Sitting in his personal dropship, Raynor and Sweetie breathed a sigh of relief as Sweetie’s plan to turn the ion cannon of Tarsonis against their SoK pursuers worked like a charm. Matt Horner, who was aboard with them, commented how brilliant and reckless her plan was.
The rebel ships had escaped Tarsonis while at the same time, the one that The Commander rode in had split from the group and flew off to some unknown location. Sweetie had the feeling that that was the last time they would ever hear from him. Michael Liberty also went off on his own, giving the reason of ‘searching for the truth’ for his reason for leaving the group; a typical answer for a journalist.
“Have either of you given any thought about what we’re going to do now?” Horner asked.
“Gettin’ away from that mess was at the top of my priority list. Now, we gotta think about buildin’ up our strength; find some people who don’t think too kindly of Arcturus and win them over to our side.” Raynor said.
“Right now though, we need to make ourselves appear impressive if we wish to impress new members into this little organization.” Sweetie advised. “As we are now, we are little more than a homeless colonial militia in a bunch of Dropships. We need more firepower if we want others to think that we stand a chance against Mengsk.”
As they spoke, the monitor activated and displayed a broadcast, one that was extending to every location reachable in the Koprulu sector. The UNN, the main media source in the Terran sector, was broadcasting a video of the coronation event for Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. The Emperor was giving a rousing speech to rally the factions of the sector under the banner of his new Terran Dominion.
After a few minutes of sitting through Mengsk’s speech, Raynor had enough and pointed his gun at the monitor and shot it. Sweetie raised an eyebrow at that. “Was that really necessary?” Sweetie asked. Raynor shrugged.
“Anyway, we are not impressing anyone with a bunch of Dropships and fighters.” Sweetie continued. “We need to find a place where we can hijack a Battlecruiser or two.” She turned to Matt. “Matt, do you know of any places nearby where we can find some?”
Matt thought for a few minutes before an idea struck him. “The planet Dylar IV has a shipyard that houses a number of Confederate Battlecruisers. It used to serve as the base of operations for the Confederate Omega Squadron, but they lost most of their numbers from the Fall of Tarsonis. If we hit the yards fast enough, we should be able to procure some ships before any significant Dominion force arrives.”
“Sounds like as good of a plan as any right now,” Raynor said.
Matt signaled the fleet of dropships and set course for Dylar IV.
Back on Tarsonis, Lyra continued fighting alongside her fellow zealots against the seemingly endless waves of Zerg that are attacking one of the major cities. The group was on a mission to rescue as many Terran lives as they could and ferry them to a world free of Zerg infestation. Dragoons and Scouts provided ranged support and protected her from Mutalisks. In the time since she entered the city until now, she guessed that she had killed a hundred Zerg and she was starting to feel the fatigue. The Zealot close to her took notice of her increasing distress. “You should retreat for now. You are not used to prolonged combat like the rest of us. Get some rest and return when you are refreshed and ready to kill more Zerg.”
Lyra actually welcomed the offer to retreat and rest and returned to the new base camp to rest, slicing apart a few Zerglings along the way. She found Tassadar looking at a few Terrans in white coats suspended in stasis. He was holding his hand to his chin thinking about something. She approached the Executor and asked about what he was doing.
“I am peering into the minds of these Terrans. It would appear that they know of a method to draw Zerg to a world. They appear to be using the psionic signature of their psychic soldiers in a device designed to imitate the signature and emit it across worlds.” He pointed to one of the humans. “This one appears surprised that the device that they designed was being used against them.”
Lyra was shocked to know that the humans would actually use the monsters like some sort of weapon for some cruel purpose, especially a madman who would sacrifice every man, woman, and child on a world to topple a government like the one Bon Bon mentioned. She hoped that Bon Bon had gotten away from the madman.
The newly formed Raiders arrived at the shipyards above the desert world of Dylar IV to discover that Duke and the Hyperion were waiting for them on arrival. The large battlecruiser soon began firing its weapons on the ships. A few of the Raiders ships were destroyed while the rest, including Raynor’s, made it to the docks.
Sweetie, Raynor and Matt disembarked from the Dropship and took cover behind supply crates. As they were doing so, Sweetie noticed a few guards heading their way. Sweetie quickly took care of them with a headshot to each of them. Their armor may be tough, but their visors were not.
As the group moved along the docks, dispatching guards as they came, they began to notice that the firing pattern of the ship suggested that Duke was being careful not to damage or destroy the other Battlecruisers docked in the yards. Raynor decided to take advantage of this and had Matt operate the docking arms near the Hyperion to force the large Battlecruiser to dock. A number of Raiders showed up next to the trio as they prepared to infiltrate the ship.
Despite its struggles, the Hyperion was forced to dock in the yards and the dock’s automated docking tubes latched themselves onto the ship, allowing the Raiders entry onto the ship. Sweetie activated her suit’s Cloaking and infiltrated the ship, seeking the ones commanding and piloting it. Raynor and the other Raiders were left to deal with whatever security was onboard. The rebels fought their way to the bridge where the General was waiting.
“Well well…” Duke said, more than a little irritated. “If it ain’t the traitors to our new Emperor. Son, what made you think that I was gonna allow you to take this ship, especially since y'all are surrounded by my guards.” Raynor looked behind and saw a number of Dominion troops behind them along with the ones already on the bridge. He growled as he looked at the General and his smug face.
“He was thinking that he had a reliable partner to help him out when he needed it.” a voice whispered in his ear. Duke’s eyes went wide as he looked around the room to find that the troops on the bridge began to collapse while he felt the cold metallic touch of a barrel pressed on his chin.
“How did you…?” Duke began to ask, but was interrupted by Sweetie.
“I’ve been getting the hang of these powers. Apparently, I can apply a little psychic pressure on the minds of the weak minded and they get knocked out quite easily.” She looked at the troops in the hallway. “Unless you guys want to be the ones to tell your Emperor that you watched your General get shot in the head, I suggest that you guys drop your weapons and abandon ship.”
The soldiers looked at each other for a moment, then carefully put their weapons on the ground and walked off onto the docks. Matt was hiding from view in case one of them tried to use him as a hostage. Duke was escorted off the ship by Sweetie while some of the Raiders carried the unconscious bodies off the ship. The dominion troops that were still alive were tied up to the docks while Duke got a front row view as he watched the Raiders board his ship and fly off with it along with a few others that other Raider groups infiltrated.
Duke groaned as he was not looking forward to telling Mengsk that he screwed up big time.
Tassadar’s forces managed to evacuate all of the Terrans that they could. Many were not so fortunate. He ordered Lyra and the rest of his forces on the surface to return to the fleet so they could continue with their mission.
Some of the retreating forces were not fortunate as they had encountered some particularly strong variations of Hydralisk while one of the unfortunate Protoss gave his last report saying that he noticed that the Zerg were behaving rather protectively of a small mass of flesh that appeared to be about the size of a human. The mass was also emitting a large amount of psionic waves as if begging anyone around it for rescue. Unfortunately, the Protoss forces near that location were soon beaten and scattered.
Sadly shaking his head, Tassadar left the unknown creature to its fate as there was nothing he could do.
Lyra returned to Tassadar’s side on the Gantrithor along with what was left of the ground forces.