The Troubled Nobles
'So now we be robbin' trains due to points of interest?' Tychus asked Matt, amused.
'Yes. Thanks to Ella, the morale of the Raiders skyrocketed since everyone finally gets paid through rewards we reap from our missions.' said Matt. 'But again, we encountered deficits we must make up for. The Tal'darim and that sturdy temple really got us.' he sighed. 'So yes, we need to make some money as no jobs are coming yet, especially if we plan on recruiting more Raider Members.' he told him. 'We were 45 before, but with three in two Psychics and one ex-convict marine, we're now 48. We'd need more than that sometime soon.'
'Yeah, back in the day, we were 400 plentiful, until Mengsk keeps cornering us that our numbers dwindled to what we are today.' said Raynor wryly. 'We know his dirty secrets that he's out to make our life hard till he kills us. Well, its like the good ol' days again, innit, Tychus?'
'Yeah Jimmy, this job makes me feel young again.' Tychus joked. 'This job just about shaved off ten years backwards.'
'You guys used to rob trains?' Ella blinked curiously.
'That, and more. We were young...around your age and onwards...and angry at the feds. We'd do about anything to screw their operations after we got disillusioned back in the Guild Wars where goods are overpriced AND overtaxed, and young men like myself aggressively recruited for the cause.' said Raynor wistfully. 'We were then used up and the wars we fought in were rigged from the start, all to fatten the wallets of the so-called elite while we break our backs. And then stuff happened still. We kept fighting until Tychus got caught and then there's me, disillusioned lost boy lured by Mengsk's promises...that were lies in the end, too. It seems when you want something done, you do it yourself.'
'That's usually the number one truth if you live in a society run by a shitty government.' Ella drawled. 'Because you know there's something rotten above you and that nothing will ever change, you simply start thinking about yourself and those you care for instead and your own interests at heart. Some even turn a blind eye nowadays as long as you and yours have a good life, and staying away from recruitment propagandas and the like. Its all you can do. Family first, friends next.'
'The Gutter way huh?'
'Yup. We don't trust the government. Only gullible, naive idiots do.'
'I guess I was naive with Mengsk.' Raynor smiled bitterly.
'So were we commander.' said Matt. 'So were we.'
'Commander! Captain! Distress call!' a bridge boy called out.
'Answer it.' Raynor ordered as on the screen appeared two words, along with the adjutant voicing out, /Incoming Transmission./
/Is anyone out there?/ a blonde handsome man asked desperately. His good looks however, were ruined by his large eyebags and scruffy unshaved face. They're clearly in a storage room and there were two women, with the other blonde holding a pair of babies while the brunette was working on other hardware not far from her with sheer focus. The other man was reloading guns in a hurry. /Someone has been killing us off, one by one! Our adult relatives all dead and we're just a bunch of underage and two babies here! A friend of ours is holding them off but she's starting to get really medically ill from it and as much as I'm ashamed to say this, she's our only fighter! To anyone who's NOT in bed with the Dominion, please help us!/ and on the screen was the reward of 250.000 credits, and coordinates of their location.
'Well, we're not in bed with the Dominion, lucky guy.' Tychus whistled. 'We gonna answer him?'
'For the sake of those two babies, we should.' said Raynor grimly, seeing the two babies in the background. 'Patch us to our new client boys.'
And so...
/Y-you're not with the Dominion, right?/ the young man asked them.
'Mengsk wants us dead too, but too bad for him we're sturdier than a cockroach, kid.' said Raynor. 'What's your status?'
/Ever since the fall of Tarsonis, we lived in hiding since the Sons of Korhal IS hunting us down./ said the young man. /I am Rockham Kusinis./ the whole bridge froze. Their clients are Old Families!
'Then Rockham, is Nova with you?' Ella asked him with a frown. 'You saying your name means my old student is with you. Her sister married into your family after all.' that, was another bomb-drop. Ella was acquainted with a noble on teacher-student basis?!
/She is and she's on her last legs...we've been sending transmissions since last week when the killings began. And as of late, she's starting to bleed from her nose and having crippling headaches...sometimes she's not at all 'there' because of it...only we are left as the others who backed her up are killed too. We're the last, we in this storage room./
'Brain damage...she's a PI 10 like myself, overusing our powers is asking for it. I told her not to overdo it but she must have as you're all being picked off...how did this begin?'
/Nova found out what led to the attack on us...like on her family, we were sold out by the servants./ said Rockham. /The motive was the birthday party of Garth Duke three weeks ago. It was an adult-only party none of us kids are allowed in so until then, we didn't know what happened in that party, though my older brother Milo and my sister-in-law left early, annoyed...just that three days later, our housekeeper numbers drastically went less. Our parents told us that they're on errands elsewhere so we thought nothing of it and things were tense and my brother and his wife won't speak to anyone...and then suddenly, the killings began./
/Then my brother realized what happened. He told us the truth of what happened in Garth Duke's birthday party./ Rockham shook. /A non-consensual orgy left our maids severely traumatized./ that got the whole bridge in silence. /Clara gathered those maids and did her best, and the most she can do was treatment and a generous severance fee, recommended famed doctors to help them under the Kusinis Payroll and recommendation letters to start anew in employment elsewhere and sent our menservants to escort them off-world as at their condition, they can't be left alone and needed a friend for support before sending them home to their parents. But given the attacks, Nova realized the same as my brother. This was revenge. Our parents.../ he shook in disgust.
/Raped those girls./ he said in a pained voice. /And those girls wanted revenge. And given how the Dominion wanted our families dead, Ghosts are killing us off. The menservants never came back, no doubt angry for their sakes. Can't blame em', what were our folks thinking...?/ he swore in frustration. /The other families fled on their own, but no doubt they're dead by now. Its just us here now./ Rockham sighed. /We request immediate evac and medical treatment for Nova. She's really starting to lose her marbles from her condition./
'Alright son, we'll get you out of there.' Raynor promised him. 'This is also a lesson learned I suppose?'
/We're nothing like that slike Duke and our dads. Our moms had fun with their jigs in that party./ Rockham grumbled in disgust. /It was an orgy with hard liquor. From what my brother implied, everything done in S&M and Hardcore, they've done it all so bad those girls were injured horribly. Yesterday, my brother and his wife went out to procure supplies...never returned alive. We got a package with their heads in it with words written in blood meant for Nova, 'welcome to the Ghost Program'. She went ballistic and went nuclear after a few seconds, which we assumed was to locate the Ghosts within the estate we're staying in...we assumed correct as many places in the gardens went boom and later, mutilated corpses appeared. She was inconsolable./
'We'll be on our way then Kusinis.' said Raynor. 'Hopefully this experience made you kids grow up too and be better adults. Hang on tight. We're about three warps away.' Rockham nodded and cut. 'So Ella, a noble was your student?'
'That was after I rescued her from Terra Skyscraper.' said Ella. 'I was minding my own business in the capital, stealing expensive foodstuff when I felt a massive psychic boom and the Skyscraper fifteen minutes away from me went boom...'
She told them of her days with Nova Terra. But what was supposed to be a year of tutelage got short due to Ella's predictions that she had to leave Nova homework and to burn the notebook afterward when she mastered it all. They are also to part ways, not knowing the other's location for the other's safety if one got caught.
'So that's how it is...well, we better get to this job then before Tarsonis.'
xxx
Baker's Dozen, planet Chiushih...
The orbit has a Dominion Battlecruiser they went toe-to-toe with. But they won as the Battlecruiser in question failed to respond quickly enough to Matt's instant fire of the Yamato Cannon before the other side could deliver orders to what could be numerous units within their cargo bay and get into a fight they can't afford.
Due to Nova's condition, the Raiders made contact before sending a Medivac to liberate the teenagers...and the remaining supplies, too.
On the Hyperion...
'Thanks for answering our distress call Commander.' said Morgan Calabas as Nova was immediately taken for treatment. 'I'm Morgan Calabas. I was one of the fighters left we have. The other three kids were dead.' he said grimly, paying the Raiders with cash on front. 'The others fled from their...responsibility with our other friends but no doubt died first before we endured.' he sighed. 'The only ones who stayed for us were the Kusinis adults and my dad before their murders.'
'Sorry to hear that son, but for now, you kids get some rest. We'll talk later. Ella, guide them to some rooms close to each other so they can get much rest and stuff done. We'll have to make a brief stop to another world for Terrazine to treat psychic brain damage if Nova Terra is to recover. Brace yourselves for Warp Jump for Bel'shir.'
/All members, brace for Warp Jump for Bel'shir!/ Matt spoke into the comms. /3...2...1!/
xxx
On the surface...
Water and oxygen supplies were restored, as is some goods used up to restore Raider Units and base camp necessities.
It was also where they got Terrazine.
'So this world is a Protoss World inhabited by religious fanatics.' Antonia Tygore asked Ella as she carefully dosed Nova with the gas. 'It's a beautiful place.' she remarked, seeing beautiful green scenery outside the windows of the ship
'Yeah. We got a job here once. This place is also good to replenish this ship's oxygen and water supply as well as resources needed to keep a military base running as long as you're smart about it because the fanatics are just as nasty. Raynor's Raiders are revolutionaries and mercenaries. I don't know the story behind these guys, but from my mild Teeping, none of them are bad guys at least. See that dude in dreadlocks at the bridge? He was the first psychic here. He'd be the first to know. Kinda cynical with the government. Well, the government betray their people time and again after all.' she chuckled bitterly. 'Nothing ever changes no matter how many elections pass by. And for psychics like Nova and myself, until the Ghost Program ceases to exist, this ship is the safest for us both.'
'But will Terrazine really heal her brain?' Morgan asked her anxiously.
'It will. I'm just sad that people who need this gas for brain injury and brain disease will never get the chance to truly heal, since the government would rather use the gas to drug their ghosts to increase their PI even at risk of overdose.' Hanson sighed. 'The first ever actual medical patients of this treatment, is these two girls here, and Ella's mother who has brain damage from drugs she was forced to take during employment in her past job. Ella and her mother are on the mend in good progress. Given Nova's CT Scan, she will sleep here until she fully heals. Well, physically but due to damage, it'll take time for the Nova you kids know to come back.' she warned them.
'Well, time to take you kids to the bunks. You guys need a bath and there's a shower per bunk. And the bunks have two double-decker beds that can house four crewmates. Enjoy a good scrub while we're here, still replenishing our water supply. We got antibacterial soap and shampoo too. That's all this ship has, being a military ship so no complaining. And don't expect Antigan Buffalo as you know full well what happened to that planet.'
'Yeah, my great-grandmother complained enough.' said Antonia wryly.
'You mean we can't shave either?' Rockham joked and with a snap of fingers, their facial hair is gone.
'Oh! Look at the mirror!' Bess exclaimed as her brother and Morgan lost their facial hair. 'Your facial hair is gone!' the boys ran for the only mirror in the clinic and gawked.
'How?!'
'Psychic.' Hanson giggled. 'Ella is a Teleporter, not just a Teep and Teek. Her skills are real good in medical treatments. Makes for non-invasive removal surgery jobs. Painless too. For now, we'll put Nova in a Healing Coma while constantly injecting her with Vitamins needed to recover, along with scheduled Terrazine Inhalation. Ella, estimate?' she asked Ella who touched Nova's forehead to use psychometry on her.
'...by her condition, I'd say five months and that's me being nice.' Ella told them. 'She'll wake up but in no state to use her powers as there's no telling what her personality will be like when she wakes. Or if she'll have temporary or permanent amnesia is anyone's guess. Not even a psychic can tell that ahead. That'd be magic otherwise. But be there for her anyway.' the other teens nodded. 'So then! Bath, all of you. Other rooms with no names on it with doors left open, are rooms not taken. One shower per bunk, so you can use any random room to shower at once before we leave Bel'shir! Then you can call Adjutant to guide you to the mess hall.'
'By the way, since the Hyperion is always air-conditioned, baths are once a week as water is important for cooking as well as cooling down systems and engines, don't be wasteful.'
'In a 6000 crew-size place like this?' Antonia blurted incredulously.
'Even then because of our situation. We don't have the luxury of refill stations like enlisted military members do. We scrounge around worlds to avoid getting caught or forced into a fight which wasn't included in our missions, so we are into serious tightlacing.' Ella explained. 'Like how we use Bel'shir as a source of water, oxygen and of course, unique fruits as food, other than resources to maintain our ship. Well, after obtaining Terrazine for medical use, we're heading for Tarsonis.'
Several jaws dropped.
'Why?!' Bess blurted out. 'There's nothing there! Mengsk made sure of that!'
'Well~'
