-Arc 3 StarCraft-

-Chapter 18, Revolution-

-Koprulu Sector, Antiga Star System-

-Second Moon of Antiga Prime-

- Sons of Korhal Staging Base Old Factory Complex-

At the Sons of Korhal base, commander Haruka Reid, sat at her desk going over her current resources and reading the progress reports on the Merrimack's condition and how much money it will cost to fully restore the ship to battle readiness. Marry has been siphoning funds from tens of millions of bank accounts from Terran planets all across the Koprulu sector, including those in the Umojan Protectorate and on Moria whos governing body is the business conglomerate known as the Kel-Morian Combine. As of now the credits number in the hundreds of millions spread across a thousand different bank accounts on a dozen different worlds.

Marrys hacking capabilities are downright scary and far higher than that of current generation Adjutant Al thanks to the upgrade program Aliasse gave Haruka when they last met a year ago on Reach.

Typing away at her control screen Haruka went through a selection of ship related services at Deadman's port. The Merrimack was a junker but with the right upgrades it would be able to go toe to toe with any confederate ship. Plus making friends at Deadman's port would give Haruka much more options in regards to military forces. Plus she had planes for the mercenary Mira Han and the current leader of Deadmans port Ethan Stewart.

Raynor entered the room seeing the now Commander Reid working at her new desk. "Hey. The data me and Liberty got at the Jacobs base has been sent to the Sons of Korhal main base for decryption."

Haruka looked up at Raynor. "How long until their done decoding the data?"

Raynor shrugged. "They said it should be done in half a day or so. I hope whatever's on them is worth it. I lost some good men getting it."

Adjutant Marry. "Incoming transmission from Mengsk. Putting it through."

The holo-screen blinked on showing Mengsk. "Greetings commander. You and captain Raynor have done well. I believe our efforts have weakened the confederacy grip on the fringe colonies. But as always there's still more work to do. To that end I have a new mission for the two of you."

Raynor stepped beside Haruka entering Mengsk camera view. "It better not be too difficult. We're not the best equipped or all that big on numbers."

Mengsk. "That I understand fully captain. One of my best agents and second in command will be present during the coming mission. Kerrigan if you would explain the objectives."

Mengsk stepped aside letting a redhead woman in a ghost environment suit take the screen.

Kerrigan. "I'm not much for small talk so I'll get to it. Our agents on Antiga Prime have informed me and Mengsk that the local populace are ready for a full scale revolt. But the local Confederate forces also know this and have stationed a division of alpha squadron thugs there as well too. Their commander is General Duke."

Raynor. "Great."

Mengsk. "Commander Reid. In light of your accomplishment in the highly effective evacuation of Mar Sara I'll be placing you in command of this mission. Your objective is to free this colony and show our good intention to the Antigen people."

Haruka nearly snickered out loud hearing Mengsk of all people say that but stopped her self making it look like a sneeze. Mengsk continued.

"Lieutenant Kerrigan will aid you in dealing with Dukes officers. But the rest of the confederate forces are yours to deal with."

Haruka. "One thing Mengsk."

Mengsk. "Yes?"

Haruka. "I'm sure Raynor and Kerrigan can handle this mission by themselves. I'ed like permission to head to Deadman's port while Raynor and Kerrigan handle this. The Merrimack needs a lot of work and upgrades or its just a glorified space taxi. I got more than enough funds to pay my way but it will take time for the retrofitting of new weapons and other systems."

Mengsk surprised, raised his eyebrows. "And where exactly did you get enough credits to refit a Leviathan class battle-cruiser?"

Even Kerrigan and Raynor were interested in the answer as their stares were more than a indicator.

Haruka. "My adjutant has gotten pretty good at hacking and stuff after a I... updated its operational systems."

Mengsk smirked hiding his suspicion at how a adjutant could have such abilities. "Very well permission granted. But Commander, I take it that you know about that places reputation? "

Haruka. "I'm fully aware of the reputation surrounding Deadman's port. But its the only place that will do business with rebels like us."

Mengsk. "Duly noted. Though I expect a fully functioning ship to be returning from your little detour."

Haruka. "Right right I will."

Mengsk transmission ended and Haruka looked up at Raynor. "Captain Raynor I hope your mission is a success."

Raynor. "Thanks. Should I take that one platoon?"

To Raynors question concerning platoon 417 Haruka answered. "Their officer is a big NO at the moment. But the rest of the platoon should be good to go. But they don't have much experience though."

Raynor shrugged. "Well they have ta learn somehow. I'll take them and give them some experience."

Haruka nodded and Raynor left.

Raynor walked down a hall to a training room with dozens of people all punching sandbags, running on treadmills and sparing in hand to hand training. Walking through the room he came to a young bunch that he didn't recognize.

Raynor. "Excuse me but do you know the new recruits from the 417th?"

A man with iron-gray hair in long, unkempt strands, the faint grizzle of a beard, piercing dark eyes and a scarred and twisted face, turned around to Raynor.

"I'm Jon Littlefield. Sergeant of the 417th platoons second squad. Who are you?"

Raynor shook hands with the sergeant. "I'm Captain James Raynor. It a pleasure to meet you. I'll be taking your platoon out in the next mission. Do you know where your Lt is? "

Littlefield rubbed the back of his head while shifting uncomfortably.. "She's... in the bar. I don't thing we need to bother the Lt at the moment. Shes still not to keen on betraying the confederacy. But they at least she hasn't started a killing spree or planted a bombs right."

Raynor was not entertained by that joke. "Is she going to be a security issue?"

Littlefield. "Liston she's... just a little on edge since Mar Sara. That and she's the stubborn hard ass type. Even though we were abandoned by the confederates she's still not to convinced by the whole rebellion thing. Just give her some time, i'm sure she'll come around."

Raynor. "So she's still thinking it over huh. Well we don't have the time to let that interfere with the mission. I'll be your commanding officer then. I hope we'll work well together."

Littlefield. "Likewise." The two shook hands.

Four hours later six dropships flew low over a river to avoid radar, landing on the west river bank. The 417th platoon along with fifty Marines, five Siege tanks and ten Vultures formed up into a proper formation. The dropships took off leaving the ground forces to their mission.

Raynor stepped forward leading the small army. "Alright people let's get a move on. First objective is meeting up with the agent already on sight."

Littlefield. "You heard the man let's get the lead out people."

Raynor and the small army moved south along the river. After a hour of brisk marching they encountered a woman in a hostile environment suit, holding a canister rifle. Recognising the person as Kerrigan from the transmission with Mengsk Raynor told his men to hold fire and they stopped.

Raynor. "Nice to meet you in person this time miss Kerrigan. I'm captain Raynor."

Kerrigan. "Captain. I've finished scouting the area ahead and..." It was only for a brief moment but Raynor glanced up and down Kerrigans body having a stray thought. "...and you pig!"

Raynor surprised waved his hands in the air. "What! I haven't even said anything yet?"

Kerrigan. "Yeah but you were thinking it."

Raynor looked like a child caught with a hand in the cooky jar by his mother. "Oh right your a ghost. Then that also makes you a telepath. Guess it slipped my mind. Lets just get this over with alright."

Kerrigan glanced off at the rest of Raynors men who were secretly giggling at their commanding officer. "Right. Well then, while we're at it maybe you can help me with a little problem."

Raynor. "And what problem would that be?"

Kerrigan turned to leave and started walking towards the two mile long bridge extending across the river. "This way i'll show ya."

Raynor told the main army to stay behind while he and Kerrigan moved over to the edge of the bridge.

Kerrigan. "You see those towers across the bridge."

Raynor used the zoom function of his CMC armor clearly seeing three anti-air towers. "I see. Anti-air towers with mass sensor systems for detection. Then it's a good thing we got some Siege tanks with us."

The mass sensor is a technology that detects the tiny warping of space that a objects mass causes which is also a explanation for how it can detect cloaked protoss units as one can warp energy in the particle spectrum around one's body to become invisible but can't eliminate their own bodies mass and the effect it has on space.

Kerrigan smirked at the thought of the towers being bombarded. "I like how you think Raynor."

Raynor turned to her. "Funny that's not what your were saying earlier."

The two stared at each other a moment before sharing a laugh.

Kerrigan. "Ok you got me. But getting serious we need to take out those towers out. We can't proceed any further until their taken care of."

Raynor. "On it." Raynor contacted the Siege tanks ordering them to enter siege mode and target the towers using Raynor's helmet data for targeting coordinates.

The Siege tanks locked themselves into siege mode rotating their turrets and raising their barrels into the correct angle. And with booming repor fired their Mjolnir 120mm Shock Cannons. Multiple reverberating blasts washed over the rebel army as the shells flew through the air at over mach two speeds. An instant later all three anti-air towers exploded showering debri over the confederate marines patrolling around them.

Raynor. "Good hit now keep it coming we still got some unfriendlies to take out."

Kerrigan glanced at Raynor taking some sadistic joy from the confederate forces being mercilessly blasted by the artillery fire. "Meh. He's not that bad." she thought as she sensed the last of the last confederate marines die.

After everyone moved across the bridge onto the small island, Kerrigan volunteered to scout out the bridge heading north While Raynor and his men hung back. After cloaking and crossing the bridge Kerrigan encountered a pair of Vultures arriving at the other end of the bridge.

Kerrigan. "Damn must have been alerted by the explosions. Haft to take them out before they send out a alarm."

Using her psionic power Kerrigan broke into a 50 kilometer sprint quickly closing with the two Vultures. She jumped dozens of meters high landing on one of the pilots smashing the man back into his seat his head was pinned in between her thighs. With a quick twist of her lower body Kerrigan pulled the mans off the bike breaking his neck in the process.

"What the heck?" the other vulture pilot exclaimed as Kerrigan stood back up and put a bullet in his skull.

Kerrigan radioed back to Raynor what had happened and she continued on her way moving north west along the road the two Vultures took. After jogging another two miles a Wraith fighter flew high over head. Kerrigan sensed its pilot as much as heard its roaring engines. Wraith fighters wee normally used in space combat or hit and run attacks on space plateformes but they were also good at scouting on planets and for air support for ground forces. They could cloak becoming invisible too but the cloaking system was a power hog even with its own energy reserve, so it wasn't used all the time.

Kerrigan. "Great that thing could do a lot of damage to Raynor's boys. Best take it out before it sees them." Kerrigan reached up to the sky with her arm and grasped the craft.

"Huh!? what the hell." Warning alarms in the Wraiths cockpit blared as the hull of the fighter was crushed inwards a little as the craft was held in place by a invisible force.

Kerrigan. "Can't destroy it up there, it would just be a flare to other confederate forces. Down it is then."

The pilot of the Wraith screamed in confusion as his fighter was pulled down rapidly. He pulled up on his control sticks and gunned the engines in desperation but Kerrigan only felt a slight resistance as she pulled the craft to the ground and observed a fireball erupt between some trees where it crashed a mile away from her.

Cracking a smile Kerrigan grabbed onto her rifle with both hands again. "That was almost too easy. Well i'm not a psi-10 for nothing." Kerrigan said with some pride as she continued on her way.

The psionic rating system was first created on Reach and when the colony ships reached the Koprulu sector it continued to be used by the Confederacy. By it's nature the psi-rating index rated the power level of a human with psionic potential. Generally the higher the rating the more abilities one has and the more powerful they are. A psi of 1 or 3 either have no abilities or have very weak ones. Those with a psi of 4 to 6 will have different abilities varying in strength including but not limited to Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, and other more esoteric abilities like Astral projection and Technokinesis s (The ability to control machines) are among the rarest abilities.

Those with a Psi-rating of 7 to 9 all have one or two strong abilities and a few weaker ones, but Kerrigan was the first psi 10 on confederate record. And as such all her abilities were doubled from what a psi 9 had following the known rules that all psi-abilities double every level on the psi-rating scale. Pulling a Wraith fighter out of the air from miles up was almost child's play for her.

Moving further north Kerrigan hopped over a bolder catching sight of a defense line of a few bunkers and a Anti-air tower to the east. Pulling down her visor she zoomed in on the wall and bunkers getting their coordinates and uploading them to Raynor and his men. But looking to her left Kerrigan noticed no anti-air towers long the plateau the main confederate base was on. Just more bunkers.

Raynors voice came in on the radio. "Got the targeting date. Just say the word when you want us to drop the hammer."

Kerrigan. "Right right. Just wait a moment. Ugh!"

Raynor. "Everything ok over there?"

Kerrigan. "Yeah yeah i'm fine. Just a flash memory."

Raynor. "A what now?"

Kerrigan. "It's just your lewd impression on my brain. It's like seeing something for an instant and not being able to forget it. It just lingers there in your head for a bit."

Raynor. "I said I was sorry. It was just a stray thought. Besides hows a hot blooded man supposed to keep their thoughts in check after seeing a red hot woman in a tight suit like that."

Kerrigan. "Oh don't blame the environment suit on it you pervert." Secretly Kerrigan cursed the man who designed her skin tight and form fitting hostile environment suit which was more often and accurately named a skin suit. Gee I wonder why it was called that.

Behind Raynor some of his men were laughing at his expense from the bantering he and Kerrigan were having.

Raynor. "Listen let's just agree to drop it for now and get on with the mission alright."

Kerrigan sighed. "Ok. But this conversation isn't over."

Raynor sighed. "Got it. So what's your next move. Should we just blast the anti-air towers like before?"

Kerrigan took a minute to think. "I maybe able to reach the plateau on my own and do this the easy way. Just hang back and wait for my signal."

Raynor. "Got it."

Kerrigan closed the line and moved north upto the cliff wall. Reaching up with her arm she started climbing up the stone cliff. Using her telekinesis to hold on to the wall she climb up higher and higher one hand and foot hold at a time. Finally reaching the top she spied the base seeing just a few bunkers but no Anti-air towers lined along the cliff edge. A bad move as any well trained ghost could climb that cliff wall.

Kerrigan under her cloaking field sprinted over to the nearest bunker and crouched moving along its reinforced wall to its back wall. The red headed ghost was just a transparent blur as she moved from building to building until reaching the command center.

In the command centers main office Major Patrick Olander a black haired man in his forties with a stiff disposition and a face to match calmly clipped his fingernails as historical Opera music played. He snipped his left hands pinky nail short as a militia marine officer entered his office.

Marine. "Sir we've received a word that known rebel agents are on the move."

Major Olander. "Have they attacked any confederate personnel of facilities yet?" sounding almost disinterested.

Marine officer. "No. No report of open violence has been reported but the movements of their forces have increased as of late."

Major Olander sat there silently snipping his nails as he thought. The militia officer glanced over at the music player and kept himself from cringing at the horribly music. Wondering why anyone would even consider that stuff music he didn't know and didn't care.

Major Olander finished clipping his nails sliding his black leather gloves back on. "Follow me."

The Major and the militia officer walked out through the corridor to the control room. Olander sat on the officers chair while everyone else in the room took notice and gave him their attention.

Major Olander. "Put up a map of the known rebel units that pose the most threat."

One of the officers typed on their console bringing up a map of Antiga Prime. It showed a dozen locations marked red across the planet. Numbers were shown by the red marks indicating the population in that settlement. Other information appeared beside the marked locations explaining the number of armed groups and those armed with weapons. A few names and faces were also shown being the local people that are confirmed to be rebel leaders or known agents.

Major Olander. "I think this situation is what one would call a powder keg. It's not a question of weather it goes off its when. Which is why it's better to nip it in the bud before hand." leaning back in his chair Olander relaxed placing hands on the arm rests. "Send word to Alpha squadron to deploy a few platoons to the locations of the most well known rebel leaders and the known groups that are the most well armed. Once we wipe out the strongest of these gutter slime the rest will skitter back into their holes."

The officers and marines in the room most of which felt the same as their fellow Antigan people who have openly rebelled against the confederate government. But even if they killed this scum and rebelled what then. For all they know Antiga could end up as another Korhal. A nuked wasteland. That and they had their own families to think about.

Officer. "Yes sir." a officer said dispassionately as she typed in commands to open a comm line to the nearby Alpha squadron base.

Major Olander relaxed as his orders were carried out. But then he felt a piece of cold steel push against his forehead. Looking ahead he saw nothing but the other officers and the main holo-screen. His mind raced thinking what it could be and then he uttered a word.

Major Olander. "Ghost!"

Bang!

The majors brain matter scattered all over his chairs back rest as his corpse hung limp and lifeless on the arm rest with his head and arm hanging. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to the dead major, their eyes wide and mouths open in shock at what had happened.

"Uh what the ?"

"I... is he dead!"

Kerrigan uncloaked nearly making everyone jump in their skins as a real life ghost stood in front of them. Kerrigan uncloaked because she sensed that the people had little emotion for the man she had just ended. In fact they were more surprised at how the confederate major had died rather than cared that he died at all.

"The names Karrigan. I'm with the Sons of Korhal. If all of your are up for it I believe were dew for a little rebellion."

The marines and officers in the room all shared looks between each other before giving Kerrigan their full attention. The commanding officer of the bases marines stepped forwards.

"I'm glad to hear it. Miss Kerrigan is it. Were all ready to help the Sons of Korhal in anyway we can. Same for the rest of the base."

Sensing that the man was telling the truth Kerrigan lowered her rifle but kept her guard up. "Good to hear it. I've got some friends waiting outside the bases west perimeter. Start gathering your forces and tell them not too shoot them. And that there's been a change in leadership."

The marine saluted. "Yes ma'am." The marine officer turned around and left while Kerrigan got on her radio.

Kerrigan. "Hay Raynor. I've taken care of business on this end and the Antigan's are ready to back us up."

Raynor. "That great. You work fast. I'll bring my forces into the base now."

A hour passed and the newly liberated base and the Rebel forces under Raynor and Kerrigans command regrouped to come up with a plan of attack for the Alpha Squadron base in the valley south west of their location.

Raynor. "We only have a limited amount of time before the confederates realize somethings up. Sergeant whats the forces we got from this base looking like."

Sergeant Littlefield. "We got about two hundred Marines and Firebats along with 20 Vultures, 14 Goliaths, 10 Siege tanks and two squadrons of Wraiths (8) not counting the forces we brought."

Raynor. "That should be enough to take out the alpha squadron base. Lets send out a few Wraiths to scout out the confederate base before they know our new friends aren't on their their side anymore."

Kerrigan. "Sounds like a solid plane. When we attack make sure to take out those anti-air towers so I can get in and do some damage. Until then i'm going to take a cat nap in the officers lounge."

Kerrigan left the room leaving Raynor and the sergeant alone.

A pair of Wraiths lifted off from the bases starport and flew south wards. After a some twenty miles they started flying over the lake and spotted a Refinery and a hand full of confederate SCVs mining mineral deposits on a small island connected to the south western mainland via a bridge.

A ping on the radar spotted three Alpha squadron Wraiths in coming.

Alpha squadron pilot. "This is alpha squadron Wraith 2-65 to Antigen militia. Your are violating our air space. Turn back or we will fire on you."

The newly rebel Wraith pilots really wanted to fire on them but now wasn't the time. But before answering the pilot glimpsed the Alpha squadron base a few miles inland from the lakes shore to the south west.

"Roger we'll head back. Just taking a routine patrol so nothing to get your panties in a wad."

The two rebel Wraiths turned back leaving the air space controlled by Alpha squadron forces. Upon their return they spotted a large number of ground forces gathering and going through drills.

A SCV glanced up seeing the Wraiths flying over head before returning to its job of fortifying the rear of the base from a ground attack with some bunkers. Raynor after talking with the local marine officer found out that there was a land ramp along the plateau to the east. It could be used to attack the base from behind so Raynor ordered some bunkers to be built and guarded by a dozen marines.

In the command centers control room Raynor thanked the Wraith pilot over the radio after he gave his report. Looking on the map he read the date on that island. It was rich in minerals that the confederates were gathering.

Raynor. "Hmm if we take out that mining base we could keep the alpha squadron goons from having resources to rebuild their forces quickly. But then they'll know were hostile to them and attack!"

Raynor wrapped his brain around the pros and cons of attacking which was something that they'll have to do sooner or later. Sergeant Littlefield walked up to the tactical map table.

Littlefield. "Sir if I can speak freely."

Raynor glanced over him. "Shoot. What's on your mind?"

Littlefield. "Well sir were going to attack them so may as well make sure it's on our terms. We could take out that refinery on the island with a Wraith bombing and lure the alpha squadron flyers into a trap and take them out."

Raynor went over the plan in his head. "It sounded solid. But we'll have to build some anti-air towers before hand. But otherwise it sound like a good plan."

Raynor ordered four SCVs to start building two Anti-air towers at the south approach of the base while giving the Wraith pilots the news concerning the plan. A hour later the two towers were completed and Raynor set the plan in motion.

All eight Wraiths took off from the starport each loaded up with 6 Thunderclap bombs under each wing. As soon as they were airborne they activated their cloaking units and disappeared from sight. They flew back over to the island with the mineral refinery and SCVs but this time it wasent just a fly by.

Militia Wraith pilot. "This ones for Antiga."

The Wraith pilots released their laser guided bombs and were guided right to the refinery and the SCVs. All five SCVs and the Refinery were destroyed in a blossoming orange and red cloud of fire and death. Not two minutes later eight alpha squadron Wraiths charged in but with the enemy cloaking systems on they couldn't find who was responsible for the attack.

Alpha squadron Wraith pilot. "What the hell's going on. Who are we under attack from?"

Seeing that the bait has been taken the Militia Wraith pilots uncloaked and pushed their thrusters as they flew back to base.

Alpha squadron Wraith pilot. "Wraiths? aren't they the same ones from the militia base from across the lake?"

Alpha squadron pilot 2. "They must have turned traitor. After them."

The alpha squadron Wraiths converged on the Eight militia Wraiths as they accelerated away. Under fire the militia Wraiths jetted towards the two newly built Anti-air towers while the Alpha Squadron Wraiths continued their pursuit. The two anti-air towers detected the incoming hostile Wraiths spinning their missile turrets around and started tracking their targets.

Anti-air Tower AI. "Target locked."

In the air a alpha squadron pilot noticed that he was being targeted opening his eye wide as he saw the warning alarm on his console. "Oh shit!"

Ten missiles flew skywards impacting the Wraiths and reducing them to burning scrap metal. In the command center Raynor and Littlefield watched as the red blips on the radar blinked out of existence.

Raynor. "Well the first shots been launched. Now we gotta hit em hard otherwise they'll overwhelm us. Are the drop ships ready."

Littlefield. "They've landed and our forces are loading up now."

Raynor went over his plan in his head looking at the angles and possible enemy countermeasures.

"Captain Raynor Sir we've intercepted a transmission from the Alpha squadron base to general Duke. He ordered them to destroy our base. Were reading a large troop movement from the Alpha squadron base. Their deploying dropships."

Kerrigan. "Sounds like we got their attention. Yawn."

Raynor turned to the newly woken Kerrigan. "A'bout time ya decided to wake up sleeping beauty. Were about to assault the alpha squadron base. We could use your help a bit."

Kerrigan just walked over to the tactical table looking it over. The real time sat-map showed a flock of five confederate drop ships heading across the lake at them. "I'll handle the confederate attack force so you can focus on taking out the enemy base. If that's ok with you all."

Raynor shared a glance with Littlefield before turning to Kerrigan. "No were good. But you sure you can handle a force of that size by yourself?"

Kerrigan looked at the map again noticing the alpha squadron dropships split into two groups. One went further north to the back of the plateau while the main force landed at the lakes beach a few mile south. "Leave 4 Goliaths, 6 Siege tanks and 8 Vultures here along with fifty marines."

Raynor. "If that's all we'll be on our way. Sergeant lets go while we have a window open to attack."

While Raynor and the majority of the rebel Antigen militia and Sons of Korhal forces flew away in the drop-ship's under escort of the eight militia Wraiths, Kerrigan organized her limited forces ordering the Vultures to lay spider mines at the earthen ramp at the main entrance to the base and placing the Goliaths, Siege tanks and Vultures around the front entrance with the thirty marines in the bunkers along the cliff. While the remaining twenty marines and Kerrigan herself guarded the rear earth ramp at the western part of the plateau.

At the front entrance the guarding marines watched from the bunkers overlooking the lower plain. Then just as the silence was getting to him the roar of a tank engines and marching metal feet echoed up from the lower plain. The marines raised their rifles taking aim at the approaching enemy forces.

Marine corporal. "Lieutenant Kerrigan we've spotted incoming confederate forces. There's ten Siege tanks, a hundred Marines and ten Goliaths in bound."

Kerrigan. "You should be able to hold against a force like that. I'll come give you some support after i'm done over here." Kerrigan ducked as a hail of rifle fire pot marked the bunker she was standing in. The marines around Kerrigan fired back as she prepared her cloaking unit and disappeared. A few moment later she uncloaked laying pron on the ground beside the far bunker that was taking much less fire. She looked down her gun sights at the marines almost a mile away as they approached the the earthen ramp.

Foomp, Foomp, foomp. Three silenced shots and three marines dropped. Their buddies looked down at their dead bodies before shouting. "Sniper!" and took cover.

As they ran for cover a few were taken out by the Antigen militia in the bunkers. Kerrigan quietly moved over to a second sniper spot under her cloak and shot three more times ending more lives. She repeated this until half the enemy forces remained before using her telekinesis to lift a dozen alpha squadron marines up into the air at a time.

Seeing a opportunity and gladly taking it, the Antigen militia shot the floating enemies until they stopped wiggling in the air. Kerrigan would drop the group of marines once they were all dead and then repeat the process until the last alpha squadron marine was full of holes.

Kerrigan." Ok that should be all of them here."

Kerrigan returned to the front of the base to the roar of Siege tanks thunderous noise and the sight of many destroyed Goliaths and Vultures on the earthen ramp. Along with the walkers were forty five marines laying on the ground with blast creators in the middle of the fallen groups know doubt killed by spidermines. The Antigen militia defenders did a good job to hold their position. Kerrigan was impressed but got back to the battle offing enemy officers with head shots as the Siege tanks kept up their bombardment.

Raynor and his forces landed just south of the destroyed alpha squadron mining island. The Marines, Goliaths and Vultures all formed up into three main Marine groups with a pair of Goliaths in between and the Vultures at the left and right flanks. Raynor may not be a brilliant tactical commander but he wasn't a fool and knew how to protect his forces flanks and position his men for maximum effect.

Raynor and his forces move out across the open plain with the Wraiths watching from above giving them some air support. Not five minutes after beginning their march a alpha squadron counter force approached them from the west.

Raynor radioed the Wraiths to takeout the enemy Goliaths and Vultures while Raynor had his men ready for battle. Swooping in under their invisible cloaks the Wraiths bombarded the Confederate lines taking out ten Goliaths, twelve Vultures and twenty seven random Marines.

With their bombs depleted and energy running low the Wraiths returned to the base to provide them support while rearming and recharging.

Raynor seeing how disrupted the enemies lines were knew that he must have gotten lucky and a few officers had been killed in the bombing. Taking the opportunity Raynor ordered the Vultures to charge at the enemies center lines and bombard them with grenades. Blitzing along over the ground the high speed hover bikes sped over the terrain boosting to full speed. They preformed a boosted grenade launch. After calculating the angle and speed of the grenades arch times the Vultures top speed. The maneuver allowed them to fire from just outside the range of the enemy marines.

Alpha squadron marines opened fire but their rounds dropped in speed and power over the distance and just struck the ground after reaching their range limit. But the Vultures with their Grenades own launch power and the forward momentum and speed of the bikes themselves nearly doubled their range. Timing it just right they simultaneously unleashed a barrage of dozens of grenades that racked the confederate lines.

After the first attack the Vultures quickly turned back to rejoin the main force. Raynor zoomed in on the Alpha squadron forces after being hit with the makeshift mortar attack seeing. But even after the two attacks the Alpha Squadron forces pulled back together reforming their lines and continued to march.

Raynor. "Well their not elites for nothing. Sergeant I want you to take command of half our forces. Were going to sandwich them between a rock and a hard place."

Sergeant Littlefield saluted Raynor and took half the standing militia and Sons of Korhal forces. Now split the two forces lead by Raynor and Littlefield marched forwards but also farther away from each other. The Goliaths stayed in the front of the marine formations with the Vultures keeping to the sides. When the rebel and Confederate forces clashed Raynor and his forces were hitting the enemy head on while the force under Sergeant Littlefield flanked the main Alpha force. Vultures preformed hit and run attacks while Goliaths racked the enemy lines with their gatling cannons. All while marines on both sides created hundreds of criss crossing tracer fires flying in every direction.

But soon enough the Confederate lines began collapsing under the heavy attack of the rebel Goliaths and concentrated Vulture hit and run attacks that disrupted their lines allowing rebel forces to keep the pressure on and over into better firing positions.

Raynor raised his rifle and blasted a hole in a alpha squadron soldier right in the chest. The red armored trooper fell dead and Raynor relaxed looking around at the death and destruction all around him. With a heavy sigh he regretted such conflicts and for a moment his weathered heart and mind reflected on happier times with his wife Liddy and son John and mother Karol and father Trace. All gone now. For a moment he felt a stinging grief for the loss of all his loved ones and regret over his foolish younger days.

Then with a deep breath he resolved to be better than in his past and move forwards. Regrouping with Sergeant Littlefield and the second half of the rebel Antigen and Sons of Korhal forces Raynor pressed forwards to the main alpha squadron base. Bunkers concrete walls and Anti-air defense towers stood in their way. Raynors mined turned thinking of what part of the defenses to hit first. The anti-air towers weren't a threat to ground forces but with them in play the Wraiths and Kerrigan can't get close to the base. On the other hand the walls and bunkers were a direct threat and impediment to the ground forces.

Thinking it over Raynor believed the air support the Wraiths provided could change the battles course that and if the confederates deployed their own Wraiths it would be a one sided bloodbath. Giving the order Raynor had the remaining Vultures and Goliaths hit the towers. Two went down from concentrated attacks before a explosion blasted two militia Goliaths to scrap.

Looking up Raynor and the rest of the rebel army couldn't see anything but blue sky and some clouds. More explosions racked the rebel army lines killing dozens before Raynor ordered his forces to scatter. Hundreds of marines fired randomly into the sky hoping to land a lucky hit on the invisible Wraiths.

Raynor and some other marines jumped into a gulch by the main road. A few seconds later a explosion killed four men closeby. "This is Raynor we got a situation here. Requesting backup. Kerrigan if your available I could really use your help over here! And bring the Wraiths if their ready."

Raynor looked up at the carnage. His forces were scattering all over the place as the bombing kept hitting them. Marines took cover in natural earth formations while the Goliaths could only keep moving while shooting skyward hoping they hit something and the Vultures sped around avoiding the bombs. lucky them. There was another explosion to Raynors left. He turned seeing ten marines, four dead blasted to pieces in their armor and six wounded and trying to backup and to safety.

But the terrain was mostly just flat land except for some natural trenches and large rocks. The minutes ticked by as the Invisible Wraiths continued their bombardment. Another fifteen marines died along with a few Goliaths. Raynor was just about ready to order a retreat when the attacks stopped. For a moment he felt relieved but then he heard and then saw the charging alpha squadron forces exiting the enemy base.

Yelling and roaring orders he did his best to reform his battered and scattered army but there were many wounded and as they ran to regroup most of the marines were too slow to get back into a proper formation before the attack hit. Raynors marines turned and shot back as focused fire hit them. Raynor found him self charging into the fold from pure concern for his men. But then he was stopped by a armored hand.

Sergeant Littlefield held Raynors arm. "Sir your the commanding officer your need to stay back. I'll command the frontlines your make sure our main forces get back into formation."

Gritting his teeth Raynor knew Littlefield was right. "Ok. Take care of them Sergeant."

Littlefield nodded as best he could in the CMC armor and ran to the front lines. Raynor ran to the rear of the battlefield reforming his army while the Sergeant held off the enemy forces. Raynor just hoped the enemy didn't send their Wraiths back out for another attack run. Thinking about that Raynor kept his regrouping marines in five different groups each scattered across ten meters. The remaining Goliaths and Vultures kept their space from the marines and each other so if they were hit the loss would be kept to a minimum and wouldn't cause friendly fire from the explosions.

Raynor was about to order a counter attack when another Goliaths exploded. Cursing he knew the enemy Wraiths were back. Two five man groups of marines evaporated from a blast turned into dust and flying debri. Everyone started to take cover again. Fearing the worst Raynor ordered a retreat but then he heard the roar of a dropship engine. Seeing it fly over head Raynor could see a lone person standing at it's rear loading ramp.

Kerrigan sighed as she held onto the side of the dropship's rear door frame. "I'm going to have a headache after this but someones got'a play the hero I guess."

Looking out into the empty air Kerrigan sensed the intentions of the cloaked enemy Wraiths as they flew around for another pass. Two of them were focusing on Kerrigans dropship and the other two were going to finish off the isolated group of rebels holding off the attacking confederate forces. Kerrigan wasn't going to let that happen. Holding out her free hand she closed her eyes focusing on all four of the Wraiths. Then she closed her hand and four explosions rained black debri on the land below. Wenching in pain Kerrigan grabbed her head as a mild headache shot through her head. The enemy anti-air towers rotated at the dropship and launched four missiles.

Seeing a lock on warning the dropship pilot spun 180 and flew away as the missiles pursued. Shaking off her headache Kerrigan sensed the danger and looked up. With a wave of her hand she telekinetically redirecting the Missiles back the Anti-air towers destroying them. She then focused on the defense wall and Bunkers and clenched her free hand gathering telekinetic power, forming it into a baseball sized orb. Aiming the orb at the wall she let it fly and a moment later two bunkers and a large chunk of the wall exploded. Kerrigan radioed the allied Wraiths to begin their attack run and told the dropship pilot to land.

On the ground below the confederate attack force was racked by a dozen explosions demolishing their lines. Seeing the tide turn Raynor ordered a full attack. All rebel forces charged the enemy base. In the mad charge Kerrigan met up with Raynor.

Raynor glanced to his left as Kerrigan joined him. "Thanks for the back up."

Kerrigan sensing his genuine gratitude smirked. "Your welcome. But I hope saving your ass won't become a regular thing."

Raynor laughed as the sounds of battle became louder. "Haha. I hope not."

The remaining rebel forces flooded into the alpha squadron base after destroying the attacking forces. The outer defenders fell and one by one the buildings and personnel of the base were destroyed to the last man. After the last Alpha squadron soldier was silenced Raynor and Kerrigan met up with the wounded as they were being loaded onto the dropships.

Raynor walked along as a wounded Sergeant Littlefield was carried away by two other marines. "Thanks man if it wasn't for you holding the enemy back we would have been overwhelmed."

Sergeant Littlefield. "Your welcome. But just so you know, you owe me a few beers when we get back ok."

Raynor laughed. "Heha. Yeah sure man. See ya then."

The Sergeant was loaded into the dropship as Kerrigan walked up behind Raynor. "Looks like we took a few loses."

Raynor turned to her looking like he was going to say something but then he just let out a sigh.

Kerrigan. "What. Loses are expected in war."

Feeling like that was a bit too cold even for a former ghost Raynor snapped. "That's a bit too cold hearted don't ya think."

Feeling uncomfortable now Kerrigan shifted her legs. "Right... sorry. Lets he back to base. I don't know about you but im feeling a bit on empty after all that."

Raynor just looked at her and a moment later his stomach growled. "Uh. Yeah. Let's get going."

-Days Before-

-Mar Sara System-

-Same Time as Raynor's Mission at the Jacobs Installation -

Ellen sat in the prefab building listening to the shriek's and cries of Zerg moving outside. She had sat there quietly while the mercenaries under her counterparts employ planted the Psi-emitter in the pit she had dug to extract the piece of the Key stone. All according to the plane Haruka and Ellen had made. It was strange for Ellen. She couldn't sense the Zerg around her with her connection to the hive mind but yet she could sense the psionic buzz of a hive mind network all around her. She thought it through coming to the conclusion that although she had a connection to her own swarm the two swarms were now on a different wavelengths. Something like a Zerg radio frequency. Her swarm and the Overminds were now on two opposing psionic frequencies so while the two swarms could sense each other they couldn't communicate via the hive mind.

Although as Ellen thought about it more she arrived at a thought concerning her own influence on her swarm. Aba'stein had implanted Ellen's Valkyrur gene's into every breed of her swarm so maybe that's the reason why the two swarms psionic hive minds are on different wavelengths.

Ellen. "I think it's about time I got to work." Standing up from the table she took one last sip of her soda drink before dropping her void cloak.

Instantly the surrounding Zerg noticed the new psionic presence and started ripping their way into the building. Zerglings tore into the metal walls while Hydralisk slashed at the doors. In less than a minute the rooms of the prefab house were filled with Zerg chewing at the bit to get at Ellen. A Hydralisk slithered into the room with two Zerglings following behind. They scanned the room sniffing the air and knocking over furniture. They could smell that someone was in here but they couldn't find them. Four more Zerglings and two more Hydralisk entered the room making it cramped. With it starting to get crowded a Zergling hoped over another landing on the sofa and tearing at its soft cushions.

From her hiding spot in the wall Ellen closely watched he enemies mill about the room. She had reactivated her cloaking just as soon as she got in the hiding spot and waited for the Zerg to come in. She wanted to get a good look at the enemy she faced. The Zerglings looked somewhat like hers with a few differences. One being the lack of a bladed and shield shaped arm on the back which was, instead a arm and hand with two fingers and a thumb. The second feature was the large blade on the front of the forearm that the Zergling basically walked on gorilla style. The Hydralisk looked like the original Hydralisk in Ellen's swarm from the early days with one large blade on the forearm and two spin launchers on either side of the single head.

Ellen. "Hmm. No upgrades or adaptations. These Zerg must have just been spawned recently. Oh well their not that interesting. Other then the fact the Zerglings have arms on their backs. The Overmind or Abathur must have thought that they were useful at some point. Still it's odd to see a Zergling with fingers."

As Ellen ended her internal thoughts the other half of her personality spoke up. Red Ellen. "Ugh enough gawking more slaughtering. I want to see lots of blood. I've been cooped up for so long I feel like killing something. Or having a good long fucking. Preferably both."

Ellen sighed as her more wild side monologue in her own head. "I'm glad I have control of the body."

"Fuck you. You know how boring I am chained up in here. Hell I can't even masterbate for crying out loud."

Ellen sighed placing a index finger to her temple. "Would you keep quiet I can't think with you yelling."

"You see thats why your the boring half. All talk and no action. GET TO RIPPING OUT THEIR ORGANS ALREADY!"

The internal mental scream caused Ellen to winch in pain scraping against the wall. The noise may have gone unnoticed if it were Terrans in the room but not even her cloaking field could stop a solid wall from vibrating and making noise when shes pressing right up against it.

A Zergling quickly turned to the wall Ellen was hiding in. Hearing the noise come from behind it. The creature sniffed the air smelling the faint traces of a Terran. The Zergling examined the wall sniffing detecting that the smell was stronger. It signaled to the other Zerg and they all turned to the wall Ellen was hiding behind.

Ellen. "See what you've done."

Red Ellen. "Oh stop your complaining and get to the fighting already before I start yelling again. I can give you a very bad migraine if I really want to."

Rolling her eyes took one last look through her peep hole seeing all the Zerg in the room converge towards her. "Oh well no time like the present."

Placing both hands on the wall Ellen dropped her cloak and in a half second formed a aura barrier over herself. The Zerg took notice growling as they before they attacked the wall to get at the extremely powerful psionic presence they and every Zerg in a hundred kilometers sensed. A Zerglings forclaw pierced the wall with ease but just bounced off Ellen's aura. The Zergling saw a thin arm pierce through the wall next to it's own claw. The thin arm grabbed the Zerglings much larger claw arm and with ease ripped it off its shoulder joint.

Screaming in pain for a moment the Zergling backed off before being pushed forwards again by all the other Zerg behind it. Ellen raised her arm in the tight space flattening her hand into a spade and punched through the wall as the Zerglings head was pushed against it. Her arm went straight through the metal wall and the Zerglings skull. A Hydralisk behind the now dead Zergling eyed the blue arm as the palm opened and focused on it. A beam cut through the Hydralisk and two more Zerglings behind it bisecting them.

The three fell dead as the wall itself was ripped apart by the other Zerg horde. Pulling back her other arm Ellen gathered a fraction of her power into her closed fist and punched the wall while releasing the energy. What was left of the wall was blasted off and the Zerg in front of it were ripped apart by the directed psionic blast wave leaving a hole not only in the group of Zerg but the outer wall giving the Zerg outside a clear view of who was responsible for atomising twenty of their kin.

When the smoke cleared the sight that greeted Ellen were hundreds of Zerg all staring eagerly back at her. It was then that she got a rather gruesome idea that her the other half of her personality would no doubt like. She held both of her hands up pushing forwards splitting her aura into two dozen arms grabbing a dozen Zerg by their necks and limbs. They struggled and shrieked as they were pulled up but even their highly evolved bodies were no match for such a overpowering force. Ellen had the aura hands on the Hydralisks lower snake like body tighten their grip before pulling in different directions ripping chunks out of the body and leaving the entrails to spill onto the ground. For the Zerglings she just pulled their arm's and legs off before dropping them like bloody ragdolls.

The empty husks of the Hydralisk and shrieking limbless Zerglings fell to the ground dead of harmless.

"Oh ohoh. Hell yeah thats what im talking about. More of that please." Red Ellen said as the driver of the body held off a barrage of spins.

Ellen"I thought you would like that."

Ellen held her arms out firing a blast of focused aura that cut a groove out of both the landscape and left a trail of destruction in the Zerg ranks. Walking out of the half destroyed building Ellen formed a dozen phantom blades (shaped like long swords). The aura blades rotated around her as she walked forwards. The horde of evolved alien killers watched her analysing her movements and powers. Ellen no doubt was being watched through their eyes by a Cerebrate but she didn't care in fact getting the Overminds attention was apart of Ellen's plan.

Holding out her arms Ellen formed her aura into two vaulted hexagon shaped shotguns. The horde of Zerg charged as she leveled the guns at them and fired. Dozens of aura bullets scattered through the air ripping dozens of bodies apart with each shot. One bullet was fired and another bullet loaded and launched. It flew through the air spinning from the barrel grooves before splitting into fragments that ripped into the Zerg lines.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!

With each shot a chunk of the Zerg army charging at her was shredded before being replaced by another fresh group. Ellen shot dozens of rounds of her aura construct shotguns. Then a Zergling came charging at her from behind after going around through the building. The Zergling leaped at her and time slowed as the Zergling flew through the air its claws reaching out for Ellen. Then just as a claw was about to land a phantom blade shot down from above impaling the Zergling into the floor. The blade pulled out of the nearly bisected corpse returning to its position above Ellen's head as she kept firing at the encroaching tied of claws. Spines started bouncing off her armor and She switched to a beam shot and blasted the Hydralisk and any nearby Zerg in one shot.

More Zerg came from behind her and her phantom blades started shooting at them removing limbs and heads as they cut and sliced through the Overminds hordes. Ellen was feeling a bit board just doing this all the time so she switched things up a bit. Reforming the two aura construct shotguns into swords Ellen ran out of the hole in the building and leaped high into the air. With the phantom blades spinning around her she landed and they reformed into rows of spines over her back.

With a blade in both hands and orbit blades over her back Ellen started hacking her way through the Zerg lines occasionally letting her phantom blades shootout and spin around her slicing a swath through the army surrounding her.

"Hrrah!"

With a war cry Ellen chopped a Hydralisk in half. Spinning around she bisected three Zerglings. Jumping into the air she landed on a Hydralisks head and flicked a blade into a reverse position in her hand then stabbing it in the back. Hopping onto the blades handle she sliced the Hydralisk vertically up through the head. Stabbing her other sword into the ground Ellen held herself upside down while letting her phantom blades shoot and slice around her killing dozens of Zergling and Hydralisk. The spines kept bouncing off her aura armor uselessly as she got back onto her feet and pulled the phantom blades back. They reformed into a spinning ring around her while she charged forwards.

The spinning blades just sliced up any Zerg that came in twenty meters of her while Ellen ran a gauntlet of bloody death and gore. Stopping after a two hundred meter sprint Ellen pulled the phantom blades back. The horde undeterred at the losses they just suffered only seemed to attack with even more vigor than ever.

Ellen. "Ok a Cerebrate must have taken notice by now." Ellen bisected a Zergling. " And I have the key stone." She spun around kicking a Hydralisk in the jaw. "So my missions done here."

Slicing up another few dozen enemy Zerg Ellen called for pickup. A few moments later a sleek stealth ship hovered over the battlefield. Hidden under its cloaking field the craft lowered its lower loading ramp. Sensing it with her aura Ellen extended a aura arm up latching onto a support brace on the ceiling of the hanger and pulled herself up. The door closed as spines rained into the hanger like raising rain of spikes. Retrieving its cargo the ship glared its engines speeding away and out of the atmosphere.

Ellen would have preferred to use her own swarms Leviathans or Behemoths or better yet Abyssray's but keeping the Overmind from learning of a second splinter swarm was a high priority. After walking up a few decks and through a security door Ellen settled into the bridge were she sat down on the captains chair. The empty room of the stealth corvette donated by Aliasse was fully automated but didn't have any advanced smart AI. The ship would make it easy to get around in Terran space without people asking to many questions. And until the time comes that Ellen shows her hand and kills the Overmined it will remain a useful tool.

-Later at Deadman's Port-

In a random bar Ellen sat at a table by the window in casual clothes and with a large backpack at her feet. She took a drink of her beer and cringed at the taste.

"Bleh. I'll never get used to this stuff." She set the beer down and brought out a tablet and started playing Tetris 3d. Over the course of a few hours she was ogled at by most of the mercenaries in the bar. Some even came up to her trying to get her to leave with them or thinking she was a prostitute. She mostly ignored them and they left her alone. But then one guy placed a hand on her shoulder and she sent him flying out the door.

"Geeze Ellen your always rough aren't you."

Looking up Ellen saw Haruka standing in the doorway. The two women looked just like twins to everyone else in the room. Haruka took a seat opposite Ellen.

"So.. Did you get the thing?"

Ellen slide the backpack over to Haruka. Opening the bag and looking in a soft glow covered Harukas face for a moment as she smiled at the first Keystone fragment.

Closing the backpack Haruka handed it back to Ellen.

Ellen. "So hows things on your end?"

Haruka. "Great. The attack on Antiga is going on now. Raynor and Kerrigan should be fine for now. Once the Merrimack is fully operational I'll head back. By then it should be around time for the Norad 2 incident."

Ellen nodded and spoke softly. "Then I should be heading out to get Nova Terra ready. And for the incident on Tarsonis with Kerrigan."

Taking a moment to think Haruka stood up. "Just make sure the Overmind doesn't follow you around. We need him to be lax in dealing with the Terrans remember."

Ellen took on a serious expression. "Yeah I know. Just enough to find Kerrigan and Terra on Tarsonis. The last thing we want or need his his swarm attacking Terran worlds randomly. Im sure I got his attention so thing fall into place. Just make sure to keep Mengsk wrapped around your finger."

Cracking a smile Haruka turned around and left. "I'll be going to see how my ships coming along now. Take care... sis."

As Haruka Left out the door Ellen rolled her eyes. "Sisters...Right."

Chapter End.