Included in StarCraft: War Stories

Just another glorious day in the Corps.

Despite the sweltering heat on Gamma Dorian, Isaac White stayed cool.

No matter what, Isaac White always stayed cool. Not just because he wore a temperature-controlled hardskin. No, he stayed cool because in his line of work, if you didn’t stay cool, you could kiss your sweet ass goodbye.

Someday, maybe some chump would build a bomb capable of rattling Isaac’s cage, but that day was damn sure not today. Those panbrained, fekk-head Kel-Morians hadn’t even done a respectable job of hiding the detonator. Isaac could think of at least fifteen spots along the underside of the massive bridge that would have provided better concealment. But no, the idiots had placed the device just under the lip of a baseplate, practically in plain view.

Descending the dry gulch’s southern embankment had taken all of 30 seconds, and now Isaac found himself lying on his side, getting his first glance at the detonation system. The setup wasn’t just simple: it was archaic. An electronic time-delay device set to ignite several charges placed at intervals beneath the girders. The KMs had held the bridge and the territory surrounding it until a few days ago. They could have blown the bridge as they retreated, but instead they had opted to make a play at taking out the bridge and some Confed forces with it. And they didn’t think the Confederacy would check the bridge before crossing it? Stupid. Just plain stupid.

This stupidity was exactly why the Confederacy was sure to win the Guild Wars. The wars may have been dragging on for three years now, but there’d never been a doubt in Isaac’s mind that the home team would pull out the big “W” in the end.