Muttering in her sleep, she rolled over, a habit she had never gotten over, even after several years as a marine. A habit that was very annoying.
With a thump she rolled out of the narrow cot and slammed into the hard, cold floor of the barracks. She just lay there for one, long, cold moment in the chilly, predawn air, waking up and checking her body out to see if she had bruised or broken anything.
Injuries were not to be tolerated, even though a medic could easily heal her up again, her sergeant would put to working harder than anyone, especially since she was just a woman. All knew, of course, that women were pitiful weaklings who needed to be pounded into shape beyond even what men needed, no matter how strong they were to begin with, or how swift, or how good of an aim they had.
Few women ever made it one year in, fewer still survived the years after, and it was rare to find a woman with more than four years of experience in the marines, most either left or transferred to the medics.
Silently, she rolled herself into a crouch, then rose, looking around the dark room. Other marines muttered to themselves in their sleep, still others slept like rocks, only to wake up when their bodies were programmed to, or to out of place noises.
Disdaining her marine suit, she slipped out of the barracks silently, staying low to the ground. Cautiously, using every bit of ability she had, she slipped past the other sleeping marines, not wanting to awaken the stupid males.
Silly males pushed the females beyond their own limits, and the ones that did survive the training were so much better than the males, so much quicker and abler, and so much smarter, that it was a wonder that the males never seemed to realize it. Then again, they were males after all, couldn't recognize anything even when it was dangled in front of their faces, except for killing and women.
Standing up, she opened the door and slipped out, closing it softly behind her. She stretched idly in the pale moonlight, her short, black hair cropped close to her head. Her skin shone a deep, natural brown in the soft, pale light, and it was tight over her frame, giving her a smooth, graceful appearance.
Glancing around, she found the watchmen then, sinking low to the ground, proceeded to creep past them. Mottled brown clothes gave her an advantage in this surreal looking world of paleness, she blended right into the earth.
Of course, a moving section of ground isn't something that one normally would come across, and if the males had any sense, they'd realize that, yes, they were seeing a slight mound of earthen colored material move.
Dully, the two men glanced around, their eyes passing right over her, not even registering that she was there. She smirked, then crept out of their limited range of sight, wondering how such dimwits had ever been placed on guard duty in what could probably be considered hostile territory. Of course, the sergeants and other officers were all dimwits as well, giving stupid orders that, while yes, got the job done, got it done at an entirely roundabout method, where time and lives could be saved in doing it another way.
Another way that as entirely new to them, wasn't in the book, and therefore could never be used. She snorted at that method of thinking, but then shrugged, men were just stupid that way.
Glancing around, she rose then, and strolled calmly across the flat plain. The barren landscape stretched from horizon to horizon, colored a washed out brown in the moonlight. Grass didn't grow on this planet, nor many other types of vegetation or animals, but yet it was still considered important by the people way up in the chain of command.
The constant, strong, brisk wind that seemed to be a permanent aspect of this desolate planet tugged at her slightly loose clothes, playing what havoc it could with her short hair, blowing bits of dust at her. Bits of dust that suddenly turned into a shower, as the ground around her erupted, exposing many of the different kinds of land bound Zerg.
Growling, she pulled out a small gun and a dagger. Shot after shot slammed into the horde of Zerg, spraying parts of different creatures everywhere as her dagger flicked out, cutting into Zerg after Zerg, its blade glistening sickly in the light with poison that paralyzed the victims, eating into their nervous systems unbelievably fast.
Outside the chaos of battle, a loud command echoed, "Catch her, don't kill her. She'll be a useful addition to our hordes."
Twirling, she slashed and fought with all her ability, trying to keep the horde of Zerg away from her. A heavy weight settled abruptly onto her back, then, throwing her to the ground violently, her head cracking against it hard, sending her into unconsciousness.
Groaning softly, her eyes flickered open. Above her the sky glowed with... infrared colors? Layered over the normal colors of the sky? It was... disorienting.
"You're awake? Good. Get up."
She struggled to her feet, closing her eyes as the world spun for a bit. Shaking her head to clear it, she glanced around, getting used to the strange overlapping of infrared and normal colors. A glance down at herself showed nothing different, thankfully.
"What's your name?" the voice asked her from one side.
She spun to face the person, her eyes widening at the sight of the tall, bladed woman who stood there, blades extending from her back, arms, and legs.
"Name," the woman growled.
"Helinfyre," she snapped out, her hazel eyes narrowing, this woman dared order her around...
"Save those thoughts for later, Helinfyre! For now, focus on blowing up that base of the stupid terrans."
She blinked, then narrowed her eyes even more, why would she want to blow up the base? These stupid Zerg wanted her to turn traitor on her own ra....
Eyes widening, she explored the new information she had in her head for some reason, the different tactics of the Zerg, how to spot the burrowed ones, and many other things.
"You're one of us now," the other woman said with a vicious smile, exposing sharp, curving teeth without a single human like tooth in there at all.
"Alright then, how do you suggest I blow it?" Helinfyre growled.
"Infested terran males," the woman remarked with a grin.
Helinfyre rolled her eyes, "Oh puh-leeesse! They're stupid enough as it is, you don't need to infest them to make them blow stuff up."
The woman laughed, "But they're much more efficient at it now."
"Oh reaaaallllyyyyy... that I'll have to see, males efficient at something."
A dozen infested terrans pulled themselves out of the ground and silently stood in their ranks, waiting for orders. Smiling slightly, Helinfyre prowled between their ranks, occasionally barking out a command, which the infesteds followed to the letter.
"See? The Zerg have efficiency figured out," the woman remarked, grinning, as she watched the infesteds obey Helinfyre's commands.
"I don't see much difference, except for the obeying commands. They're still stupid, still have one track minds, still don't know anything except what's dangled in front of their faces." She remarked, looking at the male infested terrans as if they were a lower life form, somewhere below amoebas.
The woman shrugged, "Well, there's nothing that can be done for beings that have a brain capacity of nothing to begin with."
"True, true. Well, before the night is over, I think I'll bring those stupid marines a little present," she remarked, grinning, as she barked out commands to the infested terrans and followed along behind them.
The woman grabbed her arm, growling out, "Have fun destroying them, but don't get caught."
Helinfyre glared at the woman, what'd this woman think she was, a rookie fresh out of training? She jerked her arm away then strode after the male infested terrans. Carefully she directed each to where she knew the weak spots were, smiling viciously as she turned the very sloppiness of the males against them.
Explosions happened all over the barracks, killing guards and sleeping marines, busting down walls and causing fires. Slowly the fires consumed what remained of the buildings, but few marines were left alive, and no SCVs were there to repair the place.
The beating of wings against the air caused her to look up from her position on the slight rise of a hill. A dark shape was outlined against the sky, its wings beating strongly. Helinfyre turned away from it, returning to watching the buildings burn down. The only flying things around here with wings were the Zerg's mutalisks, which wouldn't dare attack her now.
"Males," she whispered softly with amusement as she watched the marines try to kill off the next wave of infested terrans that were approaching them, "stupider than a heap of rocks."
Once more the small scattering of dust particles in the wind turned into a dust storm, and the sound of flapping wings closed in, ending with the light thump of something landing on the ground. Curious, she glanced over, mutalisks never landed, so what was this creature?
The outline of a creature shown through the dust in infrared while there was still too much dust to see much of anything. Slowly, as the dust settled down, she saw the true image of the creature.
Black, with a silver marking on its forehead, and a long body, it crouched down, letting a human male off of its back. The man's brown hair had highlights of silver and gold in it, his eyes were a copper color, and he stood tall, even though he looked small against the creature's black hide.
"What are you doing out here? Aren't you afraid you're going to get attacked by the Zerg?" the man asked, looking around.
She shrugged, gesturing slightly towards the barracks, which was now completely engulfed in flames, "There's nothing left around here, and no way off the planet."
"Epitath and I can get you off of thi..." he trailed off as he stared behind her. Curious, she turned, to see the barracks explode, killing everything inside it. The remaining Zerg then turned and started towards them, which is what had probably startled him.
"Come on, lets get out of here, now!" the man remarked as he grabbed her wrist and helped her up Epitath's side, then settled himself down as well.
To some silent command, Epitath leaped into the air, his wings beating the air strongly as he flew high above the Zerg forces.
"Get ready, we're going to go between," the man said, just a few minutes before everything went black and cold.
Silently, she was seething at this man's insistence upon bringing her away from her new kind, at his manner of how he knew best what to do with her life. A small part of her mind added that, if she hadn't been infested, she would have been glad to be rescued, but she stomped that out, since if she hadn't have been infested, then none of this would have happened.
They came out over a volcano that had a ring of what looked like fire around it. Several creatures like the one she was riding were flying around gracefully. As Epitath was circling down to land, she watched the others, coming to the conclusion that having one would be a great asset.
With a very slight thump Epitath landed, and his rider slid down then helped her down.
"What are these creatures?" Helinfyre asked, looking Epitath over curiously, noting his horns and ridge.
"Dragons," the man responded, "And this is the Ring of Fire, run by Mixed Media."
She seemed to consider this, watching the dragons in the sky, "Is there a way I can get one?"
"Well... there are several clutches on the sands, I think you'd be a good candidate."
Helinfyre smiled, looking up at the man, "I think I will."
"What's your name, anyway? Mine's Dameon."
"Helinfyre."
"Alright, I'll show you around a bit, then let you get settled in."
Dameon turned and walked into the complex, with Helinfyre walking behind him, her eyes narrowed. Men, always thought they were so important and high and mighty.
It didn't take her long to settle in, and even less time to figure out that, yes, she wanted a dragon, but one that would be like her. These other dragons were so... unthinkingly nice and pleasant, there was no way she wanted to bond with one of those things.
Her mind was made up that second, that night she'd slip onto the sands and choose an egg to infest, so that the hatchling would be suitable for her and the rest of the swarm.
Decided, she curled up on the bed and fell asleep, saving her energy up for later, when the rest of the place was asleep.
The sands were dark, and the mounds of sleeping dragons were hard to distinguish from the sands. Infrared helped some, but the sands were hot themselves, and it was that much harder to actually see where everything was.
Despite that, Helinfyre slowly, carefully, crept out onto the sands, glancing once at the smaller clutches that other females laid, then instantly going to the largest clutch, protected by the female bronze dragon that she had learned was called Kimoth.
Almost not breathing, she snuck up to Kimoth, examining the eggs that were near the dragoness' head. Six, all of decent size, but which to infest?
Her eyes fell on the egg that was farthest from Kimoth's head, and, smiling, she knelt down beside it, stroking it gently. Infesting it was easy, and barely took any time at all. One final glance at it, assured her that there was no visible change to it, for she had learned that Zerg weren't welcome even here, and she was afraid that the stupid dragons would destroy the egg if they found out.
Silently, she turned back, gently brushing her tracks off the sands as she went. As she reached the entranceway, Kimoth's eyes opened, and her head lifted off the sands.
What are you doing here, human?
"I'm just out for a walk, got a problem with that?"
Yes! Get out of here! Away from my eggs!
Other dragons awoke then, some joining Kimoth in telling Helinfyre to leave, others just watching silently.
Shrugging, Helinfyre left the sands completely. All there was left to do now was wait.