Starcraft: Warriors of Purity

by Xarmar13


Rebel: Rise of the Raiders

Raynor and Sweetie returned to the Hyperion with looks of determination on their faces. Both of them knew that the ill-fated mission to protect the Zerg from the Protoss was a suicide mission and it ended with Kerrigan being killed by the creatures. They knew that that mission should have never happened in the first place. They could only blame Arcturus for using Kerrigan’s guilt to control her into doing whatever he wanted her to do. It was time to cut ties with the megalomaniac who Sweetie had her suspicions confirmed intended to turn his rebel organization into a new empire of humanity, one that he intended to rule. “I can’t believe he actually left her down there!” Raynor growled.

Onboard the Hyperion, Raynor tracked down The Commander and demanded to speak with him in private. The duo followed The Commander to his quarters where Sweetie cast her privacy spell on his room. “What’s up?” The Commander asked.

Raynor didn’t even take a moment to calm down as he was still enraged about losing Kerrigan to the Zerg. “Mengsk has gone too far! We’re gone, and you’d better come with us. There’s no tellin’ who Arcturus will screw over next.”

The Commander’s eyes went wide at that declaration. “Are you sure? You know what he is capable of and what he will do when he finds out you’re bailing on him.”

“The militia may not be much compared to the rest of the Sons of Korhal and Alpha Squadron, but I still have a plan to get us off this planet. I prepared a little surprise for Mengsk once we make our leave.” Sweetie said.

Raynor didn’t know what Sweetie’s plan was, but he trusted her since she felt confident in her plan. “So, you in?” he asked.

The Commander, while he did not want to be a part of Mengsk’s forces anymore, was also fed up with the war entirely. He knew that he was not fit to lead an army. He chose the office of a Colonial Magistrate because he always saw himself as a lesser politician. Leading an army, much less troops of a rebel organization, was too much stress for the former Magistrate. He had no intention of continuing the military life any longer so instead he decides to make a deal with the duo. “I’m in...sorta. Here’s the thing, once we escape Tarsonis, we go our separate ways and I’ll leave you full command of the militia to do with as you see fit. I plan to go back to the civilian life and spend it with my wife and kids for a while until I am ready to return to the political stage. Do we have a deal?”

Raynor and Sweetie were surprised that The Commander would decide to walk away from the conflict after everything that has happened, but the choice was his for whatever he wanted to do with his life. They accepted the terms that the former Magistrate gave them and Sweetie undid her spell on the room. The three left the room and separated from there, agreeing to meet again once The Commander informed the former colonial militia of what would soon be happening.

A few hours later, Raynor, Sweetie and The Commander were in the launch bay getting a shuttle ready to abandon the Hyperion. The militia had already departed from the ship and were now awaiting their leaders.

The trio received a transmission from Mengsk who was en route to Korhal for his coronation ceremony. Sweetie knew that the time had finally come to reveal her intentions to the soon-to-be dictator.

“Everyone, you’ve done very well, but remember that we’ve still got a job to do. The seeds of a new empire have been sewn, and if we hope to reap--” Mengsk said before Sweetie decided to interrupt.

“Cut the crap, Mengsk. I know you tried to use the Zerg to get rid of Kerrigan and me. I am aware that she was among your family’s killers. Since she was conditioned by the Confederates to never disobey them, I can’t give my opinion on that matter. Still, holding her guilt against her for all these years just to feed her to the Zerg in the end in what I can only guess was some long con to get your revenge for your family, is simply too cruel.”

Mengsk chuckled before he burst into laughter. When he calmed down, he finally gave his response. “You think this was about revenge? Well, you are partly right. I wanted that bitch to suffer for what she did, but that’s not the only reason. When my family was killed, I swore that I would make sure that the Confederates suffered in the worst way imaginable. Then, I would ensure that my family's legacy would live on through me as I fulfilled the plans that my father made long ago. Humanity needs someone to lead them through these troubling times and I will be that someone. I sent you and Kerrigan on that suicide mission because I was sure that the Zerg would eliminate both of you. Kerrigan outlived her usefulness to me when she started calling me out on my methods and you are a wild card that would pose too much risk to my future operations.”

Sweetie smirked at being called a ‘wild card’. She had always known that her insight and cunning have led to the downfall of a number of Equestria’s criminal organizations. Even Blueblood had, at one time, referred to her as a ‘wild card’. “Remember this Mengsk: this wild card has been the end of many of my foes and you will be no different.”

Arcturus growled at her declaration of war. “You don’t seem to realize my situation here. I will not be stopped. Not by you two, or the Confederates, or the Protoss or anyone! I will rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around me.” The trio ended the transmission and switched their channels to a new frequency so that Mengsk could not listen to their communications so easily in the future.

The Commander, Raynor and Sweetie quickly boarded the shuttle and flew to the surface.

Sweetie received a notification that General Duke had activated the ion cannon. This was the moment that she was waiting for as she pulled out a remote control, ready to use it once the militia was ready to depart.

In transit to the militia site, Raynor handed Sweetie a familiar rifle, one that she remembered seeing in Kerrigan’s hands. “I found this where she was last seen,” Raynor said, referring to Kerrigan. “Figured...she might’ve wanted you to have somethin’ like this at some point. It’s the latest version of the C-10 rifles: the MK VI. It comes with options for customizations, provided you can find the parts.

Sweetie solemnly nodded and accepted the rifle from her friend. She was going to need a new weapon anyway since she lost her old one. She figured that she could honor her friend’s memory by wielding her weapon and taking up arms against the man who betrayed her.

The militia gathered with clear looks of concern on their faces. Matt Horner approached them. “So, we’re official criminals to Mengsk’s new regime. What now?”

Raynor raised spirits by giving a rousing speech about his intent on creating a new rebel organization with the purpose of saving lives and taking down Mengsk. He declared the old colonial militia of Mar Sara to be reorganized as a rebel organization called Raynor’s Raiders and named Sweetie Drops as his second-in-command. Sweetie was fine with this because the full burden of leadership wouldn’t fall on her so that she could act with a satisfactory level of freedom for her future plans.

Sweetie assured Raynor that everything would be fine if they simply boarded the transports and left the planet. Raynor was still skeptical about what Sweetie’s idea was, but trusted her enough to not leave him in a bad situation. The newly formed rebel organization packed up their belongings and boarded the transports to leave the planet.

It wasn’t long before the SoK and Alpha Squadron began to pursue the Raiders, while the ion cannon began to move and aimed in the general direction of the Raiders. Raynor noticed that Sweetie was in a seat, playing with a device on her lap. He noticed a wicked grin on the mare’s face as she was pushing a button. The next moment, Raynor noticed that one of the pursuing Battlecruisers was being shot down by a blast from the ion cannon. One by one, the enemy ships were blown apart by the cannon. It took a few moments for Raynor to realize what Sweetie did and was doing and his eyes went wide at the realization. “The way you think is mighty scary sometimes,” Raynor said.

Sweetie giggled and took his comment as a compliment. “For now, we need to find some more vessels to buy, borrow or steal. We won’t be able to engage in an effective rebellion without a decent fleet.

“I know just where to find some,” Raynor said with a wicked grin.


“Duke...” Mengsk said with controlled anger.

“Y-yes?” Duke responded.

“Mind telling me why the reports I received show that Raynor and Sweetie escaped from Tarsonis while their escape was supported by the planet’s ion cannon? The same cannon that we claimed from the Confederacy when we secured our ultimate victory against them? And why was it firing on our ships?”

Duke was visibly shaken. “I-I dunno what happened. We programmed it to target the traitors when, suddenly, the systems switched to manual and the engineers got locked out of the system. There was nothing we could do. Only reasonable explanation would be that someone infiltrated the cannon and sabotaged it. When the traitors escaped the cannon started firing on our forces and we were forced to make it self-destruct just to keep it from blowin’ up more of our ships.”

Mengsk facepalmed. He was livid about the abject failure of his forces in allowing a potential threat to his reign escape where they would eventually be able to gain power to one day challenge him. This had left him with one option: use the new weapon that he received upon his coronation.

“Get UNN on the line. I want to see a mass broadcast of propaganda against Raynor and his rebels at all times across the sector.”