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"You do know, your starting to look like Jim with you sitting there like that," spoke Rory Swann, the resident Chief Engineer of the Hyperion. "Only thing missing is a cigar, goatee and a strong drink."
"Very funny, Swann," grumbled Matt Horner, captain of the Hyperion and Admiral of the Terran Dominion - currently holding the badge of a Mar Sara Marshall in his hand, while nursing a drink in the Hyperion' cantina. Property of the once infamous rebel, pirate and freedom fighter James Raynor, leader and commander of Raynor' Raiders. "He might be still-"
"Stop staring at that thing, it ain't going to magically turn into Jim, if you rub it clean and throw it onto the floor. Listen, we both know Jim wouldn't part with that thing, easily - it was kinda like history to him. Knowing that guy, he propably ran off with his Goddess girlfriend or something - no use hanging onto the past, if it don' matter anymore," replied Swann, sighing at the sight before him. And he had hoped the 'moping and drunk' figure had been only Raynor' shtick. "What is eating at you, anyway? Sector is secure, Protoss ain't burning planets and the Zerg ain't nomming at our feet. What's wrong, Cap'n?"
"I don't know really. Jim could always find some action or drag us into another of world-saving schemes," spoke Horner. "Things have gotten-"
"-quiet? Listen Boy Scout, you really need to get yourself a hobby - all this fighting Zerg n' Dark Gods, you may have arrived on the Party Train a little bit too late. And the party is over," said Swann. "...or damn be. You looking for excitement, go get yourself a girlfriend. Or go pick that wife o' yours up."
"Swann..." groaned Matt at that, taking a drink of his stale whiskey with melted ice inside it.
"What are you afraid of boy? Damn be, we fought a frakking Protoss Dark God from the beyond, or something-something bullcrap. You telling me, a little leg is scary to you?" laughed Rory.
"Its not that it-" started Matt, before the TV flared up again. From showing some commerical about roasted zerg legs with sauce - to a newsreport about Deadman' Port.
Heavy fighting continues over Deadman' Port. Sources tell us that the once known pirate haven has descended into a brutal gang war with brounds and missiles exchanged on many sides. The most prominent and largest of the groups being a group called Mira' Marauders and the other being Orlan' Mercenaries. One group believed to belong to the notorious crime lord Mira Han and the other the equally infamous mercenary Colonel Thomas Orlan. What this means for the Sec...
"Goddamnit. We should have dumped Orlan' carcass out the airlock, after we were finished with him," cursed Matt, not hearing what else was spoken, he had other things to think about - namely the part, when they had been the reason for Colonel Orlan' freedom and likely instability of Deadman' Port.
"Hey, we weren't that much gentle, when we pried him from your crazy wife' hands," replied Swann. "So what are you thinking 'Cowboy'?"
"Are you serious with this, Swann?" asked Matt - understanding what Swann was saying. "We are part of the Dominion, I am an Admiral-"
"-go shove that Admirality title and do something worthwhile with your life!" said Swann, shutting up the current commander of the Hyperion. "Here you are moping about Jim missing and your life lacking any direction except shuffling papers and flying a desk. You mess up once, fine by me. Don't step into the same bucket the second time. Plus knowing you, you will likely blame yourself, fault or not - if something happened to your 'wife'."
"She is-"
"-who gives a crap?! You wanna liven up this place or not? Trust me, you'll get bored with that Dominion desk-life very quickly, unless you got something, some reason to work for it. Trust me on this. It ain't worth doing the same job for nothing, unless you gota reason - I was fricking miner, didn' get more dull than that. You got your fancy, shmancy revolution and a good man on some gilded throne. Now go get your girl. Heck, I bet Jim is already sipping some drinks on a beach-planet far away with his own."
Matt Horner eyed the badge of the former Marshall - before setting it down and heading towards the bridge. "Set us on course for Deadman' Port. Arm batteries and power-up shielding," spoke Matt, to the surprise of the command staff there.
"Sir?"
"Now people!" roared Matt Horner, louder than he expected - clapping his hands to get them moving. 'This is a bad idea, this is a bad idea.'
"I'll get some suits and guys ready for your deployment Cowboy!" spoke Swann over the com, indicating that he was already getting some people ready to bust in and rescue his damsel.
"What shall we tell, Dominion High Command, sir?" asked one ensign, namely the com-officer.
"Tell them, were going for a quick trip, back soon. Have Captain Hall manage Battlegroup Theta until we get back," replied Matt Horner, feeling still unsure about this idea. 'This is a bad idea.'
"Jumping in...three...two...one...mark." With that notion, the Hyperion broke away from the formation and into space. Leaving one Captain and several other ships confused about their sudden action.
"MIRA HAN! I AM COMING FOR YOU! YOU BACKSTAB-" A shot rang out, and the speaker from which Colonel Orlan was yelling from was silenced.
"-finally some peace," sighed Mira, reloading her gun and checking her ammo, not a lot left. Guess that was the rule of Deadman' Port - whenever you looked wounded or weak, everybody within a lightyear pounced on you, faster than a zerg on a marine-steak. It was at these moments, that Mira felt bad for having fought over Orlan before with Matthew - being the stereotypical crime boss, whom put reputation before reason. She had known that man was a creep - but also that respect came a long way in Deadman' Port. Or it used to.
Since the Hyperion and Matthew had visited, she had been busy cleaning up the problems that had arisen - all of that costed money and some things needed to be cut corners in. Namely replacing her soldiers and ships, that the one battlecruiser had blown into pieces - what she wouldn't do to have that sweet ship, blasting down on Orlan' ugly head right now. She sighted down the barrel and soon gunned down two of Orlan' goons - when they showed their heads in the doorway. Orlan for all his ugliness, did have the edge of possessing something under that cranium of his. While some End of Times was happening and every major player in the Korpulu Sector was fighting - he was the one whom had been hiding like a rat and gathering his strength - namely siphoning credits from dead people' accounts or from the Dominion when nobody was looking. It was so sudden too, when Orlan returned strapped with credits and buying up many mercs left and right - before sending them at her, and starting the large gang-war in Deadman' Port. The rest of the Sector simply kept on beating - since mercs fighting eachother meant less pirates fighting them.
She soon looked up and blasted another marine through the visor, whom had tried to sneak up on her. One of her subjects, well dead corpse now. It was getting really hard, finding men with character - like Matthew - whom didn't fight only for the next credit or fix. But that was short in supply, since most of her loyal men were already dead or dying - and those left to fight Orlan were mostly those whom disliked both Orlan and her in equal measures, or were just too crazy to give up. And she wagered, she would run out of crazies before Orlan ran out of credits.
"Mira! I know your out there!" came the voice of Orlan, and this time, Mira understood from the lack of a bass - that it was the same sucker himself in the flesh. "Come out, you bitch!"
"Are you angry Orlando? Vhat is vhit this anger? You should really see a doktor about that," teased Mira back, knowing that the Colonel had a knack with anger management. The explosion that impacted a wall nearby told her, that the Colonel was likely packing a grenade launcher at that or one of his lackeys atleast. She glanced over the burned table in the destroyed club - once it had been a great drinking and gambling hub in Deadman' Port - now it was Mira Han' last stronghold, capacity one. Immediately enough, she spotted Orlan, flanked by two H-Sec Marauders. Damned be, how much did Orlan scam the Dominion out of its credits? She only had one clip left and while it was tempting to blow the head off the power-armorless Orlan, she knew those H-Secs would blow her up the second, she pulled the trigger on the weasel Orlan.
"The only body who is going to see a doctor is you! Once they have to identify your corpse by the finger bones you have left," growled Orlan, sending the two Hammerhead Securities forward to search for that bitch - while he loaded three HE rounds into his grenade launcher.
They all spanned out and it took only a split second, before the pink-haired backstabber appeared - Orlan squeezed the trigger on the launcher. Sending a round straight at her, Mira managing to duck underneath the first round, the second round he fired soon hit one his H-Sec boys in the back, killing him. The second H-Sec he had with him, was killed by Mira' rifle - before she went into a full-sprint out of the room. Orlan didn't waste much time checking on his own men, simply following after her into the hall and pulled the trigger - sending the third round flying into the hallway.
"Well, this isn't a pretty sight," muttered Matt, as they arrived on the outskirts of Deadman' Port. This place looked more a mess than the last two times they had been here - the Hyperion' batteries blowing away any pirate that decided to come too close to their trajectory.
"This is Deadman' Port for ya," replied Swann, as they stood in the hanger, overlooking the burning place from orbit. "Aight. We got three squads going. Marines and Marauders will handle anything caught in their way."
As the marines and marauders started to flow into the shuttles - Matt Horner let out a sigh, and started to head for the last shuttle. Knowing it was a stupid choice at that, but it was that nagging feeling in his head - that he should be on the ground, when all this blew over. Was this how Jim felt about Kerrigan - doing absolutely suicidal stuff for her?
He was stopped mid-way, when Swann clamped onto his hand with his metal claw. "I know your tough Cowboy, but even you can't stop gauss rounds with your idiocy. Here!" he spoke, handing Matt a loaded gun, namely Jim' old revolver, complete with six rounds in the chamber - he had been sure Jim left that on Char. "Just don't get into a firefight with that. Get your girl and get out. Good luck!"
Matt nodded in agreement to that, as he jumped onto the last shuttle and they descended down to Deadman' Port. No matter how many times, he had come here, which ironically hadn't been alot - he still felt uneasy about coming here. Maybe it was the lawlessness that ruled the place - or more likely about 'rescuing' Mira Han. 'This is a bad idea, this is a bad idea.'
Nevertheless, when the shuttle landed, he was on the ground with the other Raiders - namely being flanked by two huge marines with gauss rifles and shields. They had just arrived into the scenery when they already heard an explosion or four, happening nearby. Matt didn't wait around for the marines and simply dashed forward to the sound of it - gun in hand. He had arrived in a destroyed club - the place looking familiar by that point, since it was the place Mira had made as her base of operations. And also being the location, where he had played that card game and 'won' her hand in marriage. He still shuttered at that afterthought - the voice in his head, still reminding him that this was a bad idea and he was liable to get shot this way. He surveyed the place and its dead occupants, until he heard another explosion happen in the hallway. Rather closeby in fact and the sound of a familiar weasel filling his ears.
"Hah! Finally caught you, damn bitch!" panted Orlan, having managed to blow off a portion of the wall they were in and catch Mira Han under the rubble. He had run out of rounds, but managed to catch her - taking the time to savor the moment. Slowly loading an Incidenary round into his grenade launcher. "Karma is a bitch, huh, bitch? White phosphorus. This'll burn long and painfully. For the pain you caused me. Any last words?"
"I do Orlan," replied Matt Horner, surprising Orlan and the buried Mira - before he raised the revolver and pulled the trigger. "That. Is. My. Wife." Each word echoed with a round being put into Orlan' body - the two rounds killed him likely already, but Matt put in two more for emphasize. He never really liked the bastard anyway.
Matt took a moment to look at Orlan, his first kill with his own hands and not from a ship - and he found, it didn't feel that bad. Well, he had killed him in self-defence of Mira and himself - he merely shook his head at that, walking over to where Mira had been buried under steel and concrete - starting to lift it off her.
"Matthev? Is that you? Vhat are you doing here?" asked Mira, her cybernetic eye focusing intensly on him, while she kept her organic eye shut to keep the debris out of it.
"Was in the neighbourhood, decided I would drop by - looked like a mess down here," he replied, keeping his emotions in check, as he pulled the last steel plate off her, breathing heavily after that exertion. He really needed to visit the gym more. "Can you walk?"
She tried putting weight on her left leg and winced when it made contact with the floor. "No. Likely broke something when that bastard, dropped a wall on me."
Matt sighed at that prospect, knowing what he had to do in a situation like that. Cursing his late mother, for raising him to be such a gentleman. "Hold on," he groaned, placing his gun in her hands - before lifting her up bridal and soon started carrying her out. Finding her surprisingly light, even with her bandolier and usual equipment on.
"My, my Matthev. I should get myself into trouble more often," smiled Mira, wrapping her hands around his neck. Smiling and giggling the way back to her club.
"Please don't do that," he groaned, dreading the thought of having to rescue her everytime she decided to do something over her head. And likely knowing, he would be always upto pulling her out of it. "I got my own reputation to protect."
"Mhm? I have heard so much about you, my dear Matt-hew. Like how yo-" she spoke, before a gunshot cut her off and they collapsed onto the floor again. Horner' cursing echoing in the air - she didn't hesitate at that moment. Using the gun in her lap and putting two rounds into the nearby idiot, whom had had the luck of finding them. Putting a round into the groin region of the merc and once she heard that sweet whimper, a final round into the head of Orlan' fool.
"Are you alright?" she asked, genuinely hoping, that anything vital was missed. To her relief, it hadn't been that worrying - a shot into his leg at that. Judging by the lack of bleeding, it looked to be a simple 'wound'. "Come on. Its just a flesh wound."
"Motherfucking-zerghumping-" cursed Horner, gritting his teeth together as he pulled himself up. This woman was going to be the death of him - he had not married to get shot due to this crazy woman and her antics. That didn't stop him from pulling her over his shoulder, less formal at that, but he was more distracted by the biting pain in his ankle. Felt like some zerg was chewing on it - he was going to hit Swann in the face for supporting this idea. "-cuntlicking-shiteating-"
Cursing back along the way, Matthew Horner carried Mira Han back towards the shuttle - swinging curses that wouldn't be out of place in a club filled with marines, sailors and firebats.
'Mhmm, Matthew has gotten a very nice place here,' hummed Mira Han, stripped of her vest and equipment, wearing some normal civil clothing onboard the Hyperion. Namely occupying Horner' quarters and sitting on his bed. That man of her, had carried her over to the shuttle, then cursing dragged her to the med-bay - before leaving, cursing along the way to the cantina. She was surprised his vocabulary had been that long.
She later hobbled her way over to Horner' quarters - or was rather shown by their resident doctor, after her leg had been cleaned, fixed and casted up. The damn weasel Orlan had broken a few bones with his stunt, but nothing nowadays medicine couldn't fix. She only needed to stay with a cast for a week, and she could easily be back on the field. Currently she was checking on her contacts - to get a picture on what was happening in Deadman' Port. And honestly, it wasn't much - which she expected.
Colonel Orlan had killed, bribed or scared away most of her people. Namely they weren't much left to begin with, after Matthew had visited her the last time. She was still rebuilding her numbers when Olsen had decided to attack. However, with Orlan' body currently rotting in some hallway - his mercs scattered to the winds. Those who worked for the credit, mostly packed their bags and went home. Or decided to hire their services to the next bidder. Or even decided to strike out themselves in Deadman' Port. She sighed at that - since that meant Deadman' Port was in another free-for-all brawl with every gang shooting or killing eachother. It would be a long while, before she could return to Deadman - because at the moment, she was short on credits and not in the mood of trying to try her luck in that tug-o-war.
No, it was better if she just rested, healed up her leg and restarted her career. She always worked better as mercenary - her times as a regular merc leader mostly involved running errants and ordering people to one place or the other. Her time as a big-time in that place had been fun - but like her old man had said, 'sooner or later, somebody is going to knock you off your tower, so make sure to keep a jetpack nearby'. She chuckled at that memory, her old man had been one crazy bastard. She recalled from her old stories, how his own grandfather had built up Deadman' Port into the hub it had been - before one of his friend' blew his brains out and stole his position. She wasn't sure, if her father had been truthful when he had retold that story - everytime adding something new - was he drunk, lying or just senile then - maybe a bit of all three she suspected.
She turned her head, once she heard the door open and saw her Matthew enter the place, walking with a limp and leaning on a cane. "Mira." He spoke, looking at her and the sultry way she was lying on his bed. She decided to humor him at that and sit up more normally, her legs crossed - a silence had remained in the place, with the shutting of the door breaking it.
"So? How's the leg?" she asked, smiling at him.
"Stings like shit. Feel like a zerg is still knawing on it," he replied, limping over to his bed and sitting down next to her.
"You'll get used to it. I've been shot multiple times," she chirped, not minding much the wounds she had gotten for being unlucky, stupid or cocky. However, she carried them all with pride - a reminder of her lucky times. "Might I ask, why you decided to pay me a visit?"
"I said we-"
"Oh, Matthew. I am not that cut-off - I hear vhat you have done. Fighting on Char, fighting Mengsk, I even heard you fighting some evil Protoss God," she counted off. Each time slightly worried if her husband would survive such a task - that stunt with a God made her drink twice as much, until he returned.
"Well, you could say that," he replied, muttering something to himself and scratching his leg.
"I also have heard about you in general. Namely you becoming an Admiral - fancy suit, responsibility and respect. My Matthew is moving up in the world, no?" she added, feeling a slight pang of respect herself for him. She had spent most of her time as a simple cut-throat merc - while Horner had moved up in the world. Becoming a respected man and leader of men. "So, I am curious vhat does an Admiral of the Dominion Armed Forces have to do vith little ol' me?"
She watched him eagerly, as he opened and closed his mouth - looking for the right words to say to her. It was almost cute looking him squirm - until she was surprised by his answer. And there wasn't much that he did that could surprise her.
"Would you be surprised, if I said I was bored?" admitted Horner, looking at her.
Mira Han looked at him, with curious eyes before she started chuckling, then giggling and finally clutching her stomach as she rolled on his bed laughing. Matt groaning in reply and hiding his face. "Oh, Matthew. If you were looking for a good time, all you had to do was ask," she chirped, wrapping her arms around him and breathing down his neck. "I am always free for you."
She smiled once his face became a more shade of red, the closer her face came to his. "Well, Matthew?"
"Ahem...you do know, we never went on a honeymoon, right?" said Horner, looking at her - which only prompted her to smile more widely.
"Hmm? You reckon we fix that?" she asked, pressing herself against him. She slowly eyed him, as he lifted his cane - and used it to shut off the lights. Which she took as a que to pounce him.
"Ow, my leg!"
Mira woke up, several hours later - after the two of them had engaged in some rather steamy horizontal tango lessons. She likely had torn some nerve or muscles in her casted leg with their stunt - but damn was it worth it. She had mostly engaged in such activities when she was really drunk and the opposite person was more drunk than her or likely passed out. Those moments however, always felt hollow - like something was missing from them.
With Matthew, it felt something completely different - maybe it was the lack of dirt and grime, the room not smelling of booze and blood, with the lack of space fleas in the mattress. She was certain that her screams were heard beyond this bulk, upto likely the bridge even. It was these rare-moments where she just could cut-loose - not worrying, if the guy underneath her would wake up drunk or sober and if he had a desire to shank her for some old debt. It had been just some sweet loving between her and one very handsome captain/husband.
It became something completely different, when her Matthew took over. Damned be, she hadn't used such curse words since she lost her eye to those bastard gangers during her 15th birthday. It felt better than the time, she had mixed a double stimpak boost - with some of the strongest booze she could find in the Sector. Plus he was such a sentimental man - it made her feel almost innocent in his hands: those sweet kisses, honeyed words and heck, she didn't know you could do those things with your hands.
They continued that act for likely an hour or three, she wasn't much for keeping track of time. Ending up tangled in 'their' bed, with the covers thrown haphazardly over them, with their limbs tangled around eachother. He was more the sleepyhead than her - likely because he had the chance to sleep more soundly and safely than her. It almost felt like a vacation to her or... honeymoon, if she was feeling that ecstatic.
Mira was also feeling, what was that word, happy? She had been happy whenever her group scored big time or got some sweet payback on their rivals. This could be called more like - satisfied. For one, she was still alive which was always a good thing. Secondly, she was what could be noted, as in the safest place in the Sector - what could be more safer than a battlecruiser, packed with trained soldiers and firepower enough to level an entire city. And finally, she was lying in the arms of the man she...well unconditional love might not be the best word to describe them and if she was truly honest with herself, but happy at the very least. That was usually what marriage eventually came down to.
She remembred how her own father' marriage was - at best controlled order, or at worst, chaos. He was always busy with work and another job - parts of running a gang and all. Her mum had been the cast iron-bitch of the family, as she had heard him call her many times over. But whenever things got bad or she ended up in some mess or with a 'nasty bruise' - any disunity in the family went into the trash compactor. Mira could honestly admit, her relationship with Matthew was something similar - after all, as her dad used to say - there ain't no saints amongst men, but if you can find one whom 'treats a woman with respect, has been shot and has killed something' then he is as good as you can get. Judging by Matt' history - raiding Dominion' ships, fighting zergs, standing against the Protoss and fighting an alien Dark God - then he had a longer kill-list than likely even her or anybody she had met. Plus, she could attribute herself to him killing something - namely an ex-Confederate pig.
It was a good enough place, to start over anyway. It was a stable environment, one of them had a stable income and both of them had enough reputation between themselves, to send any idiot running back to their mommy with a broken limb or mandible. And if she believed in his 'boredom' excuse, since she could always read him like an open book, then she wasn't likely going anywhere. Not unless she wanted and he would likely still keep an eye on her. With that notion, she rested her head back on the pillow - right next to Matthew' head, whom was already in a heavy sleep. It was a good thing too, since then she could hide that little girlish smile that came on her face - namely, she was thinking if raising a kid onboard a battleship would be that bad an idea - until a giggle came from her mouth, she likely found the reason why he always wore a sweater underneath that Captain' uniform of his.
"I can't believe he kept that Aces and Eights tattoo," she giggled, that familiar tattoo that they both had gotten on their wedding night - both etched onto their necks.