The ships speeded through warp, their skeleton crews managing only the most important tasks, not the least of which was cryo stasis. Every so often, a technician would walk down one of the massive, dark cryo corridors, observing each canister for any problems or anomalies. Everything always registered normal, though and no sound was made in the cryo level beyond the echo of a footfall or the silent whisper of cryo stasis dreams.

The head technician sat at his station in the ops center, tapping his fingers on the rim of the console. Any minute now.

As if an answer to his anticipation, red lights began to flash, and the ship's AI addressed them in it's typical, flawless but unemotional female voice.

"Warp deterioration in thirty minutes," she warned. "Begin crew reactivation sequences immediately. Priority one efficiency levels."

The various crews scrambled around their work areas all over the ship, doing the necessary things to prepare the vessel and it's unconscious inhabitants for the events to come. The head tech typed in some numbers on his computer. "Command code Nova." he said.

The AI accepted both the voice and typed command codes and began to proceed with the cryo activation. "GX Op 'Sunrise' initiated." she said. "Warm-ups in 30 seconds." The head tech flexed the muscles in his hand.

In thirty seconds, the crew would begin to awaken. Not long after that, it was show-time.

***********************************************

Cadence Sparrow felt consciousness come to her in a start. She hated cryo stasis. As she awoke, she opened her eyes. The tube around her was not yet drained of the stasis fluids, and it was difficult to see out the reinforced glass exterior. All of her muscles felt stiff, and above all other things she felt (not surprisingly) quite cold. The sound of her breath through the mask over her mouth became audible, and as she grew to full awareness, a female computer voice seemed to fill the small tube. "Please remove your Gas and Liquid Life support mask." Cadence took the mask off her face, and the tube to which it was connected ( which was in turn connected to the floor of the capsule), clattered against the glass. Cadence was thankful it did, for she hadn't quite realized how close the glass was to her, as it's transparency gave the illusion of the tube being bigger than it was, and she likely would have bumped her head on it before the tube opened.

"Please regurgitate internal cryo embryo preservative." the AI said. Cadence coughed, and suddenly gagged as a slick green goo emerged from her throat. She spit all of the stuff out, and thought of how much she hated cryo sleep. She looked outside the tube again, and suddenly realized all the red flashing lights inside the corridor. She began to remember where she was. And why.

"Entering combat zone in 15 minutes," the AI warned in her maddeningly, calm voice. "Cryo warm-ups complete. Unlocking stasis cylinder. Please head to the showers, then don you combat armor. Immediately proceed to your designated dropship for takeoff. Scramble." The last word in the announcement seemed to be more urgent, yet maintaining the same emotionless tone with which the AI always spoke. It's tone spurred Cadence in to action. The tube made a popping sound and the glass in front of her lifted away. She hopped out of her tube and ran for the showers, a knot of anticipation forming in her stomach. There was an air of urgency in the cryo-bay; this was it, the big battle.

Cadence glanced down the corridor and saw many fellow soldiers in various states of defrosting, some tubes already open, their occupants heading for the showers.

********************************************************

Commander La'Ser rushed on to the bridge.

Most of the bridge crew was already there, unfrozen from their tubes and ready to go. The ship CO and his bridge crew were always the first to be woken up.

"Commander, engines at 65% readiness and climbing. Exit warp in ten minutes. Ground crew initiation proceeding. They'll be getting in their ships soon, sir." La'Ser nodded. He felt a grim respect for the men and women who would have to fight it out on the ground. He knew that no matter how bad it got up here, nothing could be worse then taking out a zerg hive cluster on foot.

"Primary laser batteries at full power." Adam turned his attention to the new voice. "Matriarch is prepping missile and automated defensive systems now."

"Have her place full priority on the missile systems." Adam said. "We'll need them upon re-entry in to real-space."

"Aye sir."

Matriarch was the ship's AI. Adam knew that if anything, they were going to need those missiles up and running the moment they entered the system. It could get very ugly very fast. Adam looked around the bridge, at the red flashing lights that replaced the usual white ones and the crew rushing around performing their necessary tasks while seeming to shift from being completely red to darkness.

"Commander. Receiving incoming transmission from North Dakota. Command says they have firing solutions for initial re-entry phase, and launch orders for small craft computers." McCabe said. "Patch the signal through. Make sure each dropship and wraith has the right launch orders. Make it happen, Lieutenant."

"Aye sir."

**********************************************************************

Down in the dropship bays, the final preparations were being made. The primary floor was total pandemonium. Technicians, engineers and marines rushed around the bay, all set on different tasks. Pilots scrambled to their ships. Platoons and squads formed up, then moved to their designated drop-ships. Sgt. Amber Do'Urden's tank was the second of two to be loaded on to their dropship. She stooped outside the ship and watched as her baby slowly rolled in to the drop-ship's carrying bay.

Cadence Sparrow was on the floor as well. She and her fellow medics in their squad rushed through the chaos of the main floor, running past marine formations and scrambling technicians. Also among those on the floor were the roguish vulture and Goliath pilots, loading their vehicles in to their designated ships.

***********************************************************************

Inside the secret Theta Force cryo bays, John McGuire prepared his men. Their tubes released each member of the attack squad simultaneously - and all of them had gone to the showers and were in the process of putting on their Grade - A,CMC - 400 Powered Combat suits. Now they were checking and prepping their weapons and securing any other equipment or ammo they were bringing. Most of the men were already in their suits and the bay was filled with the shiny black of the space marine's armor.

Corporal Highwind suddenly walked up to McGuire and saluted.

"Sir, something’s wrong." he said. McGuire returned the salute, and said, "What is it corporal?"

"Sir, when we took off, there was one empty tube in this bay." McGuire was about to tell Highwind to hurry the heck up, that they had a job to do and didn't have time to stand around chatting, when the reality of what Highwind was telling him hit. He turned around, and, lo and behold, the last cryo chamber in their room - the one that had been unoccupied when they went in to stasis - was occupied.

McGuire stared at the cryo chamber. The glass tube, set in to the metal machinery fitting, glowed an eerie green. The outside of the glass was covered in a thin layer of frost and a white mist emanated from it intermittently. There was a shadow, though, in the center of the green glow - in the shape of the tube's occupant. Something about that shape bothered McGuire, but suddenly he realized his men were looking at him.

"Well, guess someone forgot to wake him up!" he said. "Not our problem. Grab your gear and get your butts down to the dropship bay on the double! C'mon men we got a plane to catch!" His men snapped in to action and charged out of the dark room without another word. But McGuire couldn't get the image of that occupied tube out of his mind...........

...........and back in the cryo room, just as the door closed, the occupied tube began its warm-ups.................

*******************************************************

The Theta Force squad entered the dropship bay, and even though most of the marines and vehicles had been loaded in to their ships and awaited launch, there were still plenty of people scrambling around. McGuire and his men ran across the massive main floor, and reached one of many steel ladders that led up to the next level. The bay was one massive room, the ceiling an incalculable distance from the floor, but the walls were ringed with a series of catwalks that allowed access to the drop-ships. These vessels also lined the walls and sat in their various berths, each one of them facing a blast-door that would soon be open releasing them into the cold void of space.

Theta Force ran up the ladder and down the catwalk. Their dropship was on the first level so they reached it in no time and quickly scrambled in to the seating area where they began to strap themselves in.

Suddenly, the voice of their female pilot sounded on the loudspeaker. The tone of voice was clipped and business like, but with a surreal calm, cheerfulness - something that seemed completely out of place to the anxiety-filled marines.

"This is your captain speaking, welcoming you aboard the Hammerfall Express. We’re taking off in approximately five minutes and counting, so make sure you and all your luggage are properly secured.”

The men on the ship whispered to each other nervously. Combat drops were always....interesting. Meanwhile, the lady on the loudspeaker kept going, perhaps, McGuire thought, enjoying herself immensely.

"...And in the event of a water landing, you too can be used as a floatation device." McGuire wasn't sure if he liked this pilot.......

***************************************************************

Tension was high. Adam felt a knot growing in the pit of his stomach. They were about to attack a zerg colony. In a minute and a half they would be in system and the action would begin. No one on the bridge spoke of anything other than business, but you could hear the intense anticipation in their voices and see it in their movements. What seemed like a million green lights flashed throughout the various consoles on the bridge - recognition lights that various systems and crews were ready and waiting. Though every green light meant that something else was moving smoothly, they only seemed to add to Adam's nervousness, as though each one was just one more reminder that it was about to start. A voice sang out over the din of alarm claxons and chatter on the bridge.

"Begin final deceleration countdown. Battlegroup command sequences received. Exiting warp..." A thought passed through the commander's mind I wanna get off, mommy. I don't like this ride..... "Ten. Nine. Eight...." Perhaps you should've mentioned that before the ride started...... "Six. Five. Four....." Oh crap. "Three. Two. One. Deceleration commencing! The female voice declared. An amazingly loud groan resounded through the ship. The lights went dark. The alarms shut off. The sound sent vibrations through the bones of everyone on the ship. Suddenly, the center viewscreen, previously black, exploded into color.

Adam blinked for a second. Used to the flashing red lights and shadows that had dominated the bridge just a moment before, the sight of a million stars and a great white - glowing orb that dominated half the screen was a little rough for his eyes bear.

An alarm went off again. Red lights flashed. Adrenaline spiked through Adam's veins. This alarm sounded different. This was the screeching sound of a hostile-presence alert. The bridge exploded back in to action. Adam seemed to stop thinking and flew in to action, barking out orders and listening to responses. His crew did the same. Lights blinked everywhere. Voices shouted, alarms sounded. The enemy was everywhere. Adam took a second to look for them amongst the stars. He saw nothing. Then, suddenly, he noticed something was wrong with the picture in front of him. As the ship moved, a star blinked out of existence. Suddenly, it was there again. Adam took a look at the wider picture and saw that a countless number of stars were blinking in and out of existence.

They did so every time a zerg flyer passed in front of them.

"Power up all weapons! Initiate small-ship launch sequences. Squadron leaders have the go ahead, launch when ready! All hands to battle stations!"

The ship lurched forward and vibrated as it's many weapons powered up to fire. A million muted concussions resounded as dozens of starfighters exploded from their bays and into space. Engines revved and the Terran Battlegroup moved into formation. Soon, Adam was in communication with the other three capital ship captains and the three battle cruisers spread out to face the enemy.

********************************************

The wraiths screamed into space. The squadrons from the battlecruisers went in first, dozens upon dozens of starfighters screamed towards the enemy. Behind them the gargantuan carrier began discharging it's fighters, and swarms of them grouped in to formations ready to speed in to battle.

The squadrons from the New Jersey IV rapidly closed proximity to the approaching zerg flyers. Various requests and reports flew across the com channels. The pilots, plastered in to their seats from the speed,  released their weapons safety's and grouped with their wingmates. Ace's squadron dove to the point of the mass formation.

"Engines ready. Lasers at 89 percent and rising!"

"This is Sergei. Where you at leader?"

"Grid point 2 by 75, lock on to targets, and activate your recon. computers!"

"Roger Witco lead. Comps. on!"

"All pilots confirm status! Bring your craft to attack speed!"

"I forgot to use the bathroom!"

A moment of silence passed through the squadron at that. In the heat and excitement of the moment, the rest of the squadron didn't quite believe their ears. The leader did.

"Talon, shut the heck up!"

The com chatter resumed.

"Enemy closing. We're almost in firing range!"

"Lock on and prepare to fire! Talon, Razor, you've got point!"

"Roger that lead."

"YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!"

Ace McCloud screamed as he and his wingmate nailed their throttles. Ace hit a button on his console, and a red light flashed before his eyes. The light left in it's wake a bunch of constantly moving symbols and numbers on his retina allowing him to see where the enemy was in the black of space. He grabbed the throttle and pushed it for a little extra juice. Suddenly, one of the lights in his vision blinked red and a loud tone resounded through his cramped cockpit.

"Fox one!" he shouted.

A pair of missiles tore through space and suddenly the red light in front of him was incinerated. A second later, several thousand more missiles were fired. All of the space around the planet ignited in a storm of fire.

"Break formation! Engage! Engage!" barked the squadron leader.

The swarms of wraiths and zerg flyers met, and the space around the Badger IV broke into utter chaos. Behind the raging battle, all three Battlecruisers opened fire adding to the cacophony of explosions and bursts of fire.

*********************************************

A loud groan, accompanied by a horrible vibration that shuddered through ship, silenced everyone in the drop-ships, including Theta Force's super - chatty pilot. All through the dropship bays lights blinked. Then, although they didn't know it, each pilot in each ship said, as one, "Launch codes accepted. Prepare for dust-off!"

A hundred blast-doors opened and the drop-ships' engines came to life, as each ship powered up and blasted out of the bay and in to space. The bright, mostly white orb of the planet below filled the pilots' collective vision, and as one, each ship directed their course towards the planet.

Lieutenant "Hammerfall" Gerome looked back as her ship cleared the New Jersey. She noticed the ship that had been docked next to her, whose crew she had watched boarding, had not taken off. She wrenched her mind away from that, though. She had other things to worry about. She adjusted her vector and turned the intercom back on. "We're movin towards the planet at an estimated speed of Mach 9 right about now. Take note that any shaking you may experience (the dropship vibrated horribly, especially in the personnel compartment) is entirely routine and expected. To hurl chunks, please use the vomit bag, and be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle until this ride has come to a complete stop."

Inside the personnel compartment, McGuire made up his mind. He did NOT like this dropship pilot.

************************************************

Back inside the New Jersey, the one stationary dropship waited in it's launch position. The pilot and his "package" (the troops he was transporting) were both extremely agitated. At the VERY last second, a priority 1 order had been sent to the cockpit ordering that the ship not take off until instructed by NJ4 command. Inside the personnel bay, the marines had wondered why one of the seats on their ship was empty. Suddenly, the drop-ship’s hatch opened, and a figure stepped in to the bay answering their question. Each face went white; each eye glued to the newcomer, as the figure strapped himself in to his seat. A voice sounded throughout the dropship. "This is the bridge. DS - 440095E, you are now ordered to take off. Go go go." And that was all. The pilot, not knowing what had just stepped in to his ship, revved the engines, and his ship exploded in to the night of space.

************************************************

A hoard of combat drop-ships from both the battle cruisers and the mass transport vessels rocketed towards the planet. Alarm lights began to flash in the cockpits. Incoming projectiles. Aboard the Hammerfall express, Lt. Gerome felt the sudden need to alert her hapless passengers of the coming plight. "Ok gentlemen, this is your captain speaking." She spoke in that maddeningly calm and chipper voice. "It appears we may have some trouble as the intended airport does not seem to want any new arrivals. Please disregard any extreme turbulence or course changes." The dropship suddenly lurched to the side violently as a massive ball of acid passed harmlessly by. Throughout the formation, similar projectiles flew from the planet and at the various ships, which hadn't even reached the atmosphere yet. Every face in the personnel bay was now deathly white.

"Strap yourselves in boys, we’re in for some chop."

The ships hurled towards the planet, dodging both each other and the increasing number of anti-air spores being emitted from the planet. As they reached the atmosphere, the ships began to lurch and shake violently. Blossoms of fire began to appear here and there as every now and then one of the acid gobs would hit it's mark. Still the ships continued their plunge.

The one dropship that had been forced to wait for it's straggler rocketed towards the planet at maximum burn, trying to catch up with the others. A cold, emotionless voice sounded on the ships com, addressing the pilot. "We'll be getting to the planet in good time pilot. Make evasive maneuvers your top priority. The voice sounded like it was coming through a filter and it filled the pilot with a strange sense of dread. "Quiet back there. Who the heck are you to tell me how to fly? If you ain't certified for this heap, keep yer yap shut!" he said angrily. The voice just responded, "The enemy will be aiming for you, pilot. Evade or die." The pilot kept his course and flew towards the planet, but he wasn't so eager to join his comrades anymore. He wasn't sure how, but it seemed as if there was a voice in his head telling him that the unnamed passenger was right...............

************************************************

"Bat on your six!"

"Roger that, evading."

Ace McCloud tore through space, as hundred of explosions, both missile detonations and that of dying ships, seemed to burn in the blackness around him. He flew at incredible speeds, turning and weaving through the obstacles, mostly debris and other combatants. His wingmate stuck to him tightly.

"Bank left!" he shouted as a Guardian suddenly filled his view. His stomach lurched as he threw his craft in to a terrifying spin, barely missing the thing. His partner, given advance warning, blasted the thing with his burst laser as he passed.

"Go back around. Let’s finish that thing!"

"Three Mutes on our tail!"

Ace flew into another death-defying spin and space spun around him as his craft blasted through space, trying to avoid the new threat.

"They’re on me!" Razor screamed.

But Ace was right there. He yanked back on his joystick and a million objects passed before him as he did a sharp loop to look back at his now endangered wingmate. He felt on the verge of blacking out, but that never stopped him before. A red floating symbol appeared in his vision as he angled the craft towards Razor and the three mutalisks. The red symbol seemed to chase the mutalisks as they twisted and turned. Ace dove under and then back up towards them. The red reticule found it's mark. A single, loud tone resounded through the cockpit and Ace jammed down on the fire button. A missile tore through space and slammed in to the back of one mutalisk, tearing it to fiery pieces. Ace was very close to his enemies now, as they ignored him and continued to spit acid at his partner. They tore upwards tracking Razor’s movement and Ace followed, diving into yet another spin as Razor spun past and around some debris for cover. They flew in yet another upwards curve and Ace squeezed his trigger. His craft rapidly began to spit angry gouts of red light at the mutalisks, spraying the space with burst laser. They spun again, but Ace was too fast, spinning with them and catching another mutalisk in his fire. The mutalisk ceased to exist and its partner attempted to break away from the engagement.

Fat chance.

Ace stuck on it's tail as it turned away and Razor spun his craft in an upwards loop coming back down on Ace and his prey. He launched a missile and it nailed the mutalisk as he flew past Ace's Wraith.

"Form back up!" he managed to breath.

"Roger willies!" Ace shouted back, never managing to remain truly serious even in the midst of a massive life-or-death space battle.

They got back together and Razor chimed in,

"What the heck is that??? Twelve o’clock and inbound!"

Ace looked to see a massive jellyfish shaped thing floating in space ahead of them.

"Overlord! Nail 'em!" he said.

A missile emitted from Razors craft and Ace's reticule settled on the overlord. He depressed the firing trigger and a pair of missiles flew straight towards the massive, bloated thing. All three missiles connected and the overlord disappeared in a ball of flame. As each craft screamed past the fireball, they strafed it with their lasers making sure it was dead.

"Who's next?" Ace said.

"Bats at 3 o'clock," Razor responded.

"Good enough." Ace said as they turned towards their next enemy.

*****************************************************

"Enemy bomber formation inbound," said Lieutenant Hall.

"Weapons, fire mid-ship batteries at those flyers." Adam ordered.

"Aye Aye, Captain." Lt. Mihen said.

Guardians fired large, devastating projectiles but when gravity was involved, the shots were too heavy for air enemies and were instead used as bombs. In space however, they were killer for anti-capital ship weapons. The lasers fired and the Guardians disappeared from the scanners. Massive red lightning bolts tore through the black of space as the Battlecruisers fired their weapons into the zerg ranks. All the while, the great ships dove forward, trying to get in to the right position over the planet.

"Captain, multiple Devourers inbound!" cried Lt. Hall. Sure enough, a swarm of heavily armed and armored creatures approached the vessel from it's underside.

"Lt. Lucasen, flip us around and bring the class-nine lasers to bear. Lt. Mihen, prepare to fire!" Adam said. Space seemed to turn as the NJ4 did a barrel-role, bringing its second largest cannons to bear on the Devourers.

"Fire." Adam said.

Red bolts of energy tore in to the Devourers, but even as the lasers began to fire, Lt. Hall shouted, "Massive formation on underside!"

Adam's face turned pale as he looked on the scanners to see a massive swarm of zerg flyers of almost every breed appear, seemingly from out of nowhere and diving towards the NJ4's poorly armored underside. Not knowing what to do but knowing he had to react Adam simply blurted out,

"Fire bombardment lasers in default spread!"

Dozens of laser blasted out of the cannons on the NJ4's underside. These lasers were powerful, but like the Guardians projectiles, were mainly used for bombing and more specifically, planetary bombardments. But the zerg bearing down on them were so thick it was hard to miss even with the slow turning bombardiers. Many zerg were incinerated as they attempted in vain to break momentum and clear the ship. Anti-fighter missile launchers picked off any survivors. With both threats eliminated, the NJ4 spun back around to bring it's underside once again facing the planet.

Adam noticed with a start that the ship had not only punched a large hole through the zerg ranks, but had wound up way ahead of the other two Battlecruisers during the stunt. Chambers' voice sounded on the intercom.

"Um, hold position, Heavy Hitter." he said. Heavy Hitter was the NJ4's code name. Adam smiled at the disbelief in Chambers' voice. The whole battlegroup must've just seen what they'd done. What was better, they were in position.

Several frigates moved up to help cover the NJ4 and as the other capital ships moved in, the zerg began to break ranks and bail. Cruise missiles and wraiths alike chased the zerg, determined to let as few escape as possible. Still firing their weapons full bore, the DragonMaw and the North Dakota slowly moved in to position alongside the NJ4.

"Receiving transmission from North Dakota," Lt. McCabe said. "Command ship says to move into bombardment positions."

"Lt. Lucasen, make it happen." Adam said.

"Commander," Lt. McCabe said. "Drop-ships are nearing the surface."

"Roger that," Adam said. "Lt. Mihen. Recharge bombardment batteries and activate the Colossus reactor." he said.

Lt. Mihen began to obey, but also looked at him curiously. "Sir?" she said.

You heard me Lieutenant. Charge the Yamato cannon.

"Aye Aye sir." was all she said.

**********************************************************

Between the extreme turbulence from the atmospheric entry, the sudden, violent course corrections as their pilot evaded heavy zerg anti-air screen, the spiking heat and the extreme speed, Lt. McGuire wasn't sure if he would be able to stay conscious or even if he could hold onto his lunch. The pilot's voice sounded on the speakers again: "We're in the pipe, five by five." was all she said. McGuire was shocked to hear that her voice, while certainly no longer cheerful, still revealed not the least amount of fear. It sounded simply emotionless. It just wasn't possible.

Meanwhile, the late-coming dropship twisted and turned, barely able to stay on course. He didn't want to believe it but the pilot was beginning to think that the passenger who had spoken earlier was right. The zerg were aiming for him! It didn't seem possible but as shot after shot barely missed his craft, the pilot could only come to that one conclusion. The ship entered a violent spin and as the pilot tried to stabilize, the squad of marines in the back weren't taking the ride too well. With the exception of the late-comer, the marines looked on the edge, and one of them had blacked out. Finally, one private just couldn't take it anymore, and yelled, "We're all gonna diiiiiieeeeee!!!!!!!!"

The latecomer suddenly spoke, his voice cold and emotionless.

"Quiet. Keep your head and stay off the com."

Surprisingly, a small sense of calm began to emanate through the squad and although they still felt sick and scared, they managed to keep their heads. Unfortunately, although this helped the pilot concentrate, the zerg seemed to have finally found their mark. Three gobs of acid spores suddenly flew towards the spiraling craft with terrifying accuracy. Gritting his teeth, the pilot desperately tried to avoid them. He dodged the first and barely missed the second but the third tore along the bottom of the ship. The force of the contact and the corrosiveness of the acid caused a massive explosion, accompanied by incredible force. Flames erupted from the ships underside and it spiraled hopelessly out of control. This time, not even the late-comer could silence the crew.

What seemed to be a fireball tore across Hammerfall's flight path coming from the upper left of her cockpit and flying down to the lower right and out of sight; bearing so much speed the it easily out-flew her dropship. Gerome recognized the fireball with sadness to be a dropship that had been shot down and was plummeting towards the surface. Suddenly, the turbulence seemed to ease and the lead drop-ships, including the Hammerfall express, dove in to a sea of clouds. They were moving fast, though and the clouds soon cleared revealing the landscape below along with hundreds of spore colonies.

Lt. Gerome thought, No way we can dodge at this range! as they looked down at the ever-approaching field of spore colonies. Suddenly, as if in answer, red bolts of light began to fly past the drop-flying straight towards the planets surface. Explosions blossomed as more and more lasers began to fall from the sky like rain from the battlecruisers blasting away in a full-out, planetary bombardment.

****************************************************************

In 1st Lt. Cadence Sparrow's dropship, the haggard voice of a super-stressed pilot sounded over the intercom. Everyone in this ship was a medic and this particular squad happened to be made up entirely of women. Their white combat armor and red-cross insignias bore stark contrast to the black and gray walls of the dropship.

"Ok, ladies. We've got mission classification clearance so listen up," the pilot said. "This planet is held by the zerg. All squad leaders should be receiving mission orders and direction for post touchdown. You guys are headed for bug city down there and you gotta take it out if we’re to take this planet......" There was silence for a few moments and the medics looked back and forth between each other, preparing themselves for what the had to do. Cadence privately prayed that everyone in her squad would make it out ok. The pilot's voice came back as a tremendous amount of G-force slammed down on them with the ship’s attempt to slow it's momentum. "We’re......closing on.....planet" the com was filled with static. "Touchdown.....5.....4.....3.....2.....1!"

Throughout the dropship fleet, thousands of marines got even more worried as they heard what they were up against. Alliance troops had never faced the zerg. This would be tough.

Aboard the New Jersey IV, amidst the constant thud of the bombardment lasers going off, Lt. Hall spoke out:

"Commander. Dropship report coming in. We have touchdown.