The Rapture Comes! Really it will this time!

Well, another Judgement Day passes without any vengeance against non-Christians and sinners. With this conclusive proof, I guess I won't have to worry about guys passing out fliers warning me to repent my sins anymore then right? Oh, I guess the math was just wrong. The world will actually end in October. You would think a retired civil engineer would be better with math.


The result of Harold Camping's first civil engineering project, the floating city of Rapture.

The part that initially appalled me the most was that hundreds of people quit their jobs, donated their life savings to buy billboard ads about the end of the world, and stood around handing out fliers. I would have thought that these people would have been dissuaded after Camping's last end of the world prediction in 1994 proved false.


I guess talking while holding a Bible and pointing a finger up is pretty persuasive to some people.

However, what vexes me the most is not that some people are stupid enough to believe this kind of stuff. There are always a few hundred to thousand people ready to believe whatever the next hyped doomsday prophecy is. It's comments like these that I found in a Yahoo news story that irritate me:

"I guess he missed the part in the Bible that says no man knows the day or the hour of Christ's coming!!"

"Silly sheeple, the Bible says that no man will know when Christ returns!"

I can understand calling Camping's believers idiots, but these guys completely miss the fact that they're flaming hypocrites. You can't call someone a mindless Judgement Day idiot and then say that they're wrong because your book says no one knows when it will happen. Both groups are using the logical fallacy of an appeal to authority, the only difference is that one had the misfortune of using an actual date instead of an indefinite one so they can be proven wrong.


Personally I think they should have spent a few of the millions of dollars raised to advertise the end of the world placing empty suits of clothes around the world so that it looked like the Rapture really did occur.

The sort of people who call others sheeple are as pretentious as Mac owners. We've all been persuaded by an authoritative figure at least once. Give Camping's followers a one-time free pass. If they come back and spend their life savings again in October, yeah they are stupid.

Drunk and Disorderly

For once, I'll include an actual personal experience in my blog in the hope that it might help someone avoid making an expensive error in judgement. Last month I had an unfortunate encounter with the police. I just finished my last paper for my undergraduate degree so I figured I deserved a night to relax. I went to a bar with one of my friends and had eight beers.


In retrospect, this wasn't the best drink to kick off my night with.

After that my friend and I parted ways and I started walking home. Of course, I decided to take the route that took me by a different bar so I stopped in and pounded down about $30 more in drinks. That is only an educated guess though, as I know I had about $60 in my wallet and was down to $30 when I checked the next morning. Maybe I left a $20 tip, who knows.


Bars should require customers to pass this test before being allowed to order jagerbombs.

After that I started walking home for real. Unfortunately I took a roundabout route that involved climbing the fire escape of a three story building. Understandably, this perturbed the residents of the building on this chilly Wednesday night, who called the police. I was brought down from the roof of the building by police and taken to jail.


Hopefully not like this.

I blew a .23 on my breathalyzer in the booking room, which is almost three times the legal limit to drive. All of my belongings were searched, as is routine in any arrest, and my watch, shoes, and everything else were taken and placed into a locker. I was placed in a holding cell for the night, which was about 10 paces wide and 10 paces long. It had a metal bench there which was not wide enough for a man of my frame to lie down on, necessitating lying on the floor to try and sleep.

As that wasn't proving successful, I got my prison workout routine going by doing several hundred jumping jacks, pushups, and situps. I also gave a long speech to the camera in the cell about the conditions leading to American intervention in Vietnam. While I am certainly not going to compare the experience of a night in a holding cell in a city police department to anything like being in an actual jail or prison, it was certainly extremely boring. The cell did not have a clock or view to the outside and the light was kept on, so the actual time was a complete unknown. You get concerned that maybe you have been forgotten about and will be left there until you starve to death. An additional problem for me was that I sort of came to awareness in the jail cell from my drunken stupor so I didn't really know how I had gotten there. As I had been reading extensively about the Soviet Union lately I was first under the impression that I had been placed in a Soviet prison. I did not have a particularly restful night.

A detective came by in the morning to interview me about my conduct on the previous night. I did not have much information to offer, as I did not remember a thing after leaving the second bar. The only reason I know that I was clambering around on the roof of a three-story building was that he told me about it. He said that I would likely be charged with disorderly conduct and/or prowling, which is a subset of loitering statutes. I was released at 1 PM when my BAC was back down to normal.

It took about a month to receive any charges in the mail. When they finally came I needed to procure a lawyer, which cost me about $2000 to cover all of the pre-trial work. As of yet, I do not know if this will go to trial or not, but I will likely end up plea bargaining as I don't really have a great defense. This could result in me paying additional fines and court costs as well. Added up to my bar tab, broken watch, damaged library book, ripped pants, and damaged wallet, this night will probably cost me around $2500-3000.


That's enough cash to buy 25-30 times the alcohol in this picture.

Fortunately, I have been a diligent saver throughout my college career so I can afford to pay that up front without having to give up eating. Do you have that much cash lying around? I also do not know if this will affect my standing at the new job I have lined up in a couple months, as I may have to do probation or disclose this conviction to my work. And that's just the cost of a fairly minor charge of disorderly conduct. More serious drunken mistakes, such as getting into a fight or driving under the influence will likely end up costing thousands more.

So, with that said, here is my advice to avoid getting into these sorts of situations.

1. Do not get trashed if you are not planning to spend the night at that location.
If you aren't able to just pass out where you are drinking, you are placing yourself in danger. I figured I would be able to walk home without any problems after going out and drinking and instead I ended up on top of a building. You cannot predict what you will do when all of your inhibitions are disabled by alcohol. Don't take the risk of getting blackout drunk.

Do not drink heavily if you are planning on driving home.
This should be obvious, but I always see a couple idiots who parked next to the bar get pulled over right after they came out plastered at bar close. In the best case scenario, a DUI will cost you several thousand dollars in legal fees and be a blotch on your record for years to come. And that's assuming you don't hit another car, ram a tree, or kill a pedestrian.


You do not want to have the wrong answer to this question.

3. Avoid getting trashed altogether.
Some good ways to manage this are to get water or a non-alcoholic beverage before you start buying beers, shots, or mixed drinks. It also can be helpful to alternative between alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic drinks. Order a water with each of your drinks, it will help you stay hydrated. If you are thirsty you are likely to guzzle alcoholic drinks down rapidly and that doesn't put you in a great situation to refuse the bartender when they ask if you want another. It's also important to remember that the liver metabolizes about .8-1 drinks per hour. If you pound down four shots that's going to take about four hours to be out of your system. Those extra drinks waiting aren't waiting idly, they're playing with your higher brain functions. Don't add multiple drinks to your liver's queue when you're already buzzed or on the lower end of drunk. They're going to take a long time to get out of there and you are going to end up with a blackout.

4. Don't drink heavily with people you don't know well or trust. Even more importantly, don't drink heavily alone.
One saving grace for an intoxicated individual is to have a good friend or friends who ensure that they don't get into a fight with a hostile bicycle rack on the long stumble home. If you are by yourself, you don't have this protection and are more likely to wander into trouble.

It can potentially be even worse to be with people you don't know well. If they have no hostile intentions toward you, they will not be familiar with your drinking habits so they might believe you when you mumble that you can find your way home. They may also leave you behind if they find your behavior inappropriate or just don't care enough about you to help you. If they are opportunistic individuals, they may take advantage of you while you are inebriated. Either way, you don't want to be in this situation.

Conclusion
I would be a hypocrite to claim that you should never get intoxicated. Most people will do it at least once. But it is important to choose safe times to get trashed; if you don't it can be one of the most expensive mistakes you will ever make.

Take Some Cover! Garrisons in RTS games Part Two

View Part One

Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes, a World War II RTS released by Relic Entertainment, features the most detailed garrison system of any game I have played. Unlike Red Alert II or Command & Conquer Generals, troops inside buildings can be hurt by conventional weapons. They receive improved protection but are not invulnerable. Additionally, each building in Company of Heroes offers different levels of protection. Troops in wooden buildings receive less protection than troops in brick building. Larger buildings also tend to offer better protection than smaller ones, particularly from grenades and other anti-garrison weapons.


For example, the large brick and metal industrial building in the center of this picture provides great protection for troops inside.

A brief explanation of Company of Heroes squad based infantry system may also be useful. Instead of building individual soldiers you construct a squad of troops which can range in size from two to six individuals. For example, a United States riflemen squad consists of six members. A German Wehrmacht Pioneer unit consists of two members. These squads can be upgraded to have different equipment and weapons as well. For instance, a riflemen squad upgraded with the Browning Automatic Rifle option will have six men wielding three M1 Garand rifles, one carbine, and two BARs.


A two man Pioneer squad with the flamethrower upgrade.

This squad based system is important for assessing the offensive potency of buildings. Unlike in Red Alert II, where every soldier inside a building can fire at attackers, in Company of Heroes every window or other opening allows only one soldier to fire out of it. So if a building has three windows on one side, only three soldiers inside the building can fire out at troops attacking from that side, even if there is a full six man rifleman squad inside. If a building only has one window on a side, only one soldier can fire out from that area. Some buildings have sides with no windows at all-these can be attacked without fear of reprisal by enemy troops. One interesting side note is that some explosive weapons, like tank shells or bazooka rounds, can open new holes in buildings that defenders can fire from.


The building in the lower right of this picture can have up to three soldiers firing out of its left side but only one at a time from its south side.

This is very important to keep in mind both when garrisoning troops and when attacking a building. Troops in the open may be able to defeat garrisoned troops if they attack from a side with few windows and will always win if they attack from a side with no firing ports at all. All of the attacking troops will be able to fire but only one or two of the defenders will be able to return fire. Although the defender is replaced by another member of the squad when he dies, the difference in firepower can be fatal to the defending squad.

If you attack a building from more than one side at once, any extra available soldiers will fire out at the troops coming from the different direction. For instance, if a four man Wehrmacht Grenadier squad is in a building that has two windows on the right side and one on the south side and the building is attacked from those two sides, two men in the squad will fire from the right and one will fire from the south.


The building in the upper left illustrates this point.

Like in Command and Conquer Generals, there are some weapons available in Company of Heroes that inflict extra damage to garrisoned troops. Grenades and flamethrowers are the two most readily available building clearing choices. Grenades can be upgraded or are immediately available for many of the infantry squads for each faction, flamethrowers are an upgrade available for the engineer type units of each faction.

Damage from a flamethrower depends on the size of the building-soldiers in larger buildings will die slower than ones in small buildings. So large metal buildings like the one in the first screenshot on this post will be difficult to kill quickly with a flamethrower team but small wooden shacks will probably result in almost instant death for the squad inside.

Grenades do extra damage to troops in buildings, but it is important to keep in mind that the damage from a grenade depends on where it is flung in the building. If you throw it on the opposite side from where the troops in the building are located it will not do much damage.


As this grenade was hurled right at the enemy machine gun team, it should at least inflict heavy damage to and possibly kill the entire squad.

Garrisoned heavy machine gun squads add a great deal more strategy to buildings in Company of Heroes. When they are in the open they can only fire in a certain arc and take some time to redeploy when they wish to attack troops coming from a different direction. They are also extremely vulnerable to troops coming from behind them. When placed in a building they can fire in all directions that windows are available and receive some protection from enemy fire. Heavy machine guns are devastating weapons because they suppress enemy troops. This causes them to squirm around on the ground, take more damage from fire, and be unable to fight back effectively. HMGs are a great way to slaughter an opponent who relies on massed infantry attacks.


This MG is suppressing a large number of British troops.

However, garrisoned MGs have two major weaknesses. One is that once a target has been acquired they are stuck firing at that target until it is dead, out of range, or out of the arc of fire available from that side of the building. The other is that it takes them a moment to acquire an enemy when they redeploy to a different side of the building. This allows two major strategies to defeat them.

One option is to use one infantry squad as bait-drawing the HMGs fire while other infantry units move from a different direction to destroy it. This can be a quick way to deal with a troublesome MG, particularly if you have grenades or flamethrowers available in the assaulting squads. The main risk of this strategy is that you can sometimes take heavy casualties in the baiting squad or lose the squad altogether. Ideally the squad used as bait will be in some sort of cover so that they are not slaughtered in the open.

The other option is to use the tactic of building circling, where you move a squad right next to the building and run circles around it while the MG has to keep redeploying to try and open fire. This takes a bit of time but the MG will eventually be killed by the circling squad. This strategy will only work if there is an avenue to advance on that has a blocked line of sight for the MG. The other risk is that sometimes one soldier in the squad will lag behind and be hit by the MG, causing his entire squad to be suppressed. If this happens, that necessitates a retreat.


This rifleman squad used the hedge to get close to the building without being engaged by the HMG and are now circling the building.

However, the most important part of the garrison system are that buildings are placed in key strategic locations on the map. Company of Heroes differs from many other RTS games in that players must capture and control points on the map to gain resources rather than use workers to harvest resources. Additionally, they must hold territories linking them to that location. This means that protecting those points from being recaptured by the enemy is extremely important. On many maps, buildings overlook the most valuable resources or the capture points that are required to link a player to those resources. Without that fact, the detail in the garrison system wouldn't be as important to the game. In comparison, Command and Conquer General's maps are usually large enough that there is a direction to attack that bypasses all neutral structures, making it relatively easy to avoid dealing with garrisoned soldiers.

That covers the detailed garrison system of Company of Heroes. Consider how it compares with Red Alert 2 and Command and Conquer Generals. The player who wishes to assault a building is forced to think much like a sergeant or lieutenant on a battlefield would have to. Which side has the most protection for my men? Can we throw a grenade in there? The garrison system adds a lot of tactical depth that is not present in the other systems.

Why is this additional depth important? It goes back to a point that I made about weapon options in FPS games. If there is a single best option for all choices, such as the M16 being unilaterally better than the Famas in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, there is no choice to be made. The player who wishes to win will always pick the M16. That is how the garrison system of Red Alert 2 works-the only time you wouldn't want your conscripts to be in a garrison is when there is no building to be found. Command and Conquer Generals added a few weapons that instantly kill garrisoned infantry, a change that meant that buildings wouldn't always be the best choice for the placement of troops. Company of Heroes system has enough detail to keep an entire game going around a key building as each side tries to grab it to use as a strong-point for their position.

The additional fact that these buildings tend to be located near important locations on the map is also critical for its depth. A game that doesn't feature territory control as an element might not need a detailed garrison system, as the optimal strategy would likely be to bypass the buildings when attacking. But when you have to attack a certain position to deny your opponent resources, the system becomes key to gameplay.

Take Some Cover! Garrisons in RTS Games-Part One

Many RTS games allow the player to put infantry into buildings on the map to give them some additional protection from enemy fire and occasionally some combat bonuses such as faster firing times or additional range. Some games are more successful at making buildings a useful strategic element than others. This article will take a look through some of the efforts to make neutral buildings into a tactical choice and see which methods are the most effective.

Age of Empires II
Although probably not the first game to allow the player to garrison units, it is the first I played with the option. Every player starts the game with a Town Center, the basic core of your base that produces the workers needed to gather resources and construct other buildings. When an enemy attacks, the player can sound the alarm at the town center and all nearby workers will enter it to take cover. Additionally, they will fire arrows at enemy units in the area.


A garrisoned town center, indicated by the flag on top.

This is a clever way to prevent one problem that irks many players, the rush. Rushing is when one player produces a large number of a basic combat unit and attacks the other player as soon as possible in the game. If the other player has not invested sufficient resources in his own military, they will either lose everything or lose most of their workers and production capabilities, giving the rushing player an easy win. For instance, one all-in strategy for Warcraft II was to build a barracks as close as possible to the other player's base and produce a couple basic infantry units to kill all of their workers in the first few minutes of the game.

With the ability to garrison the town center, it is much more difficult to achieve an all-out victory with a rush in Age of Empires II. While the workers are still quite vulnerable, the town center itself is extremely difficult to destroy without siege weapons or overwhelming numbers, which are impossible to acquire in the early game. An attempt to destroy the town center with militia-the most basic infantry unit of Age of Empires II-will only result in a large number of arrow riddled corpses outside the building.

However, only workers can attack from the town center. All other infantry units can be garrisoned but they cannot attack while inside buildings. This means that if a player chooses to protect his workers in the town center they will not be harvesting resources. This can put a player at a long term resource disadvantage that will eventually lead to a loss.

Red Alert II
Red Alert II added neutral buildings on the map that could be garrisoned by basic infantry units: the GI for the Allies, Conscript for the Soviets, and Initiate for the Yuri faction added in the expansion. This causes the building to be covered in barbed wire and to take the player's color, allowing the opposing player to know that it is garrisoned. When not inside a building, these units are fairly weak and vulnerable. They don't do great damage, die fairly easily, and can be run over by tanks and other heavy vehicles.


Any of these white buildings can be garrisoned.

When placed inside a building they are immune to enemy fire, the only way to kill them is to destroy the building entirely. Additionally, they do additional damage and fire more rapidly. This bolsters these humble units to the point that they can defeat enemy tanks and throw back enemy assaults. The opposing player also does not know how many infantry units are in the building without attacking it. Some buildings can hold ten or more troops inside but whether there is one or ten inside it will look the same to the enemy player. The only way to learn how many troops are actually occupying it is to move a unit within firing range and see how much fire it takes.


A building garrisoned by GIs-note that it is blue to denote that the allied player has troops inside.

A couple fully garrisoned buildings in the right location can make a direct attack impossible without heavy casualties. This can allow a player to build a few cheap infantry units to protect their base while they focus all of their resources on building more advanced units, such as heavy tanks, aircraft, or superweapons. The only reliable ways to attack garrisoned buildings are with air units and long range weapons. These can attack and eventually destroy the building without taking any damage.


Burning building-the external indicator that it has taken damage.

Once destroyed, the building is gone forever and cannot be rebuilt. This means that if a player allows the enemy to destroy the neutral buildings around their base they lose that source of defense forever. Buildings can be repaired back to full health by the engineer unit if they are reached before they are destroyed though.

The Yuri's Revenge expansion also offers one new garrison feature for the Yuri faction-the tank bunker. These allow the tanks of the Yuri faction to be placed inside a thick shell which can absorb a ton of damage and can also be repaired while it is under attack. As the main tanks of Yuri's faction are weaker than their Allied and Soviet counterparts, this can help them stand up to an enemy tank assault.


This may be an excessive use of tank bunkers.

It is interesting to note that Red Alert II has many more infantry units available, including snipers, anti-aircraft troops, and hero units, but only the basic infantry troops can be garrisoned. This may have been a balance choice or a problem of programming different types of units attacking from the buildings.

Command and Conquer Generals
Command and Conquer Generals adds a few new features to the Red Alert II system. All types of infantry units can be garrisoned, not just basic infantry. As every side has access to rocket infantry this greatly improves the ability of buildings to hold off tank assaults.


US rangers making a chopper-borne assault on an enemy garrisoned building.

This is blunted somewhat by a great versatility of counters to infantry in buildings. Each side has access to at least one method that kills garrisoned troops easily. China has access to dragon tanks, which have a flamethrower that will instantly kill all troops in a building. The Global Liberation Army has toxin tractors that shoot out anthrax sprays that have a similar effect. The United States can upgrade their rangers to shoot flashbang grenades, which also instantly kill garrisoned troops they hit. Rangers can also be placed in Chinook helicopters to conduct airborne assaults, as pictured earlier.


Rangers firing flashbangs at an enemy angry mob.

These additions make the choice to garrison buildings a little more difficult for players. Garrisoning makes troops invulnerable to damage from conventional weapons until the building is destroyed but it also adds the risk of being instantly killed by the correct counter weapons. This gives the option a bit more depth than Age of Empires or Red Alert, as it is not always a great idea to place your infantry in nearby buildings. Unless, of course, you want them burnt to death.

Continue to Part Two, which discusses Company of Heroes.

Infestation-Part Four

Start from the Beginning
View Part Three

Day Three

Wilson and Hotchkins arrived back at the colony early the following morning. Almuda’s men were still awake, watching the horizon along with Diego and Mulheeny. Evidently the two Goliath pilots had been permitted to rest, their walkers were idling outside the command center. Wilson parked his Vulture outside the barracks and walked over to Almuda.

“Anything to report?”

“No sir. Haven’t seen a thing on the horizon.” Although Almuda’s voice still sounded strong, Wilson noticed exhaustion evidence across Almuda’s face.

“Get your men some rest. You won’t do much good if you fall asleep on top of your rifles. We’ll wake you if anything appears.”

“Yes, Sir!” Almuda waved his men over and they departed for their bunks in the barracks.

“What about us!” yelled Mulheeny, who had overheard the conversation. He pointed a finger aggressively at Wilson’s faceplate. “We’ve been up a whole day!”

“After Almuda comes back you’ll be relieved,” said Wilson irritably. This was the last thing he needed after barely escaping the Zerg nesting site.

“You must be kidding, you’ll let the convicts rest first?”

“Convicts or not, they’re more professional than you’ve ever been. They aren’t even paid. Earn your salary for once and do some work around here,” Wilson shoved past Mulheeny and headed toward Hackken’s office. Mulheeny growled, but resumed his post facing the western flank of the outpost. Mulheeny always acted tough but never stood behind his words when it counted.

Wilson stormed down the metal corridor leading to Hackken’s office. The man had been a barricade to getting proper military support for months, offering flimsy excuses for why he could not secure the resources needed to safeguard the mining operation. Wilson would be damned if he let him doom them all to a Zerg assault. He slammed open Hackken’s door, causing a resounding boom as it impacted the wall.

“Are we getting support or not?” demanded Wilson. “I don’t want any more diplomatic answers. I want the truth. Are my men going to be stuck out there hoping that we can kill all the Zerg before we run out of ammunition? Or will we have Combine troops and air support? I need to know how many body bags to order in the next shipment.”

Hackken leaned back in his chair, offering a placating smile. “I’ve done all I can. I explained the situation to the Combine, but they don’t feel that a serious threat is represented by the Zerg forces that you’ve uncovered so far. They need more evidence.”

Wilson slammed his fist on Hackken’s desk, his armor creating a sizable dent in the metal surface. “There’s no more evidence that we can give until they start hammering us. Do they want to wait until we all die? I guess that might show that the Zerg held hostile intentions. You need to decide if you want your life to be ended at the claws of one of those beasts because you didn’t have the guts to demand the support we need.”

Wilson’s suit radio sputtered, interrupting his invective.

“Sergeant, this is Mulheeny. There’s a horde of creatures approaching us.”

Wilson sighed, “Define horde.”

“A lot. Some of them look bigger than the ones we’ve seen so far. The other sides of the base are clear for now, just moving on the western perimeter.”

“Roger, I’ll be right out.” Wilson changed his radio to the emergency signal band. “This is Sergeant Wilson. We are under attack by a large number of hostile alien creatures. All military personnel report to your stations, civilians report to the shelters.”

He closed off the transmission and pointed a finger at Hackken. “I suggest you decide if you want to accept the Combine’s decision within the next ten minutes. We may not have time to reevaluate it later.” He gave a final glower at the smaller man and then rushed outside, readying his rifle as he ran. The two Goliath pilots were rushing toward their vehicles alongside him, already suited up in green coveralls and breathing masks.

“Position your vehicles behind my marines to provide supporting fire,” ordered Wilson. “We’ll be setting up a defensive line in front of the command center. That way the warehouses and barracks will cordon them into a narrower line of fire.”

“Yes, Sir,” said one of the pilots with a nod. When they exited the building, the two men opened the hatches to their vehicles and leaped inside. Wilson looked around to assess the situation. He noticed the colony’s siege tank parked to the side of the commander center and cursed. Hackken had never gotten around to getting a pilot and gunner for the vehicle. It may as well have been taken apart for scrap metal for all the use it was going to do the colony now.

Putting the tank out of his mind, Wilson moved to where his six Marines were preparing a defensive position, Almuda keeping an eye on the advancing Zerg while the rest were setting up barricades and placing extra ammunition magazines within easy reach. The two goliaths stepped into position behind the improvised defensive line.

“Are they moving yet?” asked Wilson.
“Not yet, Sir,” said Almuda. “Soon though. They’re getting arranged to charge.”

Wilson zoomed in on the enemy formation with his suit’s magnifier. Sure enough, a line of the smaller creatures was forming up in front. However, behind them was a line of larger beasts that he had not seen before. They had a coiling body that supported an armored head about two meters off the ground. Two piercing eyes framed the monster’s cruel jaw ringed with sharp, white teeth. One of the creatures flexed its thickly muscled arms to bring two wicked claws into view. It seemed to be giving Wilson a sadistic smile, promising hours of torment ahead. Wilson swallowed nervously. The beast gave a bellowing roar that sent the smaller Zerg lunging hungrily forward toward the marines.

“Hold fire till they reach the barracks!” commanded Wilson. The swarm was already halfway there. Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty, twenty, ten. “FIRE!”

The marines opened up with their Gauss rifles, spraying a fearsome barrage across the rampaging Zerg. A few of the leading beasts collapsed to the ground, but their pursuing brethren continued to approach. The Marine’s rounds just weren’t penetrating the carapaces well enough.

“Fire at will, Goliaths!” radioed Wilson to his support.

The fearsome autocannons let loose with a roar. The heavy rounds sliced right through the small Zerg creatures, leaving puddles of gore in their wake. Wilson’s squad focused on cleaning up the stragglers that the goliaths missed, using aimed bursts to conserve ammunition.

One beast that evaded fire lunged clear over the metal barricade they had erected to pounce on Diego. Its claws went right through Diego’s combat suit, leaving spatters of blood as they withdrew. Wilson snapped off a burst into the creature’s head, knocking it off Diego. He rushed over and put two more bursts into its body to make sure that it was dead.

“Diego!” yelled Wilson, slapping a fresh magazine into his rifle. “How bad you hit?”

“I’ll manage, Sergeant,” coughed Diego wetly, standing up precariously. “Not much else I can do.”

Wilson had no time to spare for Diego as another wave of Zerg charged over the corpses of the first. The Goliaths were firing shorter bursts, leaving far more creatures for the infantry to take down. Several reached the barricade, jabbing their claws and fangs into it to try and bring it down. Mulheeny swung his rifle like a club to try and knock them back. One of the Zerg crawled over the wall and swung a claw into his armor’s right shoulder joint, slicing cleanly through. Mulheeny fell to the ground beside his arm, screaming in agony.

Corporal Almuda moved forward to fill the gap, shooting precisely through the skulls of the nearest Zerg. Following his example, the rest of the Marines focused on hitting the creatures in the head, the one area that they seemed to mind getting hit. As the wave began to evaporate, Wilson ducked behind the barricade and reloaded his rifle. One magazine left. He stood up and nearly dropped his rifle in shock.
Six of the larger creatures were arrayed in a line facing the marines. Apparently they had used the smaller ones as a distraction to get themselves in position. The carapace plates near their shoulders split open to expose several large pouches on their body. Their fangs were bared in a fierce smile, relishing the fear they spread.

“Get down!” yelled Wilson, diving behind the cover of the barricade.

The massed impact of dozens of projectiles rang off the metal plate shielding Wilson. Diego, slowed by his injury, fell down heavily beside him, his faceplate and upper armor covered in long spines that had burst right through. Cursing, Wilson looked up and down the line to see who was left standing. One of Almuda’s men lay on the ground, another victim of the fearsome projectiles. Mulheeny was no longer moving. Great, down to four men.

“Up, fire back!” yelled Wilson, moving up to a crouch to fire his rifle. The remaining Marines joined him, hammering the line of Zerg with ammunition. It didn’t have much effect; most of the rounds deflected harmlessly off the creature’s thick shells. One of the creatures collapsed when it was hit by a stream of autocannon fire, but it seemed that the Goliath’s fire was ebbing. Wilson glanced back quickly to see why. A Goliath had fallen on its side, flames jetting out of the cockpit. One of its fuel lines must have been hit. Their position was looking better every minute.

Another volley of spikes filled the air, forcing Wilson to duck. He heard a grunt to his left and saw Almuda’s other marine collapse. Wilson reloaded his weapon with his last magazine. If he was going to die here, he wasn’t going to do it cowering behind a piece of scrap metal. Heart racing, he prepared to charge the Zerg. Maybe at a closer range his rifle could penetrate their carapace, taking one of them down with him.

A deafening blast sent Wilson reeling to the ground in shock. He shakily rose to his feet and turned toward the Zerg’s position. A massive crater filled with gore was all that was left. Wilson looked around in puzzlement, Hotchkins and Almuda rising beside him.

“I thought you could use the reinforcements,” said Administrator Hackken smugly over Wilson’s radio.

Wilson gazed up and saw several green Combine dropships setting down outside the colony, discharging Marines, Goliaths, and other equipment. One of them had set down a Siege Tank, one of the new models that could reconfigure into an artillery piece on the field. The powerful round had taken out all the remaining Zerg in one blast.

“I appreciate the help, Hackken,” said Wilson. “We were about to be finished off.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Sergeant.”

“I’ll try not to make a habit of it.”

Wilson sighed, looking about at the devastation the Zerg attack had wrought. Only Hotchkins and Almuda remained of his command. Maybe the Combine would give him some reinforcements once they had finished driving the Zerg off the planet.

“I’m glad that’s over, Sergeant,” said Hotchkins.

“The battle is over,” said Wilson. “The war has just begun.”


In retrospect that last line is really cheesy. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed the story.

Infestation- Part Three

View Part One
View Part Two

Wilson marched to the command center to enter Hackken’s office. Maybe he would have some more information about what they were facing by now. He knocked on Hackken’s door. When no answer was forthcoming, he opened it and peered inside. Hackken held his head in his hands, leaning on his desk.

“I didn’t say you could enter,” said Hackken softly.

“I have something important to report,” said Wilson. “On my patrol my squad was attacked by the same sort of insectoid creature that was reported on Mar Sara. It was waiting underground for us near the dead civilian. The base was also attacked while we were gone, although I expect you already know about that. I’m concerned for the colony’s security. I think we need to ask for additional forces from the Combine to help us secure the moon.”

Hackken sighed, but made no other answer.

“Sir, by the time these creatures were sighted on Mar Sara there were thousands of them. I think it’s safe to assume that there are more of them out there. My men won’t be enough if more of them come to attack us. The four that hit the base earlier could have just been a scouting party.” Wilson waited for Hackken’s reply.

“They’re called the Zerg,” said Hackken after a long pause. “They’re far more dangerous than you realize, Sergeant. The situation on Mar Sara is growing severe. The Confederacy has ordered the outlying colonists to be relocated to more secure areas, but many of the smaller installations have already been overrun. The Combine’s intelligence operatives think they will overrun the planet soon.”

“Then isn’t it even more important that we get support here?”

“I’ve already requested it. It was denied. My commanding officer wants more evidence that there’s a significant Zerg infestation here before they devote forces to the area. Keep in mind that we have no idea if the Protoss or Zerg are going to rampage throughout our other holdings. We need solid signs of a credible threat before we will get any reinforcements.”

“We’ve already lost one Marine in an attack on the colony! What more do they want?”

“Evidence of a hive cluster. The Zerg seed worlds with some sort of organic material that they use to grow and nourish themselves on. It’s been named the creep.”

“The creep?”

“It’s like a living carpet. It spreads outward from organic structures they grow on the surface of planets. It’s essential for their colonies to grow. Modified sensor scans show that more than thirty percent of Mar Sara has been covered with it. I think if you can find some of this material on Pyrux, that will be convincing enough evidence for me to get some reinforcements sent here.”

“Any idea where I should start looking?”

“If I knew that, I’d already have called in more troops,” said Hackken impatiently, directing a disgusted frown at Wilson. “I suggest that you take the Vultures out and see if you can find where the Zerg patrols came from.”

“Fine. If I’m not back by tomorrow morning and don’t radio in, you can consider me dead. Anything else?”

“No. Considering how fast they spread throughout Mar Sara, if they did create a hive cluster here, it may already be far too late.”

Wilson made a quick salute and rushed outside the command center, grabbing the ignition keys to both Vultures from the rack outside Hackken’s office as he left. His squad was still meandering outside the building.

“Hotchkins! We’re going for a ride,” yelled Wilson. He threw a key at Hotckins, who bobbled it in the air before catching it.

“Where to?” asked Hotchkins, hurrying to match Wilson’s brisk pace.

“To find where those creatures came from. Hackken believes they have a large colony somewhere on the moon. You’ll know it by the presence of a field of organic material on the soil. Let me know immediately if you see anything.”

Wilson jumped astride one of the colony’s two Vultures, settling back in the comfortable padded seat. Hotchkins mounted the other bike, inserting the key into the ignition. The Vultures were sleek and aerodymanic, floating a meter off the ground. The two meter long hood of the bike was shaped to cut through the wind. Below, a small grenade launcher was set into the bike for the protection of the rider.

“Any particular search pattern you’d like me to follow?” asked Hotchkins.

Wilson scanned the Vulture’s nav-map display. He sketched two parallel lines straight out from the colony’s western perimeter and submitted the plan to Hotchkin’s display. “The largest group came from the west. Makes sense that the colony would be out there.”

“Okay. Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, what are these things? I’ve never seen anything like them.”

“Hackken says they are known as Zerg. That’s all I know. Hackken isn’t exactly the most communicative superior man. I think we’ll find out more than we wanted to know about them soon enough.”

Wilson ignited the iron thrusters on the hover bike and roared forward, Hotchkins close behind. Despite the gravity of the situation, Wilson couldn’t help feeling relieved to be riding once again. He grinned widely and accelerated. They rapidly reached the point where they were going to split for separate patrol routes.

“See you a hundred clicks from here Hotchkins!” radioed Wilson.

“Yes, Sir. Glad you brought me along. I love flying these things. Reminds me why trudging about on foot is unfashionable.”

“That’s why I brought you along instead of the others. Mulheeny’s silent the whole time, I’m not sure he gets pleasure out of anything. Diego whines about how I’m going too fast. You actually appreciate them.”

“Thank you, Sir!” Hotchkins waved and tore off to the east, racing for the rendezvous point. Wilson smiled and took a similar speed along the western route, soaring over the long stretch of barren earth that went far into the horizon.

More than halfway through his patrol path, Wilson hadn’t seen a single living creature, Zerg or otherwise. Nothing but sixty kilometers of empty terrain. In some ways, Wilson hoped he wouldn’t find anything. Maybe the Zerg had just been sent here as some sort of exploration mission, but hadn’t established any hive clusters. He slowed as he noticed an enormous wall of rock facing him ahead, blocking the entire horizon. Wilson sighed. He’d have to go around it. The formation wasn’t on the nav-map at all, but that wasn’t all that surprising. No one had bothered to complete a survey of Pyrux’s surface yet. There were too many planets and moons in the area with richer mineral deposits.

Wilson decided to radio Hotchkins to see let him know that he would be late for the rendezvous. There was nothing but static on his radio. He slammed the hood of the Vulture in frustration. Apparently the formation was filled with minerals that caused electronic interference. He wondered if he could find a way to move his vehicle over the mountains, but a perusal showed that to be impossible. The entire formation was a cliff face, a hundred meter sheer drop from the top. His Vulture couldn’t handle that. Seeing no other options, he accelerated to the west to see if there was an opening further down.

After half an hour of searching, Wilson found an area that had been eroded to a smooth surface, possibly gradual enough for him to edge the Vulture over it. Showing an unusual level of caution, Wilson slowly maneuvered the bike over the incline. The hover engines were sufficient to the task of reaching the top of the incline. Wilson gasped when he saw the terrain below. As far as he could see, the ground was covered with a strange purple material, glittering with moisture. Several flesh colored mounds were spread out across the surface, quivering eerily.

This must be the creep, Wilson thought with dismay. He wondered what the odd organic mounds did. Maybe they spread the creep or kept it healthy. Wilson didn’t see any Zerg or other living creatures moving around; although that didn’t necessarily count for much if they were hiding underground. He didn’t really want to see if they were lurking down below, but he needed to make a more thorough assessment of the area to make sure Hackken was satisfied. He slowly descended toward the creep, readying the Vulture’s grenade launcher in case he ran into trouble.

Wilson halted at the edge of the purple biomass and dismounted, grabbing his rifle as he got off. He took a tentative step forward on to the creep. It had considerably more give to it than rock, but supported his weight firmly. The material did not react to his presence. Acting on impulse, Wilson went back to the Vulture and removed a combat knife from the emergency supply kit located below the seat. He stabbed the knife fiercely downward, easily penetrating the membrane. Serous fluid pooled around the wound he had opened, but was absorbed rapidly by the surrounding organisms. The small puncture he had created close off before his eyes, just as the Zerg creature had healed its wounds before him. Wilson looked around in dismay at the covering of creep surrounding him. It seemed like it would be an impossible task to remove. Maybe flamethrowers would be more effective.

Deciding he’d wasted enough time, Wilson got back on the bike and roared forward through the strange landscape. Other than the fleshy projections from the surface, there was little to break up the flat land. Wilson radioed Hotchkins again, this time getting a clear signal.

“Hotchkins, this is Sergeant Wilson. Do you copy? Over.”

“Sergeant! I’m in a lot of trouble, do you have a way out at your location!”

“What trouble are you in?”

“Ran into a horde of Zerg guarding an organic structure sticking out of the ground. Is your position secure? I need a way out!” Hotchkins said in a panicked tone. Wilson heard the solid thump of Hotchkin’s grenade launcher firing off a round.

“There’s nothing here yet. I’m sending you my location now.”

“Sir, just get out of there! We need to make sure that Hackken knows what’s here so we can get some help. Leave a marker where the mountain pass is and I’ll try and follow you!”

Wilson did not even consider Hotchkin’s request. He’d never left a man behind before in two decades and he wasn’t going to start now. In the distance he could make out Hotchkin’s approaching Vulture, pursued by a horde of smaller figures. Concealing his surprise that the creatures could actually keep up with a hover bike over a long distance, Wilson drove forward to a position where he could provide covering fire.

“Sir, I told you to get out of here!” yelled Hotchkins.

“Shut up and keep flying straight, unless you want to get hit by a grenade!”
Wilson launched several fragmentation grenades from the Vulture’s launcher. They blew apart the Zerg closest to Hotchkins, giving him some room to maneuver. Wilson then jetted back toward the mountain overpass, leading Hotchkins toward safety.

“That was a stupid risk, Sir,” said Hotchkins, looking back at the pursuing Zerg, who were finally falling back.

“Fortunately, I’m your commanding officer so you can’t reprimand me,” said Wilson with a smirk. “You’re welcome.”


Wilson was unable to get a clear radio signal until they were more than halfway back to the mining colony. Once again he cursed the electrical interference on the planet. It was difficult to be security chief when you couldn’t even talk to your men.

“This is Administrator Hackken receiving your signal, Sergeant. Do you have anything to report?”

“Unfortunately, yes. We located a Zerg hive cluster. It’s approximately seventy kilometers to the west of our position. There’s creep spread over the land for kilometers in every direction. Do you think we can get some reinforcements now?”

“I’ll see what I can do. No promises though. The Sons of Korhal have made a few organized attacks into Combine space. We might be unable to get any fleet support. In the meantime, keep a vigilant watch on the perimeter. Hackken out.”

“As if I’d just let the Zerg stroll in…” muttered Wilson in disgust. “Hotchkins, let’s get back and see if we’re in enough danger to warrant getting help.”

View Part Four