? Lemme guess, y'all lost radio contact soon as they entered those ravines." Horner tightened. I reached for my hat and slid Joey some credits."It's the lodestone in the bedrock. Always messing with the electronics. Happens at least twice a year, some ambitious ranch hand or rookie trucker gets himself lost in those trenches. You know who always has to fish them out?" I got up. "Welst, I reckon you do, else you wouldn't have come to the right place." "Wait," the emissary called out. Practically bleating. I stopped at the door. "What?" "I'm coming with you." "Like hell you are kid…" "By order of…" "Heard about a damn 'nough of this…." I pushed my way through the door. The sun had risen to high noon over the bar, forcing me to tug my hat just a little bit lower. Waiting outside by the entrance was a line of hover bikes. My 2479 Vulture, idling at the end. Next to this was another bike. A Dabirir Zephyr. With a wizard blue paint job that just so happened to match Horner's suit. You could smell the ionized chrome coming off the repulsor plates, refreshing as a mint julep in the Sahara. I turned. "That your ride?" I pointed to the Zephyr. Horner nodded. "Not a bad rig…" I said to myself. "You wanna tag along, that's fine." I settled into my Vulture. Ignited the engine. "Just don't slow me down." I'd always found it a little funny. How a man like me could have become the law. I'd grown up in Mar Sara. Went to the local highschool where I was voted most likely to sow seed. Figured I'd be dirt farmer like my father and his father before me. But that didn't happen. My old man got shot, out there on the I-8, Omer's boys, and the next day I applied for the academy. Don't know how I even got accepted or didn't get kicked out but six months later I waltzed back into town with a shiny new badge. And thirsty need for revenge. We rode out into the Akilon Flats. The salt plains were an endless wash of whites and red, all melted together under the hot, desert sun. Could hear the roar of our engines for miles, least they could if there were anyone out here, which there wasn't. This place was emptier than deep space and half as interesting. I kept my Vulture at full throttle, just to see what the Zephyr could do, and I'll be damned if his bike didn't keep good speed. Here I was, sitting on a custom hog, 318 Scotia engines, nitro-injectors and he was matching my speed. It was a damn fine machine. "So explain something to me," I said after a while. "What's a group of Confederate marines doing out in the Mar Saran desert anyway?" You guy's ain't taken an interest in these parts since all the vespene dried up over fifty years ago." "Mar Sara is a member of the Confederacy," Horner yelled over the wind. "A 'member' of the Confederacy. Well that makes it sound like we on equal footing with Tarsonis, when we both know that we're stuck firmly under their boot heel." "Careful marshal, that sounds suspiciously like treason to me. Everyone knows that Mar Sara has become a breeding ground for insurrection. Sons of Korhal practically call this dustbowl home." "True, course that never would have happened if you Confederate types hadn't blown up theirs in the first place. You didn't answer my question either. What's Confederacy doing here anyway? All day I see the drop ships, flying in and out of Mar City." He looked uncomfortable. Like the man had something inside him, something that was eating him up. "There's something happening on Chau Sara. Something big. "He slowed his bike down so that I could better hear through the noise. "Even the Magistrate can't figure it out. Complete radio silence. Like the whole planet just disappeared..." "What do you mean?" I asked but Horner had dropped off even further. He was stopped, looking at something on the ground. I circled around and dismounted. There was a dark spot in the dirt, like the kind leaking engine oil leaves on concrete. I kneeled down next to it. "What is it Marshal?" Reaching down, I touched the sand. Sniffed. It smelled like iron. "Its blood," I said, rising up. I looked around. "Something died here. Something big?" "Local wildlife?" I scanned the horizon. Nothing moved. "I'm not sure. Let's keep moving." The hours passed but the salt stayed the same, here and there were some cracks from where ancient water had bubbled up to the surface. There was a tumbleweed bush, sticking out like a sore thumb, where some poor seed had had misfortune to land. We rocketed around it, Horner going left and me choosing right, giving it a wide berth. The sun chased after us, then caught up and overtook us. It was just beginning to turn a crimson red when all of the sudden one of the moisture cracks split open, widening until it was a deep ravine. This was it. Perdition's Crossing. We nosed our bikes down into the canyons and it wasn't long until we found our first clue. CMC boots, only thing which makes footprints that big. Six or seven marines, moving fast by the looks of it. But this number seemed to dwindle as we tracked them further into the gorge. There was something else, a prickling on the back of my neck that had started when we slipped in here and wouldn't go away. Like we were being watched. It was getting late now and I was beginning to think we might as well make camp, call it a day and resume our search when light broke in the morning, when Horner yelled out again. "Marshal! Over here!" His voice had lost some of its pedantic edge. He sounded almost nervous. "Is that?" He was holding something in his hand for me to see. A metal cylinder. "Yeah, C-14 rifle rounds." I spun around, scanning the canyon walls for any bullet holes. Which was how I saw it. Would have passed it by otherwise. There was a gap in the stone, maybe three meters wide and twice as tall. It would be a tight fit but I supposed that a marine could squeeze power armor through that crack. With the proper motivation. "You think?" "Stay here," I undid my holster. "I'm going to go check it out." I crawled up a slight embankment to reach the cave. From what I could see it was a grotto, at least twenty feet deep before it twisted out of sight. I entered. The air was cooler here and smelled like peat moss and guano. It was dark. I took a flashlight out from my jeans and pressed on. The stones were slippery and once or twice I almost took a spill. Soon, the cave opened up again. My light played across the limestone walls until I saw something, hunched over behind a rock on the far end of the cavern. It was a marine. I could see his power armor, like a gorilla encased in steel. CMC. Confederate Marine Crop. Militaries run on acronyms and the confederacy was no exception. This armor was standard for marines. Three hundred pounds of titanium-plated exoskeleton. Normally, fog would be spilling from the exhaust fans on back. Fact that that wasn't happening meant that the suit was dead. Cautiously, I inched closer. It was indeed damaged, I could see that clearly now. Two large boreholes. Like someone had sliced through the chestplate with a butcher's knife but there wasn't a knife ever made as could cut through neosteel. Reaching over, I hit the visor's release. It flipped open. It was empty. The suit was empty. I heard a click behind me. Then a voice, raw boned with just a hint of southern drawl. "That's far enough, chief. Drop the gun and turn around slowly." I did as he said. Raising my hands, I turned around to face him. Slowly. The marine standing in front of me was big, what some would call gigantic. He had an easy 12 inches on me and I was six one. All muscle and grit. He was wearing mojave fatigues and a bloodied wife beater. The blood was from two gaping wounds in his chest. They looked bad. His oversized hands were cradling a rifle. C-14 Impaler, also standard issue. It whined at the barely perceptible edge of hearing. "Kick that iron over here. Communications too." "Easy there big guy," I said calmly, still doing as he said. "Names Jim Raynor. Marshal of these parts. "I'm here to rescue you." "Just you? I heard voices." "Just me," I said at the same time Horner called up into the caves. "Raynor! Have you found anything." I winced. The marine smiled, "Oh you found me alright." "What happened here?" I asked, glancing over at the armor. "There were twelve men in your squad. Where are the others?" The marine unhooked a pouch on his fatigues and pulled out a rolled cigar. He stuck this in his mouth. Then raised the gun. I dove for the ground as he fired. Would have took my head off if he hadn't been aiming high. He casually dipped his head to light his cigar off the white hot barrel of the gun. "They didn't make it," he said at last. Horner, Emissary to the Grand Magistrate of Mar Sara, didn't put up much of a fight at all. The big guy marched me out of the cave at gunpoint. Horner was down near the bikes, a luger in hand which he dropped almost as soon as the marine pointed the gauss rifle on him. "What do you mean they didn't make it?" I asked as the marine took Horner's weapon. "Monsters," he said, matter-of-factly. "Monsters," I repeated. "Monsters, that's just wild." I turned toward Horner who was still shaking in his over polished boots. "I figured out what happened to your missing squad, Horner. You wanna know what happened here? This jarhead went postal. Shot em all up. And is not holed up in a cave because he knows the only thing waiting for him back in town is a date with the hangman." The marine smirked. "Is it true?" Horner asked the marine, "Did you do this? What's your ID marine?" "NSC92572," the marine said. "But you girls can call me Tychus." [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 07 Jul 2020 10:31 PM PDT
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