Earth Orbital Station - Lumarian Occupational Command Center.

“Xal’gul, you increased the difficulty of your chosen warrior?” the soft chime of her voice echoed throughout the room, causing a gentle shift in everyone's coloration as we relaxed. I focused on her, the ephemeral beauty of our highest Moderator before replying.

“Yes, Ter’ghal. The little Human has amused me to a degree and has shown an aptitude I find rather fascinating. Increasing the difficulty above the game worlds maximum in increments of one will only add to that. He seems to make decent use of the Systems required balances as well.”

My own voice, a gentle clash of waves against a cliff face, was said with the utmost care. They could not be allowed to know the true reason I did this, not yet at least. For now, the illusion that it was all for my own personal amusement was enough.

“Was this not the same Human that actually managed to blow up one of your automated warships?” Another Moderator of the System, one a step higher than me, spoke out. His voice so like a rolling thunderstorm on our home planet, always so hostile.

“Yes, Rash’ral. He and his team, I believe another took the single survivor as their chosen warrior, did indeed manage to destroy one of our smaller warships. I found it fascinating, their willingness to sacrifice themselves against what they had hoped was something of importance.”

~ Personal log from Xal’gul, Earth Occupational meeting of Moderators three-two-nine.

System Announcement!

Congratulations Player: Damian Fern. You have succeeded in finishing the Tutorial Map: Mar Sara Evacuation on the highest difficulty with a bonus modifier of plus one.

Congratulations Player: Damian Fern. You have finished your tutorial with a completion rate of over ninety percent.

Attention, for completing all but one bonus objective as well as the hidden objective of slaying three million Zerg at once you have managed a ninety-nine percent completion rate. System advising that your difficulty modifier is now at a plus two.

Congratulation Player: Damian Fern! For your high completion rate, you have been given the Marine, Lieutenant Fernando, as a personal soldier for the Game Universe outside of your Map Missions.

Congratulations Player: Damian Fern! Your personal kill count of Zerglings is 932/500. For going above and beyond the required objective, you have been granted your total kill count in Minerals for your Game Universe planet.

Congratulations Player: Damian Fern! Your personal kill count of Hydralisks is 735/500. For going above and beyond the required objective, you have been granted your total kill count in Vespene Gas for your Game Universe planet.

Congratulations Player: Damian Fern! For completing the tutorial map with all of your soldiers surviving, you have been granted the means to outfit two hundred Marines in full armor, and fifty Medics with their Field Repair Kits!

Hidden Objective accomplished! For killing over three million Zerg at once, you have been gifted a Hero Upgrade Card (Legendary Bonus)!

Hero Upgrade - Increases the base skill of your selected Hero, unlocking bonus abilities, passive and active. (One-time use)

System advised! For completing your mission, against such adversity, you have been given the ability to select your starting planet! -WARNING!- Planet selected may have adverse effects based on local populations.

I stared at each message box as it appeared, all while trying to remember everything I could before and after the explosion that sent me flying. Apparently, I could only remember the adrenaline filled three days of living hell that had been my introduction into the Maps.

Though, I was surprised that the kill count objectives gave me resources, rather than anything unique. The fact I was actually getting Fernando, apparently, was fucking amazing. That meant I had a very competent and strong leader for any sort of military I built.

It also provided me with a back-up in case this Hero Card thing didn’t give me a military leader. The Upgrade Card was something I was interested in as well, but the details were pretty lacking all around there.

What had me kind of confused was the fact I obtained items to outfit Marines and Medics, but not the units themselves. It made me wonder just how recruitment worked outside of the Campaign Maps. Would it be like reality, where you needed to train and work your people into a single force toward your goal? I frowned, my thoughts drifting a bit toward other inane notions about what it might entail.

When I stopped, I saw a list of three Planets. Apparently my ‘Select your starting planet’ bonus was limited to one of three. The choices were Korhal, Mar Sara, and Tarsonis. Ok, well that was a piss poor list. Each one, while main portions of the story in the game were dedicated to them, was all either invaded non-stop or outright destroyed.

I sighed, really, really not wanting to select Mar Sara, but at least I knew about that Planet more than the others. So, I chose Mar Sara as my starting Planet.

Congratulations Player: Damian Fern! You have selected Mar Sara as your starting location within the StarCraft Universe. System advisement - The System generated Universe is outside of the games storylines and history. Everything that occurs within this Pocket Universe, outside the maps, is entirely new and based upon actions you make. Further advised, known Hero characters do not exist within the Universe generated by the System, unless added in through rewards.

I slowly blinked, eyeing the message with a mix of trepidation and fear. So, basically, nothing I know about the StarCraft Universe and story is going to apply to this place, and the slim hope I had of finding Jim Raynor outside of the fucking reward shit is utterly useless? Well, fuck you to System, fuck you too.

The bonus, obviously, was the chance to ensure nothing truly horrid happened to Mar Sara or my people. Harder with it being based on my actions, and likely the actions of other Races that haven’t been seen. I sighed and then froze when I realized I had been placed on the planet itself when I opened my eyes.

All around me was flat, barren desert, with a small oasis of water a bit to my right, and several yards away. Ok, the fuck? When did this happen?

A moment later, message after message began popping up before me. I was a bit overwhelmed by the information and tried my damndest to absorb it all.

System Announcement!

Congratulations to Player: Damian Fern for selecting his planet of Mar Sara! You have been gifted a Command Center, ten SCV worker rigs, and three hundred Civilians to be trained in needed fields.

System Advisement!

Some Civilians will be uniquely qualified for special roles within your settlement, finding them will be your job.

System Advisement!

Lieutenant Fernando has been spawned within the game Universe, as a Legendary Minor Hero Unit, he has been automatically made your Militia Commander.

System Announcement!

The System has unlocked your personal status screen and the status screens of those under your command. Detailed status now available on all units.

System Reminder!

Player: Damian Fern has multiple System Rewards requiring activation, we advise Player to do so now.

There were more messages, mostly about the number of resources now stored in my Command Center, which was slowly descending from the sky. I eyed it with utter mistrust, that fucking thing was massive as hell. I backed up as far as I felt comfortable doing as it touched down, and people began to pour out of the lowered hatch.

Following that, apparently, armor, SCV Riggs, and the like were items and not actual units. At least that was the case here. I’d need to find people to operate the Riggs, build and harvest resources...which I had no idea how to find at the moment, and train Militia.

The figure currently moving toward me, decked out in bright red Marine Armor would solve that issue, it could only be one person, Fernando.

“Sir! Lt. Fernando reporting for duty! I have been assigned to you as a military asset to assist in claiming and colonizing Mar Sara!”

I blinked, he sounded...younger? Ok, find out later, for now, get him started. “Right, Fernando, I need you to get ten of those Civilians into the SCV Riggs and start building the shelter. I doubt the Command Center is the most comfortable, even with its size. Select whoever you think would fit most in the Militia and get them set up in Marine armor before leading them to scout the area, anything else can wait. I want that shelter and a general layout of the area though!”

He gave a crisp salute and took off back toward the milling people. I could only sigh, apparently, I was being set up as some sort of high ranking person. I’d find out in a bit, but apparently, I had a status now...I’ll check Fernando later.

Player: Damian Fern.

Level: 1

Title: Commander

Communal Standing: Colonial Magistrate

Military Standing: General

Equipment - C-10 Rifle Mark IV, Hostile Environment Suit

Damage - 10

Defense - 6

Abilities - Cloak, Snipe

Well, that was a bit lackluster. Though, to be fair, StarCraft never did huge detailed status screens. It had mostly been sending waves of units to their doom and an attempt to see who won. If you were Zerg at least. But, it did tell me that my defense and damage were highly reliant upon my weaponry. Maybe I could upgrade and improve them as time went on.

Now then, I had things to activate, right? Ok. Let’s see here, first let's do the Enhancement Ability Card.

System Announcement!

Player: Damian Fern has used Random Enhancement Ability. Gifted ability is Regeneration - Rank One.

Regeneration - Rank One - Allows all units under your command to exude a regenerative ability akin to Zerg, regenerative ability increases as its rank increases. (May only be used in Campaign Maps at this time.)

Ok, how do I advance its rank? Also, why the fuck was it limited to the Campaign Map? The system provided the answer. The short and skinny of it was that it needed to be rank five to be used outside of the Campaign Maps, and the way to level it was obtaining Ability Rank Up Cards...Ok, that’s being shortened to ARUC. Ignore the funny sound I just thought. Next, Personal Trait.

System Announcement!

Player: Damian Fern has used Personal Trait. Trait granted is Psionic Storm!

Psionic Storm - Ability to create a Psionic Storm to damage enemies in an area.

Cost: 100 Energy

-WARNING- creates an extreme strain on users mind without tempering his Psionic control

Awesome! Was the first thought that came to mind at the sight of a Protoss ability that allowed me to launch an AOE based attack. Then came the warning, of course, it wasn’t that easy. I didn’t even have the ability to use Psionic energy as it was, so likely using that would turn my brain to mush.

Alright, fine. It’s fine, I'll find a way to fix that later. Moving on. I only had two more things to use, and I wanted to wait on the Primary Building, just in case. So, I did what I have been wanting to do since I realized I could get a main character from the Campaign. I really, REALLY wanted Raynor. He was both a strong unit and a solid strategist, to me at least.

I activated the card, and a swirling light seemed to engulf the area in front of me, while a figure slowly became apparent. My hopes for Raynor were dashed pretty quick, the figure was slim and a hell of a lot shorter than a man.

When the light faded, and I could actually see who it was, my jaw dropped. Before me stood Nova, in all of her skin-tight, Ghost, glory. Blonde, Blue-eyed (Not sure if I even cared about the eye color) lithe build, reminded me of a professional runner or swimmer, and sharp features that brought it all together in one drop dead gorgeous, and deadly package.

“Agent Nova, reporting for duty, Sir!” Her voice, dear God it made me wanna melt. Strong, authoritative and no-nonsense. I blinked a bit, then read the boxes before answering her.

System Announcement!

Player: Damian Fern has summoned a Hero Unit.

Nova Terra

Level: 1

Rank: Elite Ghost

Damage - 25

Defense - 15

Abilities - Snipe, Detection, Cloaking.

System Announcement!

Congratulations Player! You have acquired Nova Terra, a Terran Hero. System advises Player that Nova, as a Hero, grants unique Passive abilities to your Game Universe, allowing you to gain benefits based on her level.

System Advised Player that further status will be unlocked as she levels, and grows to trust you!

Congratulations Player! You have gained the passive ability for having Nova as a Hero - Marine Upgrade

Marine Upgrade - Player is able to advance one Marine per Month to the unit rank of Elite Marine.

Elite Marines - The heaviest trained of their kind, forged in the fires of war and specialized training.

I read over the new prompts and smiled, for once, this was a game changer. I just seriously hoped that the System didn’t royally fuck me over for it later.