Chapter 3: 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 death of 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 Athena, 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 limited amoun of resources she had.

The only units she could build now were the Terran SCVs, Zerg drones, Zerg overlords, 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 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 within several meters of her? 

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 the menacing form of a Zerg drone.

Despite being a worker unit, the Zerg drone stood over two meters tall. Its large claws, usually used to cut down mineral clusters or slice into biomass, made Athena hesitate a little. She doubted 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 much as the successful deployment thrilled Athena, 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 somehow make contact with it. Obviously, now that it was outside the game, she could no longer control the drone with her invisible cursor. 

It didn't take Athena too long before she sensed something was different. It was as if there was an invisible link established 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 to use her voice to do so.

“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, fifteen meters away, the drone obeyed. A silent reply, identical in form to the one Athena sent to the drone, was sent back to her. At the same time, the drone 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.

By their nature, drones weren’t very smart. Even with the link Athena couldn’t really have a complex conversation with it, but a part of her looked forward to how more intelligent units, such as Zerg queens or Terrans and Protoss units in general, would act after being produced and deployed. 

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

“Go. Cut down that tree.”

Athena hardly took 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.

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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 infantry squad 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. To the native beast’s credit, blood was drawn from the drone, but the Zerg unit didn't seem to have any sense of pain. It simply turned to the predator and snapped its huge claws into the predator’s body in return, cleaving through the poor beast’s body and holding it in place. Athena quickly fired at the immobilized predator until she noticed 29 more units of resources added to her 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 survived. 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 the predators encountered were put down by Athena’s rifle. And 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? Kitten? 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.

With her ammo dangerously low, Athena would no longer be able to dispatch the threats she ran into with the same efficiency as before. Thankfully, now she could start making actual combat units. 

If a drone was such a good killing machine, how deadly would zerglings be? Unlike drones, zerglings were actually designed to hunt. 

Athena first selected the Zerg Hatchery and produced another drone. Zerg structures needed a drone to transform into. She had discovered that she could recall units back into the game, but she really didn't want to turn her first drone into a building, effectively killing it. This was stupid, sure, but the drone had proven to be an excellent meat shield. She also enjoyed sensing its familiar presence close to her. 

On a more practical note, drones were also larger and more durable than zerglings, so it was always good to keep one around just in case.

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

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