Imogen calls Rory, hoping that raiders can be enticed to help fight these zerglings if promised vespene gas from the clinic’s spigot in repayment. “This is Cowboy Express!” he answers. Imogen introduces herself and reminds him that he gave her and Lilly a lift out to the clinic. He remains wary of her and asks to speak to Lilly instead.
Imogen tells Rory that Lilly is busy on zerg-related reconnaissance. She reassures him that she does not want to know the details of what he and his friends do, but she thinks they might be able to help with something. “The clinic out here is about to be set upon by zergs.”
“Whoa! What? No! Zerg?”
“Sorry. It is about to be set upon by zerg.” The Umojan is still getting used to Dominion terminology.
“What do you mean? There are a few hydralisks out there in the waste, but there’s not supposed to be any hives out there or nothing.”
“Do zergs usually do what they’re supposed to? There is certainly a hive out here near the clinic.”
“Oh, that’s terrible news,” he groans. “Look, I’d love to help, but I’m not really the fighting type….”
Imogen asks instead if he can help with evacuation, since she knows he has transport. She suspects he also makes vulture bikes for other raiders. However, when she inquires about whether he has friends with bikes, Rory says they are busy at the moment and this is, generally-speaking, a bad time. Imogen tries offering him something valuable in exchange for his aid. “If you bring a barrel with you, you can feel free to fill it with vespene at the clinic’s tap.”
That piques Rory’s interest. “That can make it worth my while. And that… can also be a good reason…. You just need a little defensive help up there, right? Some heavy-weapons kind of guys? Here’s the thing, the Dominion has a lot of firepower, but they would not normally be inclined to come out there, right?”
Imogen is not sure where this is going. “That’s why I’m calling you instead of them.”
“I hear you, cowboy. But if someone was causing some kind of noise up near the clinic, like some raiders happened to be around, well, that’s normally a big target for the Dominion. They would roll in right away. And if the zerg happen to be there and the Dominion is there, the Dominion will fight the zerg. So we can cause a nice big ruckus and bring them in.”
“You don’t want to fight the zergs themselves, but you’re happy to fight the Dominion?” Imogen asks, incredulous.
“I’m not going to fight the Dominion. I’m going to get there, get some vespene, make some noise, and let the Dominion know about it. They’re going to come in and try to nab me, but I’m going to get away. Dominion can’t catch me.” He pauses, and Imogen imagines he is nodding in satisfaction. “Yeah, I like this idea. It solves a couple of my problems all at once.” Imogen is skeptical that this will work. Rory assures her that the Dominion has the necessary firepower to deal with the zerg, but he goes on to say that evacuation might still be a good idea. “The Dominion, they do nothing or they do everything with the zerg. If they’ve got siege tanks, stay clear of them.”
Imogen reluctantly agrees to this plan. Rory observes that it will be good PR for the Dominion but that they would have taken the credit for clearing out the zerg regardless, so that does not really matter. Imogen reminds him of the short time frame they are working in, and he agrees to get moving.
“Good luck?” she offers, still not entirely confident in this plan.
“I appreciate it,” Rory replies. “You all right, Imogen. You all right.”