Chapter 334 – Marshal Wayne, The Aura Farmer

December 13th, 2499

17:00 SCT

Wasteland, Turtle Bay Convoy

"GET IN THERE AND PLUG THAT GAP!" Arnold Diaz shouted at one of his militia members who was hanging back behind their defensive line. 

"B-B-But, there are too many of em! We're all going to die!"

"Shut your hole! Else I'll shut it for you! You still got ammo, so get on the line and defend these people!" He growled, stepping back from the now-dead zergling that had broken past their defences.

He ain't wrong, though. We're getting torn to shreds here. Fuck me, is this why the Confederates always issue stimpacks to their troops? To give them some false bravery in the face of death? 

He and the eleven militia he brought with him had arrived at the distress beacon about two hours ago, and they had been fighting a losing battle from the get-go. The few remaining survivors of the convoy had taken shelter in a dead-end canyon, preventing the Zerg from easily surrounding them, but it also kept them from escaping. His team had broken in here, but a renewed offensive had prevented them from breaking them back out. 

Frankly, the only reason they hadn't been completely overrun yet was the two medics from the Turtle Bay Medical Facility in Confederate CMC-405 light armoured medical suits. It wasn't a pretty process, but armed with their nanobots and laser surgical equipment, as long as they were quick about it, they could rapidly 'heal' most wounds the line soldiers took and get them back on the line. At least until the painkillers wore off.

"I can't do it, Sarge. I just-"

*Bang*

"This ain't the time for cowards. Now MOVE! Or the next one goes through your skull. " Diaz shouted, his rifle now pointed at the man, a wisp of smoke coming from the barrel. 

*Creeeeeee!!!!*

"Damn it!" He swore as another wave of Zergs were swarming their position. He left the shaking coward behind for the moment and rushed to fill the hole himself. He wasn't some Confederate officer who would actually execute his soldiers; he was just a peace officer.

"Mickey still fucked up?" The man next to him said between bursts of fire.

"Yeah. When we get back, I'm going to kick him out of the militia; he isn't cut out for this." Arnold replied, firing on the same Zergling and taking it down. 

"Hah, like any of us are. I didn't wake up this morning expecting to be in a life-or-death struggle fighting these fucking things." 

*HIIISSSSSS*

"FUCK, GET DOWN!" Arnold yelled as one of the big ones shot those spikes at them. He wasn't quick enough this time, and one pierced the shoulder of his suit. He felt a blossom of pain as the spike tore into his deltoid, and a burning sensation as the poison they were coated in started to work its way into his system.

"Hal! Fire it up!" He shouted to the crazy man wearing the CMC-660 Firebat suit.

"You got it! Let's burn!" The man shouted back, using more of their limited combusto-plasma to send a wave of superheated napalm over the attacking Zerg and set them on fire. He was their main gun against the Zerg, but they kept him off the main line because if that suit was breached, it could explode, killing him and probably everyone else within a five-metre radius. 

Screams of pain came from the Zergs as Arnold stood and assessed the damage he had taken. That spike seemed to graze only the edge of his shoulder; he could still move his arm at any rate. He shouldered his weapon and fired at the big one that had shot him. "Focus fire on the big guy! Bring him down!" 

Seven other Impalers plastered the monster, tearing through its thick armour. It shot again, and another one of his men dropped to his knees, screaming in pain, but the Zerg succumbed to its mounting wounds a few moments later. 

"We did it!" Someone shouted, and Arnold felt a moment of relief. 

"Come here, let me look at that." One of the medics said, placing her armoured hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"Sure." He replied, stepping away from the line and sitting down. She gave him a once-over, then grabbed the end of the spike.

"This is going to hurt, but it needs to come out."

"Right- ARGH!!!" 

"Oh, don't be a big baby. Here, let momma kiss your boo boo better." She said, tossing the spike to the side before spraying some of the nanopaste into the hole and then activating her surgical laser and stitching the wound.

"Jeeze, if this is your idea of a kiss, I'd hate to know what you think making love is."

"Oh, honey. A young, strapping man like you? You would love my bedside manner; I'd take care of all your needs."

"You say that to all your patients?"

"Only the ones who step up and save my life and the lives of my people. Keep that up, and you might make a girl fall in love."

*HISSSSS*

"Damn it, get down!" He shouted, diving forward and knocking her over. Spikes slammed into his back, and pain blossomed in his ass as he took the fire that would have hit the medic. He looked forward and saw two of those monsters approaching their position, along with a dozen little ones. He aimed his rifle from the prone position on top of her and opened fire. "Sorry about this!" 

He didn't hear her reply as he barked more orders, but his men were clearly about to be overwhelmed. 

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!" He swore.

*Click*

"Here," the medic said, pulling out a fresh mag from his waist. 

"Thanks, love." He said, quickly reloading and firing. "Hal!!!"

"LET'S BURN!" Hal shouted, igniting his flamethrowers again. 

It wasn't going to be enough.

Suddenly, a wave of explosions hit the Zergs, tearing the smaller ones to pieces. Then a brilliant flash lit the canyon mouth, followed by a loud droning noise. When his eyes adjusted, one of the big Zergs was dead, with two massive holes burned through its chest. 

*PFFFFFFFFTTT!!! THUMP!*

A shadow blocked out the sun for a moment, and suddenly a building-sized robot stood in front of their line.

*BZZZZZZTTT!!!*

"What in the hell?" he said, wondering where this giant black robot came from. 

"What is it? I can't see." The medic said.

"I have no idea... but it's killing the Zerg." He said, watching as a couple of chainguns slung on its torso tore through the Zerglings. The last big one fired a line of spikes at it, but they cracked off its armour hull, doing nothing but scratch it.

A green laser flashed back at the bigger Zerg, peppering the beast and burning holes into its carapace. It turned and started to run away, but it didn't get very far when one of the robot's arms lit up again, sending a blue burst into the retreating monster's back and cutting a hole straight through it.

Suddenly, the battlefield where they had been about to die was very quiet, with only the moans of the injured breaking the still air.

"Are you all right down there?" A voice boomed suddenly from the robot.

"We got injured! But we're alive." He shouted, struggling to stand but failing. The pain of those spikes finally registered now that he wasn't fighting to survive.

"Well, hold tight, I'll clear the rest of these critters out, and see if any of those vehicles are salvageable. Get yourselves fixed up as quickly as you can; I got another convoy I need to go check in on."

"Johnny? Is that you in there? Where in the hell did you find that thing?"

"Umojan tech is impressive, isn't it? Now hurry up and rally those people behind ya. I'm counting on ya to keep'em safe." John said, then turned the robot away. A few moments later, the strange weapons fire could be heard, along with the screams of pain from the Zerg who weren’t killed outright by the attacks. 

"Uh... who was that?" The medic said, still trapped under him.

"Johnny Wayne, the Marshal."

"Damn...well, my hero. Can you get off of me? I can't treat your wounds like this, or give ya my special bedside services."

"Hah, right." He said, sliding himself to the side of the woman, causing him to nearly black out from the pain. 

He had no idea where the hell Johnny got that walker, but he didn't care right now. They may have held the line, but he just saved them, along with about two hundred civilians, from being ripped apart by those monsters. Questions about the weapons' origin could be saved for later.

"Alright, now momma is going to pull these out. Don't worry, they missed the important bits down there. I'm sure your little man will show me what he's made of later."

"You're having way too much fun with this."

"Not the first warzone I've been in, dearie. Gotta have some fun when you can, else you'll just go crazy. Now, just a little pinch."

"ARGH!!!"

December 13th, 2499

19:39 SCT

Wasteland

"Jesus. What in the hell hit these guys?" John said to himself as he climbed off the Vulture amidst the wreckage of the last convoy.

Dozens of destroyed vehicles littered the ground, their metal surfaces melted like candle wax. Pools of green liquid had formed around a few of them, bubbling menacingly. He kicked a discarded mag into it and watched the metal rapidly dissolve.

He didn't see any bodies amongst the wreckage, but there were obvious blood stains from where people had been killed and dragged off, presumably to be eaten elsewhere. The whole area was eerily quiet, like the moment in an old horror movie before the jump scare would happen. Mental Mapping showed nothing, but he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.

He looked around the wasteland, wondering whether anyone had escaped and which direction they might have headed, but nothing seemed obvious at first glance. Hundreds of rock pillars dotted this region, which might have let a few people evade detection, but they weren't close enough together to be effective barriers to easily hide behind. Still, he felt it was worth a search.

Hmm... I think I picked up the Tracking art... though I don't know if that will work if I have nothing to follow. Scry won't work if I don't know who I'm looking for.

He started circling the battlefield, looking for signs of people running away or vehicle tracks heading in a different direction. Anything to give him some hope of recovering survivors before the sun went down. He spent nearly fifteen minutes searching the ground for any sign, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him. Sadly, he turned up nothing. Not even tracks from Zerglings. 

"What in the hell attacked these people?" He grumbled, looking over the remains of the battle one last time before mounting the Vulture. He needed to head back before it got too dark out, but nothing here made sense. It was almost like they had been attacked from-

"SHHHRRREEEKKK!!!" An echoing scream came from above him.

"Above! DAMN IT! They fly now???" He shouted, diving off the Vulture's side. A massive blob of green acid smashed into the bike, causing the armour plating on the front of its hull to sizzle and melt. 

John looked up and had no bloody clue what in the world he was looking at. Nearly twenty-five feet long, a purple, shrimp-shaped beast with wings was flapping fifty feet above him. Its head was turned toward him, its eight greenish-yellow eyes tracking his movements. Its 'butt' looked more like a cannon, dripping green acid from its last attack. Sharp horns covered both ends of the 'C' shape, making it look even more menacing.

"Well...shit." He said, activating his armour. "Fireball!" The flaming ball shot from his hand and slammed into its body. 

It screamed in pain, but a moment later a green ball of acid shot towards him. He dived to the side again, barely avoiding the... worm? In the acid on the ground was what he could only call a worm with teeth. A moment later, it exploded, splatter his armour with acid. The fantasy metal sizzled, but instead of melting, he felt the magic within the armour repel the acid and resist the attack. 

He looked back up at the beast, then tossed another fireball while scanning his spell list. "Darkness! Golden Threads!" He said, blinding it and shooting out a web of threads at one of the beast's wings. He got that monster skill from a large spider he had killed and snacked on, and he hoped to bring this beast down to the ground so he could cut it with a sword. 

The ball of darkness stuck on its head, but the threads missed the wing and attached to the body. It flapped rapidly, gaining altitude as it tried to put distance between itself and whatever had blinded it. John rushed over to the wreck of a nearby convoy cargo truck and wrapped the thread around its bumper, tethering the beast. He severed the thread from his hand, then ran towards it, drawing his sword.

Confused, it tried to pull away, but the truck's weight was too much for it to lift. Instead, the thread drew it closer to the ground as it tried to run. It let out several loud screams and sprayed its acid in random directions. 

John cast Powered on himself, increasing his strength, then cycled wind magic and his Ki. Timing it as best he could, he leapt into the air between the acid bursts and slashed the Zerg with his sword, channelling the anger he felt from the loss of the people the Zerg had killed today into his swing. 

The Sword of Truth responded to his rage, and the magic tore through the beast's body, cutting it cleanly in half. The bottom of the Zerg fell to the ground, ruptured sacs of chemicals mixing together and melting its own body in the process. The upper half, now free of the tether, screamed again but quickly bled out and flopped to the ground. 

John landed with a small puff of dust blowing away from his body, then whipped his sword to the side to clean the acid and gore off the blade. He took a deep breath and nearly puked at the absolute rancid smell of the body. 

"Fuck me, is this why everyone seems to smoke in this world? To get rid of the smell of death?" He mumbled, sheathing the blade and deactivating his armour. He looked over at the bisected corpse for a moment, but a chorus of shrieks echoed over the wasteland before he could consider investigating it. In the Twilight, he could just make out five more of these flying zerg coming towards him.

With a sigh, he was about to cast Gae Derg and see if the spear would be more effective against these things when a whine sounded behind him. He turned and saw a somewhat familiar redhead on a hoverbike, slowing and coming to a stop beside him.

"Need a lift, Cowboy?" Sarah asked.

"I wouldn't turn one down... wait, how much did you see?"

"Enough to know that you're not at all what you seem. But unless you can do that same thing to five of those Mutalisk, I think we should talk back at the base. I think you and Aqua have a bit of explaining to do, and preferably before Mengsk gets here."

"Fair enough." He said, hopping on behind her. "Let's ride."

"Hold on tight." She said, launching the bike forwards, its motors screaming in protest at the extra weight. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned over her back, keeping his profile as low as possible as they raced away. He kept watch behind them as the Mutalisks gave chase. After a few minutes, it was clear that they were slowly gaining on them.

"Well, Darlin', unless you can turn this bike invisible, we're in trouble."

"Sorry, I can only do that for myself. Any bright ideas?"

"Yeah. One or two. But you ain't going to like it."

(Sarah PoV)

"Wait, what?" She said, but it was too late. That John guy jumped off the back of her bike and disappeared. She glanced down at her gauges, wondering what in the hell he was thinking, jumping off at 160 km/h. She couldn't see a corpse behind her, so she just kept going, the bike now able to move a bit faster without the extra mass on board. 

Not sure how she'd explain this to Aqua, she kept going, making a wide circle in the wasteland and circling back to where he jumped off. The Mutalisk were almost on top of her now; any extra speed she had gained was lost as they cut the inside of the circle. 

"Well, so much for whatever plan he had. I need to lose these guys before they get any closer." She mumbled, then noticed something towering in the darkness ahead. Suddenly, the sky lit up as a wave of missiles shot out of a massive robot, followed by a quartet of green and blue lasers. Blinded, she hit her brakes and slowed down, no longer able to see in front of her. 

She still blew past the large robot, then spun her bike to a stop and watched the scene unfold. Acrid smoke blew over her as another wave of missiles left their launchers, corkscrewing towards the Mutalisks. Two of them went down in balls of fire as about half the missiles connected. Another fell to the ground as a blue laser severed one of its wings. 

Two bursts of acid shot at it from the remaining Mutalisks, scorching the large machine's armour and leaving scars on its legs, but not melting through it. It sidestepped and unleashed more laser fire, bringing down the last two Mutalisks. 

"How?" She said, not understanding what she just saw.

A few moments later, the machine came to a stop beside her, and a ladder dropped from its torso. John popped out of a hatch, climbed down, then turned to her with a shit-eating grin on his face. "How'd you like my magic trick?"

"Just... who are you? What are you?"

"Right now? I'm just a Marshal with a few tricks up his sleeve." He said, and then the robot suddenly disappeared. He picked something up off the ground and stuffed it in his jacket pocket. "Well, maybe more than a few tricks. Shall we go? Aqua's waiting. Hey, you want me to drive while you comb through my thoughts? It would probably save a lot of time."

She just blinked.