Chapter 338 – Just A Big Fish In A Little Pond

December 14th, 2499

17:00 SCT

Jacobs Installation, Near Mar Sara City

"Uhh... Johnny? Wut's going on wit yer eye? Why's it all glow-ie and stuff?" 

"Just checking for traps. Wouldn't want you to get raked by popup turrets again."

"No, I sure wouldn't. It's just weird, like a silver snowflake over yer eye. Ya sure you can see wit tha' there thingy coverin' it? Wait! Can you see outta that eye? I always thought ye had a purdy porcelain marble in there." 

"Yes, Bubba, I can see. I can see more with this eye than anyone else on this planet... probably in the whole sector." John replied, then placed his hand on the door's locking mechanism and activated Analyze, using this neat trick he'd accidentally discovered.

<Analyze w/Truesight Enhancement>

<Type - Neosteel Bay Door w/Fed Dynamics Lock>

<Serial Number - TI01002245/FD-245-32221-09>

<Size - 4m x 10m x 1m (Reinforced Honeycomb Internal Structure)>

<Weight - 102t>

<Status - Good - Locked>

<Code - 123456>

<Date Installed - November 2, 2491. 1844 SCT>

<Installed by - .............>

The list of absolutely everything about this door and lock continued, giving him even more absurd details as the list scrolled past his eye. He discovered the trick of using both skills like this after a pair of machine gun turrets popped out of the floor and fired on them. The battle was short and intense, with both Bubba and Emily getting injuries from the high-calibre slugs thrown at them. He healed their wounds, and then repaired their armour with the Sonic Screwdriver. That's when he decided to use Truesight to see if he could spot these traps from a distance. 

On a whim, he decided to try Analyze while repairing Emily's armour, wondering if it would give him any other insight into what was going on in her mind. That's when he discovered that using both skills at the same time produced something both incredibly useful and terrifying.

It didn't tell him anything about her, but he learned more about his prototype CMC-230 XE suit that she was wearing than he would ever want or need to know. It also reminded him why his suit was slightly different than the other suits in the barracks. His old unit had their old 200s replaced with 230 XE and XF models that were being field tested. The program was cancelled because they were too expensive for the accounting department, so the Confederation replaced the 200s like the one Bubba was using with cheaper 300s instead. 

He shut off Analyze and inputted the stupidly simple password into the keypad. Pneumatic valves hissed, and the massive door groaned in protest as it slid to the side. 

"Why... what is the point of everything being so huge in here?" He mused, looking at the massive room in front of them. It was the size of a plane hangar, with a couple of large doors on one side, and a staircase at the far end leading to another level with what appeared to be an office window overlooking the hangar.

"Whatever they are researching must be large as well. C'mon, the control room can't be much farther." Sarah said, looking through the scope of her rifle before disappearing from normal view again. He could see her with his Truesight easy enough, but she was barely a shimmer in his normal eye. 

"Right behind ya, darlin'." He said, then gestured to Emily and Bubba. "Up those stairs, whatever we are looking for, it's in that direction."

Emily immediately started forward, but Bubba just looked at him. "Ya sure? Wut if it's over in one of those doors?"

"I'm not sure of anything in here, but that looks like it might be some sort of office at the top of those stairs. If nothing else, it's a good place to start looking for the control room. If we're wrong, then we just come back down here and check."

"Okay." He said, then jogged after Emily. 

John checked his Mental Mapping again as they passed through the empty hangar, but it didn't show any life within its range; not that he was sure it would even be able to tell right now. It worked well in the forests, but he had no idea if it would detect stuff behind metal walls. Metal everything, really. Even the ceiling was covered in metal plates. 

We are barely ten miles from Mar Sara City. Just how did they manage to put this facility up without anyone noticing?  

*CLICK - FOOOSH!!! BOOM!*

A series of explosions caught him off guard as a hidden alcove high on the wall to their right opened, and a wave of tiny rockets blasted Emily. 

"ARGH!!!" She screamed as she turned and opened fire on the launcher. Bubba quickly followed suit with his own Impaler. 

"Dig!" John said, creating a 200-ish pound Neosteel cube at his feet while cycling Earth magic and Ki. "Powered," He added as he picked it up, the temporary blessing boosting his strength to some incredible heights. He hefted the brick and threw it at the turret with as much power as he could muster.

Another wave of rockets left their tubes just before the brick buried itself in the mechanism, causing it to explode, with multiple follow-up explosions happening along the wall as its ammo feed blew in the chain reaction. He didn't waste time marvelling at how much he had changed since the first time he had discovered how Dig worked, instead rushing to Emily's side.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking at the cracked breastplate and left pauldron of the armour.

"Hah! Never better! Let me at these traitors! I'll kill'em all!!!" She shouted, then rushed up the stairs at a dead sprint.

"Fuck, catch up when you can, Bubba," John said, and rushed after her. He wasn't positive, but he suspected she activated her stimpack reflexively when the missiles hit her. "Emily! Slow down!" 

Fuck, I can detoxify those chemicals with a spell, but I can't choose what it detoxifies. It might screw with her brain even more if that happens. 

She ignored his call, already at the top of the stairs and into the hallway above. He swapped to Wind magic and increased his pace. If he had any doubts before, they were confirmed by the fact that he didn't immediately catch her, the stim pushing her body beyond its limits. He cleared the top of the stairs and just barely caught sight of her moving down the hallway.

Just then, Sarah decloaked and pointed after her. "What is she doing? I can't read her thoughts."

"Stimpack." He replied, not slowing down. "Check the office; I got her."

He sprinted, leaving Sarah in the dust as he flew down the hall after her charging form. Two Confederate Marines stepped out at the far end of the hallway and opened fire on her. Impaler rounds slammed into her suit, but she didn't slow down, firing as she ran, raking fire up one man's chest.

Leaving the shotgun on his back, he drew his sword and revolver as he moved directly behind her. He funnelled some Dark magic into the weapon, imbuing the bullets with magical energy, then leapt over Emily as she slid into one of the marines, knocking the man's legs out from underneath him.

*Bang*

A round left the chamber and connected with the helmet of the man she just tripped before he even hit the ground. The high-density plexiglass composite the visors were made of usually could take several Impaler rounds before failing, but the dark magic withered and aged the material, making it brittle enough to shatter from the revolver round. 

Their armours made a loud clang as he came down on top of the other marine, and John drove the Sword of Truth between their shoulder and helmet, his rage allowing the blade to stab through the metal like it was warm butter. He rolled forward, then turned to deal with the other Marine, but Emily had already recovered and disarmed him.

"Where is the control room?" She said coldly, her rifle aimed at the man's face. 

"Fuck you, you bitch! You think I'm going to- Urk!" He said, but she interrupted him by pushing the muzzle into his open mouth.

John placed a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back a bit as he activated Sage and Scouter, forcing the Marine to pay attention to him while he read the man's thoughts. "Last chance. Where is it?"

{Fuck me! What in the actual fuck happened?!? What type of armour is that...and is that a fucking sword?!? Who the fuck are these people?!?} 

"Listen, man, don't kill me! I'm just a temporary guard here on loan from Alpha Squadron. I don't even know what is going on, other than they are packing some things up before we leave in the last shuttle."

{I know they wanted us to delay them, but is this shithole's research even worth dying over? Fuck!}

Apparently he isn't a Resoc.

"Then you won't mind telling us where the control room is, will ya? It really isn't worth dying over, now is it?" John said casually, resting the tip of the blade on the man's neck, drawing a tiny amount of blood. He flared his mana as he spoke, black and golden flames flaring from the eye slits of his helmet. 

"Fuck! Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Doonnn't kiiillll meeeee!" The man sobbed, obviously terrified by the visage in front of him.

"That remains to be seen. Now, where is it!?"

"Fuck! Upstairs, at the end of the hallway. There is an elevator there that will take you to another part of the facility where the control room is. The hallway below is guarded with both marines and turrets. That's all I know, just don't fucking eat me!!!"

Quite the imagination on this one. 

"See... wasn't too hard, was it?" John said, removing the blade from the man's neck. "Now, stand up."

"Uhh.... w-w-what?"

"Get up!" John growled.

The man stood and glanced at his weapon that had been kicked to the side of the room for a moment before looking at John. "Umm... now what?"

"Rope Bind," John said, and shot a rope that quickly encased the man in a cocoon. He used his magic to shift some of the ropes around his face so he could breathe, but otherwise left him immobile. "There, you be a good little marine and stay put. If your information proves true, we will set you free." He left the other part unspoken.

Just then, Bubba showed up. "Geeze, ya two sure move fast. Are ya using stimpacks too?"

"No, I'm using something much more powerful and a lot less debilitating. Now, do you mind dragging this guy somewhere out of the way for me while I see to Emily." John said, looking at the wall behind him where Emily had slumped to the floor.

"Yea, sure"

"Thanks, Bubba."

He took off his helmet and walked over to Emily. Kneeling beside her, he tapped his finger on her closed visor. "Hey, open up."

"I'm fine. Everything is fine." She said happily.

"I call bullshit on that, darlin'. I don't need the HUD readout to know you're far from fine. Now, open up and let me see."

She hesitated for a moment, then the visor slid up, revealing a very distressed-looking woman. Her bloodshot eyes looked almost alien, with pupils dilated to the point he could barely see the edges of her grey irises. A trickle of blood and snot ran from her nose down her face, dripping off her chin into the suit as she breathed laboriously. She smiled up at him, making him realize there was even more dried blood around her lips and chin, like she was just wearing some creepy Halloween makeup. "See, I'm fine."

"Emily, you're not fine. What the heck happened? This... this didn't all happen just from a single use of that stim."

She hesitated again before replying. "No... I... I had to hit it several times during our ride out here... I felt my mind slipping, so I followed protocol and used the Stimpack."

"Jesus... and why didn't you say anything earlier?" He said, making some webbing, wetting it with a little water magic before wiping the blood off her face.

"I was stable at the time, so I didn't see a requirement to add unnecessary worry; that is literally why Resocs have the implant. It would have been in my after-action report if you required one, Marshal." She said, still smiling. "Ahh... thank you, John. I could have done that myself once we returned to camp."

He sighed. Her personality kept drifting between Emily and Lieutenant Swallow mid-conversation, and the change was jarring. "I won't tell you not to use it, but I will insist that from now on, if you're not actively in battle, you will tell someone you're having issues. We can stop for a smoke if that's what you need, or I can use a little bit of magic to help. Got it?"

"Yes, Marshal."

He sighed again and tossed the soiled ball of webbing aside. "Hold on, I'm going to cast heal on you. I can't do anything about the aftereffects of that cocktail, but at least I can heal the damage it caused. Heal!" He said.

"Ahh... hah... hah... Thank you." She said, closing her eyes as pleasure passed through her body. She placed her suit's hand on his forearm. "I might need to get injured more often if you're around."

"If you do that on purpose, I'll leave you bandaged up in the infirmary for a month. Now stay still and let me fix those plates." He said, pulling out the Sonic Screwdriver and got to work.

They idly chatted for a couple of minutes as he repaired the damaged armour, then helped her up. Sarah and Bubba had joined them by then, and after a short recap of their time apart, they moved toward the elevator, passing another wide hallway with large bay doors along the way.

The elevator was a circular cargo lift that only went down from their current floor, so they all got on, and John hit the down button. It crept down slowly but steadily, giving them ample time to check their gear and be ready for whatever was waiting. 

{It was a bad idea to bring them. We could have done this alone.}

I was worried this exact thing might have happened back at camp, and without someone to stop her, she might have ended up hurting others, not just herself.

{I get that, I really do, but she is a liability right now, one we don't need.}

I'm not killing someone just because they are inconvenient, Sarah. She might be fucked up in the head with all those implants and chemicals, but she saved a lot of lives already. If what Aqua says is true, these Sons of Korhal you work for might be able to help correct this imbalance she is experiencing.

{I hope you're right. They're not the same implants. And I wasn't just talking about her and her instability. We could have moved through this facility faster without either of them.}

You just trying to get me alone, darlin'? I assure you, I'm not that easy. At least let me take you out to dinner first.

{What? Why... oh, you sly dog! I'm- I- Argh! I wasn't-}

You weren't thinking it. Really? You're not the only one who can read minds, darlin'. Kind of different when the shoe is on the other foot, isn't it? You thought most men were pigs because of what they were thinking, but now that someone knows what you're thinking, you can't pretend to be better anymore. And no, I'm not dying my hair black; despite my physique, I'm an old man and quite content having grey hair. 

{I didn't say-}

But you were thinking it.

{Jerk. Get out of my head.}

He chuckled at that as she cloaked up, then spoke to the other two as the lift started to enter the room below them. "Get ready. Bubba, Emily, I'm going to boost you two. Haste!" Another bonus of Parallel Minds let him hold concentration on more than two spells at the same time. He hadn't figured out the maximum yet, but he suspected at least eight. He really wanted to get those spells from The Great Cleric now; Purify was the area-of-effect cure, but there were also a bunch of other area-of-effect heals and buffs that he wanted outside of Aqua's holy magic list.   

Once we get off world, we're returning to DEN. We are going to want more power to deal with this world. 

{Can I come too? I'd love to learn some magic. It seems way more versatile than psionics.}

First, you want to get me alone; now you want to join us as we travel between worlds. What's next? Joining us in bed? Shameless.

{Grrr. I didn't-}

Gunfire interrupted her reply, and they all moved, jumping off the lift well before it came to a halt. It was pure pandemonium. He activated Barrier, along with the defensive human arts he'd learned from Jean, then used the Decoy skill he'd learned from Darkness, drawing fire from everything in the room for a few moments; his now-buffed armour absorbed the impacts of the small-arms fire almost like he was in his mech. He leapt towards the closest turret and slashed with his sword, splitting the quad-barreled machine gun mount and silencing it.

Bubba and Emily moved in lockstep in the other direction, their hastened bodies moving faster than her stimpack had let her move, firing at the other turret and raking it with 8mm rounds. He couldn't see her, but he heard the quiet snaps of Sarah's canister rifle, each shot killing a Marine near the only doorway. 

The battle ended as quickly as it began, and they rushed down the hallway that led directly to the massive control room. Monitors lined the walls in front of dozens of glass vats full of some green substance that might have been vespene gas. A massive console filled the centre of the room, with large cables leading into the ceiling, along with another six vats. A half dozen people in lab coats cowered in the corner as they stormed into the room, though one remained at the centre console, tapping rapidly on the controls. 

"Step away from the computer!" He bellowed, running towards the man.

Sarah was quicker, turning visible beside him and dropping him with a butt stroke to the back of the head before he could finish whatever he was doing. She pushed his unconscious body to the side and slid a data disc into the machine.

"Secure those people. Find out how they planned on getting out of here." John said, directing Bubba and Emily to deal with the remaining scientists. He then walked up beside Sarah, the pull of the canon seemingly strong here in this room. "What are they even researching here?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'm just downloading every file I can find. We got lucky that he didn't manage to lock out his access before I knocked him out; otherwise we would need to do this the hard way and decrypt everything off world." She said, her fingers flying across the controls with practiced ease. 

He just nodded, looking around as she did that, wondering exactly how this played out in the canon of this world. He came here with the intention of changing things, but now that he had arrived, he had no idea how to do it. He walked over to one of the vats and looked inside, and jumped back immediately. "There's a damm zergling in this thing!" He said.

"What?" She replied, her hands pausing as she looked over at him. 

He looked closer at the Zergling and realized its body was riddled with tubes and wires, suspending it in the vat of green liquid that might not actually be vespene. "Yeah, it's strapped in here like a research specimen...Gods, I think it's still alive." He added, noticing its limbs twitching. 

He walked over to one of the men in lab coats, activated Scouter, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him into the air. "Just what were you researching here!"

"I-I-I-I'm just a technician!" He stuttered, but his mind gave him away. 

{Can't talk about the Psionic control research. Can't talk about the Psionic control research. Damn it, he is a big man; he could snap my neck without thinking. Can't talk about the Psionic control research. }

John checked Card real quick, then growled. "Well, Dr. George Knowles, EngD, from Tyrador VIII. How about you tell me about your role as the research lead in Psionic Engineering here?"

"W-W-What? H-How do you-"

"NEVER MIND THAT! TALK! TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE DOING HERE!" He roared, pushing him up against one of the tubes. "What are you building here? Why is this damn Zergling hooked up to your machines?!? What were you planning to do to the people of this planet!?!"

A hand pressed on his shoulder. "Johnny, ya need ta calm down. Look, he can't 'ear ya anymore. Ya scared him to death." Bubba said.

John looked at Bubba for a moment, trying to process the words he was saying, then at the man he was holding. He wasn't dead, but he had passed out. "Ah, shit. I think I slammed him too hard against the glass." He replied, setting the man down, then patted Bubba on the shoulder. "Thanks. See what you can get from the rest of them."

John took a breath, trying to centre his mind again. The anger he was feeding his sword was creating a feedback loop, increasing his own rage further. Alec had warned him about that a long time ago and he had forgotten just how bad it could be. Once he was sure he was back in control, he turned to where Sarah was working. He walked over and put a hand on hers, stopping her from searching the database. "Can you delete everything?"

"I will once I have it all downloaded. Why?"

"No. Stop downloading it. I don't have the complete story, but from what I got from that guy's mind, they built that Psi-Emitter that brought the Zerg to this system right in this complex. They were trying to control the Zerg, but it doesn't seem to have worked, other than being a beacon for them to follow."

"I'm not doing that. Mengsk wants the research data from this place." She said, a hard look coming across her face. "And it's not just the emitter. I've only glanced at a few files, but the database has research on a lot of different things pertaining to the Zerg. With this, our scientists can possibly develop more effective ways to kill them; ways that don't include standing in front of them with guns and tanks."

He stared at her for a moment, then let go of her hand and turned away. "Fine." 

I wonder what else was in this installation.

He busied himself searching the guy Sarah knocked out, then binding him with some threads, then made more threads so Emily and Bubba could tie up the remaining Scientists. Apparently, there was an internal hangar with a shuttle they planned to use to escape the planet as soon as they finalized a few more experiments. 

"All done," Sarah said a few minutes later.

"And it's deleted?" 

"Yes, I have everything on this data crystal." She said, reaching for the crystal. 

John hip-checked her before she could grab it, pushing her aside. 

"What in the hell are you doing?" She said, pulling the rifle off her back and aiming at him.

"Sorry, Ma'am. This information is too dangerous for anyone to have. I'm not letting someone have the chance to build another Psi-Emitter, at least with this data. Dig!" He said, turning the crystal and the reader it was sitting on into a cube. He then drew his sword and slashed the block; the power behind his swing shattered it like glass. The moment that happened, he felt the draw of the canon end abruptly.

That data WAS important. Now, did destroying it change things? Or was that what was meant to happen? I guess only time will tell.

"What did you do?" She hissed, looking down the barrel of the rifle at him. "I want an answer, John. Mengsk is going to want one too."

"Not much, just changed the fate of this sector, though I can't explain how. Now, are you going to shoot me, Ma'am? Or are we going to get the hell out of here?"

"You... you're going to have to explain this to Mengsk. I'm not taking responsibility for this failure." She said through gritted teeth, before lowering the weapon. 

"Fine by me, though I don't work for the man," John replied, sheathing his blade. He wasn't overly worried about the destroyed data... they had the captured scientist in hand, and he wasn't going to kill them. Unless he found actual proof they were the ones who ordered that Psi-Emitter put on Chau Sara, they were only guilty of making the device while researching how to control the Zerg. It would be like killing Oppenheimer and his teams for developing the nuclear bomb. Questionable, yes, but as Sarah said, this kind of research might have other uses.

"Take the shuttle back to camp. I want to check the rest of this facility out." She said, still glaring at him.

Just then, the lights turned red, and a klaxon blared.

"Warning. Zerg containment area breached. Research subjects have escaped their holding cells. Warning. Static defences have failed. Recommendation for all non-military personnel to proceed to the nearest evacuation point." Another Adjutant's voice blared over the installation's PA. 

"So much for that idea, unless you plan on cloaking the whole time." He said, releasing the magic binding rope that held the marine above them. They weren't going back that way, and he didn't want to leave the man to be eaten alive by Zergs without being able to defend himself.

"I'll be fine. You take them back to camp. I'll ride the Vulture to my shuttle and meet you there. I need to update Mengsk anyway." She said, then placed a hand on his shoulder.

{Did Aqua order you to do this? What made you destroy that information?}

No. She doesn't order me to do anything. Unless she was watching through my eye, she has no idea what happened. As for what made me destroy it, as we told you before, we travel to these worlds with the intent of changing their story, their destiny, if you will. While I only know the Zerg are about to be a huge problem for this sector of space, I sometimes get a feeling when something critical is about to happen. This was one of those times. Whatever that information was, it was going to be crucial to this world's original destiny. By removing it, I believe I changed the future, though whether it's for better or worse, I have no idea yet.

She sighed, then glanced over at the scientist.

{Make sure they stay alive... Mengsk is going to be angry, but if you have them as a bargaining chip, he might not kill you.}

Kill me? What the hell kind of boss do you have?

{A megalomaniacal genius who is also charismatic and cunning, and doesn't tolerate incompetence in his ranks. They call him nothing more than a fringe world terrorist in the media, but in less than a decade, he turned the remnants of a ragtag group of freedom fighters into a force capable of standing toe-to-toe with the Confederacy.

I know that you have abilities from out of this world, and you have powerful machines at your fingertips, but he has an army and a massive fleet. I don't care how fancy your mech is; if the Hyperion or one of his other battlecruisers fires its Yamato cannon at it, you and it will be turned into a ball of superheated plasma. And if that somehow doesn't work, he has no qualms about using a nuke.

However, play your cards right, and he will let you work for him and help us bring down the Confederacy. He is willing to put his distaste for people aside for the greater good of our cause. Just look at me if you want an example; I'm the one who beheaded his father, and he knows it, yet I am second in command of the Sons of Korhal. He hates me to the core, but I'm useful to him and our goals align.}

Sarah, I-

{Enough. Get them out of here and keep them safe. I'll be back at base in a few hours.}

She disappeared, leaving John scratching his head for a moment before turning back to the waiting group. With barely a word, they moved down a smaller corridor, took a different elevator, and ended up in a hangar where a shuttle sat unattended. A few minutes later, they were loaded up, and John flew the vessel away from the installation. 

He had no idea if he'd done the right thing, and he was pretty sure he'd earned Sarah's animosity by doing it, but it didn't matter. She was right about one thing: he was just one man. If he planned on making a real difference in this world, he was going to need a hell of a lot more than some party tricks and a powerful mech. He needed his own army. 

He just wasn’t quite sure yet where he was going to get it.