STARCRAFT II:
Rise of the Claymore
Planet Talderan: 17:00 Planet Time. Two Days Later.
Raki moaned as he slowly began to wake up. It took several minutes for his vision to clear, but as it did, he realized that he was lying in a bed within a large stone bedroom. Standing over him were two men. One was an old, kind looking, bald man, the other, a strong, firm looking man. Raki recognized them both immediately.
"Father Vincent? Galk? Where…?" he asked with some difficulty. His head was still throbbing with pain.
"You're in Rabona, child, you're alright," Father Vincent replied.
"Oh no! Where's Clare!" Raki shouted suddenly remembering what had happened.
"I'm sorry," Father Vincent replied.
"Galatea sensed something was amiss with Clare's yoki, so a few of us decided to go and make sure that the two of you were alright. We found you unconscious in a forest clearing and Clare was nowhere to be found," Galk revealed looking sad.
"Someone… attacked us," Raki declared, "their weapons and clothing… I'd never seen anything like them."
"You will soon," Galk declared looking extremely angry.
"What do you mean?" Raki asked. Father Vincent pointed to a window, and slowly, Raki walked over and looked out the window. His eyes showed obvious shock and dismay as he witnessed what was happening outside the Rabona Cathedral. Several of the homes and buildings had been cleared away in order to make room for other buildings, the likes of which Raki had never seen while men marched up and down the streets wearing strange red armor and carrying even stranger weapons. The civilians of the city had all been moved to one location where they were being watched by more of the strangely armored soldiers. Raki noticed a strange red symbol etched on the largest of the new buildings. A red shield with a black star and what appeared to be an arm holding a whip inside of it. "Who are they?"
"They call themselves the Terran Dominion," Father Vincent revealed, "only two days ago, they arrived here, subjected the city to their rule, and set up what you see before you. It happened only shortly after we brought you here, actually."
"What do they want?" Raki asked.
"They won't say, but whatever it is, we can only hope they find it soon," Galk declared, "they've been hunting Yoma unceasingly, and the Yoma are beginning to grow tired of their presence here. So much so, that we've received reports from various travelers of a large number of Yoma beginning to form a nest near Rabona. These 'Dominion' guys refuse to take any action against them. Miria has issued an order to all of her Claymore soldiers to return to Rabona and prepare for war, but we don't know how much good it'll do."
"Miria?" Raki repeated as he heard the name. He remembered that after they had taken out the main Organization installations, Miria had recruited several of the Organization's old soldiers in order to form a new army for fighting the yoma that were still being produced by several underground Organization labs. In fact, Clare and he had enlisted with the group, which operated out of a small underground bunker beneath Rabona chapel. They had been on their way to carry out a mission when they had been attacked. "Is she here?"
"She's waiting for you in the command room," a woman's voice said from behind them. The three men turned to see an attractive woman with long, blonde hair and eyes that would have been silver if it weren't for the fact that they were missing.
"Galatea," Raki said as he saw the woman.
"If you're feeling better, then you'd best hurry down to see her," Galatea declared simply.
Miria's Claymores Command Room: Underground bunker beneath Rabona Cathedral: 17:10 planet time.
Raki took a deep breath as he entered the secret stairway that led down to the underground bunker of Miria's Claymores. Since the humans still often referred to the new army as Claymores, many of the warriors had begun referring to the new organization as Miria's Claymores. Despite Miria's protests, the name had stuck and now Miria's Claymores where known all across the continent. Though people were still a little nervous about the Claymore, by and large, the fears and rumors concerning them had begun to dissipate, thanks largely to next generation technology that had been pirated from the Organization's main base which had allowed modifications to be made to the Claymores, allowing them to more freely tap into their Yoma powers without awakening, making awakened beings far more rare then they once were, with the exception of several who were still alive from the 1st Claymore generation (the male ones) and several others that were no doubt being artificially produced by the secret Organization labs still littered across the continent.
Miria stood against the far wall of the bunker. Though she was looking away from him, he could tell that she knew he was there. After several minutes she finally spoke.
"What happened, Raki?" she asked simply.
"I'm sorry, Miria, I don't know a lot, but I'll tell you what I do know," he declared retelling what he knew of Clare's capture.
"I see, so they were able to turn invisible at will," Miria declared turning to face Raki after he had finished his tale. She was a beautiful woman with medium length blonde hair which she kept tied up in a pony tale. Her only visible defect was a deep, x shaped scar that ran across her entire face, a souvenir of her final confrontation with the Organization. "Based on what you've told me and the information I've gathered about the Organization myself, I'd have to guess that the ones that took Clare were elite soldiers called Ghosts. They specialize in just that sort of mission, which makes it even more believable. It's likely, Raki, that Clare is no longer on our planet."
"What do you mean?" Raki asked, "how can she not be on the planet?"
"These 'Dominion' guys. You've probably figured it out already, but they aren't from our continent. They aren't even from our world," Miria declared, "Since you're involved in this, you deserve to know everything I've found out. The Dominion is an empire that controls not only countries, but also entire planets. Our planet, which they call Talderan, lies with in their empire, but due to our lack of technology, we'd been primarily left alone up until now. The Dominion wants something from us. They're looking for something with which they can create a new weapon, but my sources were unable to determine what it was. After hearing your story, I'm convinced that what they were after… was a Claymore."
"Wait, then… they took Clare because they're going to do some kind of research on her?" Raki replied.
"As best as I can determine, that seems the most likely case," Miria declared.
"Miria!" a loud, familiar voice called from the top of the stairs. A Claymore with medium length, blonde hair entered the room.
"Helen? What's going on?" Miria asked.
"You've gotta come quick. We're in big trouble!" Helen declared motioning for Miria to follow her.
"Let's go Raki," Miria ordered as the three of them took off up to the Cathedral.