Week of 2023/1/30 - SSFF - Chapter 1 - 3

Here are the first 3 chapters of the Rewrite of The Starcraft System in the Far Future! A number of changes were made to the style of the chapters and the setting of the system. Enjoy! 

Chapter 1: The Venya Imperium

The sound of distant animal roars echoed through the alien jungle as Athena forced her aching eyes open. Even before she could see anything, one basic question filled her thoughts.

“Where the hell am I?”

Her head was burning as if someone lit it up with a flamethrower. For a moment, the young woman found herself in the middle of a sea of memories. One second, she was a college student on Earth, worrying about her future career aspects after graduation and trying to distract herself via a game of Starcraft. The next second, she was a proud soldier...a soldier of what? The…the empire. No…the Imperium! What Imperium? The Imperium of Man? Did I somehow end up in Warhammer 40k? A terrifying thought flashed across Athena’s head, and as confused as she was, Athena forced a small smile onto her lips. That would be ridiculous! She was a real person! How would she end up in a fictional world?

The small smile lasted a brief second before disappearing as more and more memories overwhelmed her. Groaning in pain and frustration, Athena tried to touch her head with her hand, only to feel her skin pressing against cold steel. That was when her sight finally cleared up enough for her to see what was around her. More specifically, what she was in.

For one thing, she was wearing a helmet. A layer of transparent glass separated her face from the outside world. As she looked down, she realized there was a layer of armor over her body. Even her hands were completely encased in armored gloves. The exterior platings of the armor were painted in black and red, not the green camouflage she expected to see on a supposed soldier.

What was this? Once again, she found the answer in her own memories. Guardian-class power armor. Standard issue power armor for all infantry soldiers of the Venya Imperium. For Imperial soldiers fighting on inhospitable worlds like Morgo IV, their power armors were the only thing keeping them alive. Even just one breach in the armor’s integrity and function, either due to error or damage, could lead to a slow and painful death for the soldier inside the armor.

Once again, Athena groaned in pain and confusion. How did she know all this? Morgo IV? Venya Imperium? Power Armors? She raised her hand again and smacked it against her helmet in another attempt to distract her own psychological confusion with a physical sensation. It was an unwise choice given the information about the environment she just learned, but Athena somehow remembered knowing the integrity of the power armor could easily handle a rough touch. After all, it could withstand small-caliber firearms and remain functional.

As she moved, Athena subconsciously noticed that it wasn’t her physical strength that was lifting the steel armor that was god-knew how heavy. There were sensors built into the armor that detected her intentions and allowed the armor to mimic the action.

“God damn it…”

For a few minutes, Athena really wanted to throw up. She could still feel bits and pieces of memories popping up in her head, mixing with the memories she knew to be her own. One second, she remembered marveling over the hologram projection of a young woman in military attire. Some type of princess. The next second her brain immediately reached the conclusion that those memories didn't belong to her, and her thoughts jumped to the faces of people she actually knew on Earth. Friends. Teachers. Classmates.

Nope. Nope. Keep your mouth shut! This armor is fully sealed! Athena silently dug her nails into her palms and screamed at herself as a dozen images flashed through her head in quick succession. There was one image of her dead father, a former Imperial Army officer who went to war one day and never came back. There was another image of a smiling woman. Her mother. The image was from a year before her death during a horrific traffic accident.

As the storm of information gradually died down, Athena finally had a basic understanding of the new world she found herself in.

This was the Year 3783. 1761 years since her own time. And she was no longer Athena Hall, a university student on Earth. She was Private Athena Dane of the 329th Imperial Infantry Division. She was just one of the countless Imperial troopers that made up the Imperial Army of the Venya Imperium.

Athena had always considered herself an optimistic person. Sometimes one had to be optimistic to last long in the world. Well, as far as Imperiums went, it could be worse. At least she wasn’t a guardswoman in the Imperium of Man about to go against the Tyranids or Necrons! But despite her best attempts to smile, Athena knew she was really out of luck today.

The Venya Imperium wasn’t one of the countries on Earth that hasn’t fought in a war in decades. No…the Imperium was almost always at war. Even worse, the sector that she was in, Sector 9A2, was on the border of the Imperium and was close to a number of other nations, most of which were hostile. With this lack of control came frequent armed conflicts of scales and horrors beyond her imagination.

The 329th had seen war. A lot, and far more intense ones than those in the 21st century on Earth. As a matter of fact, Athena could still clearly remember the bloody battle that Athena Dane fought a few standard months ago. In that battle, the 329th lost a third of their numbers before victory was secured, and out of all the Imperial Army units deployed to the war zone, the 329th didn't remotely have it the worst. Rumors had it that more than a handful of divisions were completely wiped out.

The old Athena, Athena Dane, was a zealot for the Imperial cause. She was a madwoman who saw the heavy casualty rate of the Imperial Army and decided that was what she wanted to do with her life. Even six years into service, Athena Dane still carried out her duty with the same loyalty and discipline as she had when she first joined the Army. She didn't want rank or wealth or families. All she hoped for was a glorious death in the name of the Imperium.

Well, perhaps it was a good thing this body was under new management.

Athena Hall had no intention of continuing to serve as another grunt of the Venya Imperium. She didn't know which god she pissed off that got her transported into this galaxy, but out of all the things she wanted to do in this new world, serving an Imperial dictatorship was rather low on her checklist. She had so many new food and drinks to try out! Maybe thousands of years of media to enjoy. Entire planets to visit and 1,700 years of history to learn about. She did receive the basic history lesson from her fresh memories, but there were so much more details to explore. Serving as an infantry trooper and then maybe getting blown up by a random missile or artillery shell or landmine? It would be a really stupid way for her to spend her second life.

There was no way she would serve in the Army for another four years and hope she survived long enough to retire at the ten-year mark. Nope…she was deserting as soon as she could. This was one of the few things she knew for sure.

Although…judging by the look of things and the memories she received, deserting could wait. Ironically, her top concern right now should be finding her Imperial Army unit for the simple reason that, as of now, she was completely lost.

A few weeks ago, her entire company, the 432nd Company of the 329th Infantry Division, was transferred to a barren, inhospitable planet named Morgo IV. Their mission was to attend to the needs of a scientist from the Imperial Research Academy. An infamous research organization that only answered to the leader of the Imperium, the Leviathan, the Academy was rumored to have produced many biological and chemical weapons the Imperium frequently used on battlefields across the galaxy.

Why would a scientist from such an esteemed organization only be given a single company of troops as escorts? Athena Dane didn't know and didn't ask. Obeying without question was a key quality for Imperial soldiers.

After building a research post from the ground up with the help of construction drones, the 432nd Company mostly became a garrison force. There were always the routine guard posts and patrols, but otherwise, things were mostly quiet. There were no other forces here. Morgo IV was located in the heart of an Imperial sector. There were no external threats.

The only time when issues arose was when squads in the company were selected by Captain Hanson to go on retrieval missions. Basically, the scientist needed some specimens of the local wildlife to experiment on, and it was the squad’s job to go out there and bring the sample back regardless of the risk or casualties.

Over the past few weeks, the casualties among the retrieval squads had been increasing, but neither the scientist, his bodyguards from the Imperial Security Corps, nor Captain Hanson seemed to care about casualties. The zealot that she was, the old Athena saw this as another chance to prove her valor to the Imperium and went without hesitation.

In the latest mission that Athena and her squad were sent on, the squad of 12 drove for hours on their Blackbuck-class multi-terrain scout vehicle before the trees became too dense for the vehicles to go through. They dismounted from the three Blackbucks and ventured into the forest on foot. On the way there, the squad ran into a type of local predator designated Morgo - 23. They were wolf-like creatures that hunted in packs, and they came at the infantry squad with little hesitation.

During the firefight, as the squad was slowly falling back, Athena tripped over something and fell into a hole in the ground. By the time she got out on her own, the rest of the squad was nowhere to be seen. Despite her best attempts, she quickly realized she was lost.

The first thing Athena did was try to contact her squad with the radio built into her armor. The 432nd Company didn't have the resources to launch a communication satellite into the planet’s orbit, nor did they build key infrastructures like cell towers. She was too far from the research outpost to call for help. When the short-range radio yielded no results, Athena knew she had to save herself.

Maybe she could remain in her position and wait for the others to come and search for her? The thought barely crossed old Athena’s mind before she extinguished it. There was little comradery between the Imperial ranks. Every soldier was taught to do whatever it took to survive on the battlefield and achieve victory. Use their comrade’s bodies as meat shields. Strip the clothes off the dead to fight off the cold. Abandon the injured and the immobile if the need arose.

If she was the officer making the calls, she would stick to the objective as it was always more important than a single trooper’s life. She expected Corporal Huo leading the squad to make the same decision.

In the end, the old Athena did her best to find her way back to the location where the squad parked their three Blackbuck MSVs and pray the others had yet to leave. Unless she wished to walk 600 kilometers on foot, the three MSVs were her only way to avoid being stuck in the wild and eventually becoming the feces of one of the many deadly predators out there.

This was when Athena Hall found herself in this new body, replacing the consciousness of the old Athena in the process and inheriting this difficult problem from her predecessor.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Athena knelt down and picked up her weapon from the ground. The rifle was large enough for her armored hand to comfortably hold onto.

Defender-class automatic rifle. A weapon designed for infantry soldiers of the Imperial Army to use when in power armor. Uses magazines that store 30 rounds. Fires armor-piercing rounds capable of penetrating Guardian-class power armors in 2 - 5 shots. Heavier and more deadly than the Defender-S variant designed for non-armored soldiers to use.

Athena had never used a firearm before in her life, but she inherited more than just memories about the Imperium from the old Athena. She also inherited all the combat experience and skills that the old Athena developed in her six years of military service. As she held onto the rifle, Athena almost felt like the weapon was a part of her. She knew everything about it. Where the safety was. How many rounds it held and approximately how many were left. What it would do to an unarmored human body when the trigger was pulled.

Like with all the other memories, Athena welcomed this knowledge. She was on a deadly planet in the middle of a forest infested with extremely hostile wildlife. She needed all the aid she could get.

Scanning the surroundings once again and taking a few glances at the HUD built into the helmet, Athena continued heading in the direction of the three vehicles. There was little technology that could help her tell the direction, but the old Athena had a good sense of direction and the new Athena inherited it.

Two minutes went by before suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of wolf-like creatures leaped out of a line of bushes toward Athena. Athena’s brain froze for a second at the sight of the creatures, but her body reacted almost instinctively. Aim. Fire. Before Athena knew it, following a series of pops from her silencer-equipped rifle, the two instances of Morgo - 23 collapsed on the ground, dead.

Well, that was close. Athena let out a breath of relief. She should be glad this body belonged to a true war veteran way too comfortable with killing. As she took a step closer to the bodies to examine them, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly appeared inside her head.

“Biological essence detected in close proximity to the host…”

“Analyzing essence…”

“Analysis complete. Essence overlaps with Zerg genetic sequences…”

“Zerg structure Spawning Pool has been unlocked…”

Chapter 2: The Starcraft System

Great…not only am I now a cannon fodder in a dystopian galaxy, and not only am I trapped on an inhospitable planet with only enough water and food for a few hours, but I also have schizophrenia! Athena’s first reaction to the odd mechanical sound was a scoff. It was as if she didn't have enough issues to worry about!

The next second, the world in Athena’s vision suddenly blurred, and the young woman was no longer looking in the forest of Morgo IV. Instead, she now found herself staring at a layer of electronic screen. A part of her was rather startled, but even as she frowned at the sudden and unexpected change, her eyes landed on the screen and quickly noticed it was quite familiar.

“It’s…a Starcraft game.”

Starcraft was a popular RTS, or real-time strategy, game back on Earth. As a teenager who loved video games, Athena has been a fan of Starcraft for years. She might be one of the few female players of Starcraft. She was never good at it competitively, but the game mechanics and the lore had always fascinated her. Starcraft was one of the many reasons she did terribly in high school. Did she have regrets? Sure. Did she often find herself going back to the game and playing a few rounds on the ladder? Absolutely. It was simply a much-needed distraction that kept her sane in an otherwise infuriating life.

If she were back home, sitting in front of her old laptop and queuing up a game of Starcraft, then all would be well. Yet…yet she was in a galaxy 1700 years into the future. So where the hell did this game of Starcraft come from? And the screen showing the game…was it inside her head? Either she was delusional beyond hope, or there could be something else going on here that could be rather good for her.

Something told her this game wasn’t just there so she could play a final match on the ladder before she died of thirst. Perhaps, just perhaps, this game could be her best chance of survival in this fucked up galaxy.

The screen displayed a new game of Starcraft with plenty of differences that an experienced player like Athena immediately noticed. Sitting in the middle of the display were three structures instead of only one: a Terran command center, a Zerg hatchery, and a Protoss nexus. Judging from the color of the structures and units from the three races, they were all under Athena’s command.

On the top right corner of the screen were a number of counters.

Resource: 34

Terran Supply: 0 / 20

Zerg Supply: 0 / 50

Protoss Supply: 0 / 20

Like the buildings, these stats were a little off. In a normal Starcraft game, there were two types of resources: minerals and vespene gas. Here, the two seemed to have been combined. There was one supply count for each of the three races, but…why did the Zerg have 30 more supplies? Wait…the notification!

“The voice said I unlocked the Zerg spawning pool. Maybe that’s why I have 30 more supplies for the Zerg than the other races? Maybe to increase the number of units I can have, I need to unlock new buildings instead of simply building different supply structures or units.” Athena’s brain quickly started turning as she tried to understand the situation.

In Starcraft, every unit, with few exceptions, had a supply count attached to the unit. If there were no free supplies available, the unit couldn’t be built. It was likely the same case here.

Athena looked up at the Resource count once again. 34. Odd. Unless the game just decided to randomly give her 34 units of resources to start the game, it was likely she gained the units…somehow. Maybe it was tied to the local wildlife she just gunned down?

She shifted her attention back to the three main structures from the three races. Much to her surprise, there weren’t any workers that she started the game with. Another difference between a normal Starcraft game and whatever this was.

The thought of not having a mouse to work with had yet to cross Athena’s mind before a solution presented itself. As soon as she wanted to click on the Protoss nexus, the act was done and the command card associated with the nexus appeared at the bottom of the screen.

“That’s convenient.” Athena raised her eyebrows. Without a moment of delay, she quickly clicked through the three buildings, hoping to find anything that could help her with her current predicament. As much as all of this fascinated her, she didn't forget the fact that she was trapped in a jungle full of carnivorous beasts. Once again, it would be quite embarrassing if she had such an odd experience, only to end up as the dinner of some local beast.

The first building she clicked on was the Protoss nexus. As one of the three races in Starcraft, Protoss was the psychic race that focused on quality over quantity. Protoss units were expensive, yet they were often much more powerful than the corresponding units from the other two races. Most Protoss warriors were hundreds of years old. It wasn’t uncommon for single Protoss warriors, like the high templars, to singlehandedly lay waste to entire armies with their psychic powers.

The Protoss nexus served as the center of Protoss bases. They could produce probes, which were the workers of the Protoss race. Probes could warp in structures and collect resources. A nexus also had various support abilities. In addition, with the proper structures, a nexus could warp into a mothership, the ultimate Protoss warship.

Athena wasn’t even dreaming of producing a mothership as of now. All she wanted was a probe or two. While probes were workers, they were still capable of combat. Their particle beams could cut through flesh and armor as well as minerals. Even just one of them could help distract whatever beast Athena would run into.

Yet Athena was quickly disappointed. When she tried to produce a probe, she received a message telling her that she had insufficient minerals. Probes needed 50 resources to be produced.

The next was the Zerg hatchery. The Zerg were the polar opposite of the Protoss. While the Protoss focused on their psychic powers, the Zerg usually used combat units enhanced with physical evolutions. While the Protoss fought with energy blades and particle disruptors, the Zerg had their claws and acids. While the Protoss believed in quality over quantity, the Zerg’s strategy involved overwhelming the enemy forces with sheer numbers and ferocity. It didn't matter if one Zerg army was destroyed because, by the time it was done, one several times the size would have been produced.

Zerg hatcheries could spawn almost every single Zerg unit when the corresponding structures have been built. By default, they could spawn drones, which could harvest resources and morph into Zerg buildings. Like the probes, drones cost 50 resources, more than what Athena currently had.

Athena still remembered the mechanical voice telling her she had unlocked the Zerg spawning pool. This meant it was likely she had to unlock specific structures before she could build them. What were the criteria for these unlocks? For the Zerg, it seemed to be biological essence. Maybe she had to be close to the essence to unlock them. What were the criteria for Protoss and Terran buildings then?

These were questions she could try to figure out later when she was in a relatively safe situation.

Finally, there was the Terran command center. Terran was the humans in the Korpulu Sector. They didn't have the individual prowess of the Protoss or the numbers of the Zerg, but what they did have was effective combined arms tactics. Terran forces often included cheap, versatile infantry units supported by heavy mech and air power.

The Terrans were also quite talented when it came to adapting to new situations. In the lore, mere decades after encountering the two advanced alien races, Terran researchers were able to experiment on both Zerg and Protoss samples, developing their own technologies that effectively rivaled the Protoss and the Zerg.

Terran command centers fulfilled more or less the same purpose as nexi and hatcheries. It shouldn’t be too surprising then that Terran SCVs, the workers and builders of the Terran race, also required 50 resources.

Athena sighed and exited the game. This was less than ideal, but she knew she was already quite lucky to have this game in the first place. At least now she had something to work toward. If she could collect enough resources, produce units, and summon these units into the real world to fight for her…she couldn’t even imagine what they would be capable of.

As far as Athena knew, while technologies in this galaxy did progress a lot in the last 1,700 years, they were still vastly inferior to what the three races had to offer. As a quick example, the common, expendable cannon fodders of the Terran armies, the marines, were equipped with gauss rifles much more impressive than the automatic rifles of the Imperial Army. If Athena could gain a sizeable combined army of the three races, she could do quite well in this galaxy.

Of course, the key part of that was the ’if’. If she died before then, it would all be meaningless.

Her first step was to gain minerals. Gain enough minerals to build at least a handful of helpers. Hopefully, things would snowball after that.

Athena looked down on the corpses of the two Morgo - 23 instances. The bullets from her Defender rifle tore these two animals to shreds. Her thoughts quickly jumped to the information she and her company were given about the local animals.

Most of the local animals were, obviously, quite vulnerable to firearms. Fair enough. Not all creatures could take on bullets and bombs with their physical bodies in the same way the Zerg could. The issue was that these local animals could somehow survive in the atmosphere of Morgo IV while exposure could lead to a guaranteed slow and painful death for any human being. Many troops in the 432nd Company guessed that this resistance to toxins was what Doctor Payton was trying to understand and potentially replicate.

This meant that often the local animals didn't have to kill the Imperial troops themselves. All they had to do was create a significant breach in the troops’ power armor before their death, and then the toxins in the air would do the rest. This was what claimed the lives of so many men from the 432nd.

Athena bit her lips as she turned her attention back to the path she was taking before she was interrupted by the game notification. It was likely she would run into more threats on the way back, but she had no choice in this matter. It wasn’t like there was somewhere safe for her to hide. She had to keep moving. Once she had enough resources to produce Starcraft units, her life would be a lot easier. And if she was downed before that, well…luckily for her, she still had a few grenades in the ammo compartment of her power armor. If things came down to it, they could give her a quick way out.

As she scanned the surroundings, Athena had to admit she was a little surprised by how cold her own thoughts were. Blowing herself up with a grenade? Then again, if she was hopeless in escaping and she was about to meet a slow and painful end, why should she deny herself an easier alternative? This was a simple conclusion reached by the mind of a veteran soldier who had seen so many of her comrades fall.

Once again, Athena scoffed at the old Athena’s absolute loyalty to her empire and her willingness to die for the so-called Leviathan, but at the same time she was more than grateful for the experience and battle instincts the old Athena offered. Without any of these, she would have no chance of lasting long enough to start producing the Starcraft units.

Chapter 3: The Drone

It didn't take Athena too long before she confirmed her hypothesis that the resources in the Starcraft system came from the lives she took. This discovery was thanks to an instance of Morgo - 93. A type of ambusher who had supposedly claimed the lives of 9 Imperial soldiers since the 432nd settled down on the planet, the beast was lurking in one of the bushes on the side of the road, waiting for an unsuspecting victim to wander into its trap.

Unfortunately for the Morgo - 93, his new target was hardly unsuspecting. The sensors built into Athena’s Guardian power armor quickly detected the presence and location of the beast. An alert popped up in the HUD of her helmet, and Athena followed the instincts of her body and reacted instantly. After Athena emptied half of her magazine, the animal collapsed and died following a pained shriek.

“Hmmm…that was easier than I expected. How did 9 men die to that?”

Athena scanned the surroundings vigilantly before quickly opening the game. She was quite pleased to discover that her resource count now said 54. The instance of Morgo - 93 gave her 20 extra units.

“I wonder what this resource count is based on. Size of the animal? Age? Maybe some more abstract characteristic?” Athena took a few steps closer to the downed animal. This time, no notification reached her.

This slightly disappointed her, but she quickly focused on the current situation she was in. She opened the game again and, as fast as she could, clicked on the Zerg hatchery and produced a drone with the few resources she had.

The only units she could build now were the Terran SCVs, Zerg drones, and Protoss probes. She needed to build a Spawning Pool to build zerglings, but that was too much of an investment for her at this point. Despite being able to gun down three local predators, Athena knew she would be an idiot if she thought she could make it out of the jungle alone with just a rifle and a few grenades. She needed helpers, and she needed them now. Only if she survived could she make more long-term plans.

As for why she chose the Zerg drone, well…all workers had similar stats, but she remembered that all Zerg units could regenerate while out of combat. As much as she wondered what a Protoss probe or a Terran SCV would look like, the drone seemed like her best choice for now.

In the game, one of the larvae in front of the Zerg hatchery quickly morphed into an egg. Almost immediately, the egg burst, revealing the familiar figure of a Zerg drone. She clicked on the drone and instructed it to move around the map, and it obeyed immediately, letting out loud screeches from time to time.

When Athena clicked on the build key in the command card of the unit, she saw that the icons of almost all the structures were dark. The only icon lit up was that of the Spawning Pool. However, as Athena expected, the Spawning Pool required 200 units of resources.

“Well, I guess I have to make do with the drone for now.”

Athena said quietly as her eyes landed on one of the buttons on the unit command card that wasn’t there for normal Starcraft games. As she hovered over the button, it said Deploy into Battle.

Despite not being a religious person, Athena found herself praying a little as she clicked on the button. If these Starcraft units could be summoned into her world and fight for her, then her life in this galaxy had the potential to be quite pleasant. If not, well…then all of this would be nothing more than a cruel joke.

Thankfully, it seemed like Athena’s luck wasn’t as bad as she feared. Perhaps being brought into this world used up all her bad luck and now she only had good luck left. As soon as she clicked the button, the Starcraft game suddenly disappeared from the computer screen, replaced by a 3D view of her and her surroundings. Most of the map was dark aside from portions that were grey. There was a transparent figure of a drone on the cursor that Athena was controlling. Whenever Athena moved the cursor too far away from her, the figure of the drone would turn red, signaling to her it couldn’t be deployed there.

“So I can only deploy units within a certain distance of myself. I wonder if this distance depends on the unit.” Athena said thoughtfully. This deployment range was fine for infantry units like drones, but what would happen if she tried to deploy battlecruisers or motherships?

She selected a location that was the furthest from her and deployed the drone. As soon as she left the game, she snapped in that direction. Much to her amazement, and excitement, the deployment had worked. Standing there in the jungle around fifteen meters away from her was a Zerg drone.

Despite being noncombatants, the drones stood over two meters tall. Their large claws, usually used to cut down mineral clusters or slice into biomass, made Athena wince a little. She doubted even soldiers in Guardian-class power armor could fare too well against these giant claws. It was similar to chainsaws. Chainsaws were usually designed to cut down trees, but that didn't mean they couldn’t saw through a person’s flesh and bones if the need arose.

As thrilled as Athena was, she still had the caution expected from someone who suddenly found herself in a new world with an odd system in her head. She raised her Defender rifle in the drone’s direction, readied a pair of shrapnel grenades, and attempted to make contact with it.

It didn't take Athena too long before she sensed something was different. It was as if there was an invisible link between herself and the drone. She could sense where the drone was and the physical state it was in. More importantly, it was as if she had a direct line of communication with the drone. She could speak to it, and she didn't need her voice.

“Let’s see…” Athena drew in a deep breath and tried to send a message to the drone by leveraging the link between them. “Move three steps back.”

Just like that, the drone obeyed. A silent reply, identical in form to the one Athena sent to the drone, was returned to her. At the same time, it turned around and moved three steps away from Athena before turning back to face her.

Athena frowned a little as she received the reply. The replied message wasn’t made of words, but she could still understand it. It was saying…Compliance. Or at least what the Zerg equivalent to that was.

It seemed like things were turning out the best way possible. She could summon Starcraft units into her world and control them to fight for her. She wondered if this link would be there for Terran and Protoss units as well. It was an odd feeling, she had to admit. She could give orders in a much more agile manner than she could in the game. In the game, the drone acted almost identical to a normal game unit. After it was deployed, the drone seemed to have become an individual being that could interpret orders and act on its own.

Athena turned to one of the trees on the side of the road.

“Go. Cut down that tree.”

This wasn’t Athena taking pleasure in destroying the environment. She just wanted to get a first-hand experience of how effective the drone was in combat. After all, her life would soon depend on its strength. Once again, the drone acted without hesitation. It moved to the tree Athena ordered and struck. Its claws dug right into the thick trunk of the alien tree with next to no resistance.

Once again, Athena found herself quite impressed. These claws could likely cut through the armor of Imperial Armored Personnel Carriers. Of course, the drones had to get close enough without being shot, and they had to be given plenty of free time to do the work. Still, it was impressive for a basic worker unit.

She briefly opened the game once again and glanced at the stats in the corner.

Resource: 4

Terran Supply: 0 / 20

Zerg Supply: 1 / 50

Protoss Supply: 0 / 20

As she expected, the drone took up 1 Zerg supply. The supplies wouldn’t be too much of a problem for now, but she likely needed to unlock more buildings if she wanted to have enough numbers of Starcraft units to matter. As strong as Starcraft units were, their number would likely be the main factor holding them back.

With that matter settled, Athena looked at the clock on the HUD of her helmet. She didn't have too much time to waste here. Even with the discovery of the Starcraft units, she still had to get back to her unit as soon as possible and return to the Imperial outpost. If she was left behind, she could very well die in the wild as her food, water, and oxygen run out.

“Drone, lead the way. We’re heading in that direction.”

The loyal drone obeyed. It wandered down the rugged path, serving as the vanguard that would hopefully attract the full attention of any dangers on the way.

Athena raised her rifle and followed not far behind the drone. Even as she walked, a part of her still couldn’t believe what had happened to her. One second, she was taking notes in a lecture hall. Now she was in a suit of power armor and holding a rifle, following a Zerg drone through an alien jungle?

Life truly had a way of being…interesting.

---

A predator that wasn’t identified in the Imperial database dug its fangs into the drone, but instead of soft flesh, it only found a layer of hard Zerg carapace. Blood was drawn from the drone, but the Zerg unit didn't seem to have felt any sense of pain. It simply turned to the predator and snapped its claws into the predator’s body in return, cleaving the poor beast in half with a single cut and adding 29 more units of resources to Athena’s bank.

“Well done, drone,” Athena said silently as she secretly wondered if she should give the Zerg drone a name. That idea might sound absurd, but to be fair, ever since it was summoned, the drone had likely saved Athena at least a dozen times. A name was the least it deserved.

Athena never thought she would consider a drone a good meat shield, but the fact was that the Zerg was so evolved for warfare that even the most basic worker of the Zerg was more resilient than many predators on the planet. The single drone had endured the fangs and claws of over a dozen local predators and preservered. Its carapace was shattered in some places and had bloody holes in others, but it stood. Neither pain nor fear was its concern. Even now, its wounds were slowly healing. Give it enough time, and it would be good as new.

Some of these predators were put down by Athena’s rifle. What about the others? The blood on the drone’s claws should answer that question.

What would even be a good name for a Zerg drone? John? Frank? Alexander the Second? Athena grinned to herself a little before focusing on a more important task.

“Stop here for a second and guard me,” She commanded the drone before opening the game. As she stood there, the drone remained by her side, guarding her vigilantly as a loyal hound would.

Resource: 314

Terran Supply: 0 / 20

Zerg Supply: 1 / 50

Protoss Supply: 0 / 20

War was good for business. This was quite true for the situation Athena found herself in. Her resources came from kills, and it just so happened that there were so many animals in this alien jungle. Lives that could be taken with relative ease.

The last few minutes of slaughter had given Athena hundreds of more units of resources to work with. How many animals had she and the drone killed? Athena wasn’t counting, but she was down to a third of her rifle munitions and only a handful of grenades. The drone also took quite a beating. If it was a human being, it would’ve been dead long ago.

Thankfully, now she could start making actual combat units. If a drone was such a good killing machine, how deadly would zerglings be?

Athena first selected the Zerg Hatchery and produced another drone. Zerg structures needed a drone to transform into. She could recall units back into the game, but she really didn't want to turn her first drone into a building. This was stupid, sure, but the drone had proven to be an extremely good meat shield. Drones were also larger and more durable than zerglings, so it was always good to keep one around.

The second drone was instantly produced, and Athena immediately instructed it to morph into a Spawning Pool next to the Hatchery.