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Pristine Deceit, Chapter 1As the battle cruiser Gladiator descended through the atmosphere at imminent-impact speed, its primary reactors long since off-line, Captain Thames Yolanda thought about what it would be like to die. He knew it, his crew knew it. They would die in a few seconds when the massive cruiser slammed into the surface of the planet, which now filled the entire view-screen.
"Impact Imminent. Impact Imminent", the computer system blared over the comm. system.
"Seven..........Six...........Five.............Four.........Three.........Two.......Computer offli-". The screeching of the hull against an outcropping of rocks cut off the last sounds. Only minutes later, the ship was ablaze and split in two, and all was silent.
"Hello?", the voice called. "Is there anyone here? Move or talk or something". The owner of the voice was Trevor Kolar, and as he walked down corridor 155 B, he couldn't detect any signs of life.
"Come on; someone....anyone?" Trevor called, being answered by silence. He had now lost nearly all hope after all he'd been through. First the surprise attack by the Zerg. Then the Commodore's decision to flee rather than engage. That's where we went wrong, he thought to himself. Our cruiser could have easily taken those bogies. Six mutalisks and 4 scourges; is that concern enough to run rather than fight? The Wraiths (which were now no more than smoldering hulks in the docking bay) could have engaged the scourge while the cruiser's powerful ATA Laser batteries pummeled the Mutalisks. His musings were suddenly interrupted by a voice.
"Hey...over here", it called. "I'm stuck under this bulkhead in front of you"
"I'm coming." Trevor replied
"Thanks. I only have minor injuries, nothing serious", repeated the voice.
Trevor strained to lift the heavy plate and finally, after several seconds, it lifted. Out from behind it crawled a bloodied, battered-looking soldier. He had brown hair, compared to Trevor's blond, and was much shorter. He was also wiry and muscular, and Trevor estimated him to be about 20 years old or so.
"Name's Derrik", he said. "I was a marine in Beta Company"
"Glad to meet you. My name is Trevor and I'm also a marine, in Charlie Company.", he replied.
"I heard someone else down the hall a while ago. I couldn't make out what they were saying, though. Let's go check it out."
"OK, I'll follow your lead." Trevor said
About 10 minutes later, they reached the end of the corridor. Nothing; after sweeping the entire corridor they found nothing but corpses.
"Hey, what's that?" asked Derrik.
"I dunno. Looks like medical pack to me", he said. "Let's go check it out"
"Yeah"
***
"Hold on, man, you're gonna be ok." the soothing voice spoke softly to Garret. "You're gunna be ok." it repeated. Garret did not know to whom the voice belonged, for he was not able to open his eyes. However, he knew it to be female, and he figured from the sound of the owner shuffling about and the clinking of syringes and diagnostics that it was a Medic. Thank God, he thought to himself.
"Hold on, this is going to hurt a little" the voice said in a calming way. He felt a sharp pain, and then his muscles tensed and his eyes flew open. They were instantly blinded by what seemed to be a huge amount of light although it was only the dim emergency lights. After several painful seconds, his blackish colored eyes adjusted and he gazed upon the face of his rescuer. She was light-skinned and in excellent shape. She had a helmet on, but he could see her flowing brown hair through the facemask. She was putting away some of her medical tools when she spoke again.
"My name is Kristina." she said. "I take it you were a Firebat?"
"Yeah, I was. By the way, name is Garret."
"I know. I read your ID tag. Now, you need to avoid using your wrist for the next 30 minutes or so until the bone is fully re-set. Also, take it easy in general and don't do any physically exerting activity for the same period of time." she told him.
"Sure, no problem. I don't exactly have anywhere to go"
"Your right about that one. Do you, by any chance, know where we are?" she questioned.
"Not a clue" he said. No one knew, he figured. After the reactors had been punctured by a pair of scourge that flew through the repair bay and down several corridors to reach them, the engines, navigation system and just about everything else except the life support system had shut down.
"Oh well then, just hope there are other survivors"' she said.
"Hey did you hear something?", Garret inquired.
"Yeah it sounded like voices...it came from this way", she replied. "Let's have a look-see, shall we?"
Within minutes all four of them were huddled in a corner, speaking softly and getting acquainted.
"Well", Garret said, "what should we do now? I mean, we're lost, stranded, and we have no way to get off the planet."
"There might still be some Vulture Bikes that are intact in the bike bay" offered Trevor.
"Yeah, good idea. There also might be some Goliaths or Siege Tanks" said Kristina
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Shouted Garret
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