Magistrate to Commander
Chapter 6: Kickstarting a revolution
"I was starting to think that there was no military installation." I joke, looking at the captive Antigan base through binoculars.
"And there's their network hub." Kerrigan has her visor down to see with me.
"Which one?" I look away to see where she's pointing. "That's definitely it… how fast would it take us to take it down?"
"I just need to get to it and get out." Kerrigan reassures me, and then moves her visor out of the way. "Are you sure these 'Viper Gang members' can distract the Confederates long enough?"
"With us backing them up? Definitely." I reassure her.
"I have reservations about using gang members." Graves notes.
"Objection noted, but we're what we got." I turn my attention back to the task at hand. "Once the vultures set out I want everyone to charge towards the network tower, once Kerrigan has planted the, explosives?" She nods. "Explosives and falls back I want everyone to fall back."
"What about the Viper Gang?" Kerrigan asks.
"Hopefully I can convince them to not run laps around the installation." I let out a sigh. "I won't be going, I'll be the starting and finishing line for them… we meet back here once everything's said and done. Okay?"
"Yes sir!" both the Sergeant and Lieutenant respond as I walk away.
"I have a race to start." I sigh loud enough for them to hear.
They were lined up before I got there, revving their engines in anticipation. How insane does someone have to be to think that racing through a military installation is a great past time? "One lap, first one to go all the way around the confederate base and get back here is the winner, okay?" I call out setting up a tripod with a close range sensor set up on it.
The pilots roar, waiting for the count down.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Before I've finished the vultures have taken off. I turn my attention to the close range sensor, watching as the speeding vultures rocket across the radar's screen. My soldiers move out as soon as the screaming vultures speed past them.
It's not long before they get out of range of the sensor, but at least I have a good view of what's going on, the sensor is more for my protection. If there's any Zerg in the area Kaleb and I would be dead before the others could get back, so far nothing's appeared on the sensor that I didn't already know about, and I pray that doesn't change. "Would it be safer to go with the assault?" Kaleb asks, rifle at the ready and aimed at everything.
"And in the line of fire without a weapon? I thought it was your job to keep me safe."
"It is! It's just… if a patrol of Confederates comes by here-"
"If there are any patrols they'd be recalled to aid in the defence of the base, I doubt we'll see anything." I say, gripping the tripod tightly, sharing his concerns but not voicing them.
It's a miracle that the vultures are still alive, I can't see the vultures clearly at this distance without binoculars, but I can see the explosions from the spider mines they're placing.
Not five minutes pass before a larger explosion rocks the ground, the network tower going up in flames. "Everything's up to you, Kerrigan." I say watching the smoke rise from the rubble off in the distance.
The marines come back, minus the Ghost. "Any wounded?" I ask as the troops are placed on the ground.
"One dead and three wounded, the rest have superficial wounds." Graves informs me.
"Hopefully the Antigans have medics." I let out a sigh. "Where're the Viper Gang?"
A single vulture roars to a stop, bike on fire. "I win!" He calls out.
"Get off that thing before it explodes!" Graves barks.
"Hah! If my baby were going to explode it would have done so during the race." The Psychopath says with a grin.
Gunfire off in the distance. The Antigan's have opened fire on the Confederates. "Looks like Kerrigan did it! Once the fighting's died down we'll carry the wounded to our new base of operations." If the Antigan's don't win, then we'll have to retreat to the hyperion, if we still can.
"Can you hear me, Magistrate?" Kerrigan's voice comes over the local comms.
"Loud and clear."
"Move your men in, the Antigan's have the Confederates under control."
"You heard the woman, move!"
The ramp leading up to the Antigan base is heavily guarded with Antigan guards. They salute as we approach. The gunfire is starting to die down. Kerrigan uncloaks at the top. "Good work, Lieutenant." I give her a nod.
"Time for these bastards to pay." Kerrigan gives me a nod in return. "Turn control of the base to the Magistrate." She says into her ear piece.
"Greetings magistrate." The Adjutant greets me.
"Make sure these men get taken care of, I'm going to plan our next move." I tell my officers, walking towards the command center. "If any of our buildings are damaged I want SCV's repairing them, if not I want them getting minerals and vespene."
"Yes, Magistrate."
Finally, the command deck, the door to the AI core has been breached, and there's a bigger mess of wires than there usually is attached to the Adjutant. "Adjutant, get me the Hyperion."
"Transmission starting."
"This is Maxton Dirge, we've successfully taken the main Antigan military installation and are preparing to launch an assault on the remaining Alpha Squadron bases, end-"
Mengsk appears on the holodesk. "Good work magistrate, I have captain Raynor on standby to reinforce your position."
"Half of my men are wounded, dead or tied down so reinforcements would be appreciated."
"Alert, a massive detachment of Alpha squadron has landed on Antiga Prime, five kilometers away from current position." The Adjutant interrupts.
"Define 'massive'." I tell the Adjutant.
"Ten thousand personal."
My eyes bulge. "I don't have the manpower to fend that off!"
"I will dispatch reinforcements immediately, Raynor!"
"What's up?" Raynor joins the transmission.
"Move out immediately, we cannot lose Antiga Prime to Alpha Squadron."
And then from Mengsk's side. "The Norad Two has warped into orbit of Antiga prime."
"Incoming Transmission." My Adjutant pipes up.
"That would be Duke." I sigh. "Patch it through." His face appears on the holo, and he's not happy to see me.
"I knew it, I should have executed you and all of your men back on Mar Sara you son of a bitch." Duke seethes.
"You are as much a traitor as I am, and I would happily put you before the chopping block, Duke."
Duke has a laugh. "You think you stand a chance against the full might of Alpha Squadron?"
"Yes."
"I'm going to force feed you your pride, outlaw."
"Come and get me." I spit at the hologram.
"Transmission finished."
"He sounds serious." Raynor rolls his eyes.
"As far as I know, we don't have any battle cruisers down here to fight the Norad Two." I say as my worry continues to layer on.
"We'll do what we can… hell no." mengsk breathes. "We're picking up Zerg on Antiga Prime, deal with Alpha Squadron first, we'll worry about the Zerg after."
"Transmission finished."
"Just like with Mar Sara." I drop my visor and then rub it with both hands.
"This time you have the Sons of Korhal at your back." Kerrigan enters the room.
I wonder if she was on Mar Sara during the Zerg attack. "What's our first course of action?"
"Are we the only officers?"
"I disposed of them."
"Antigan Officers?"
"Alpha Squadron didn't want them to have leadership."
One of these days I'm going to have officers to confer with. "How much of the planet did you scout?"
"All of it, Magistrate." Kerrigan begins fiddling with the console, bringing up the downed sensor net. "If we can capture a working sensor tower I can tap us into their network."
"Sounds like a priority." I nod in agreement.
"Starport online." The Adjutant says.
"Starport you say." I raise my eyebrows and visor. "What pray tell is in this Starport?"
"Several Wraiths and dropships are awaiting deployment." The Adjutant informs us. "I think we have our Sensor Tower Apprehension Squad." I rub my hands together.
"Warning, a detachment of Alpha squadron has launched from the Norad Two, landing site is less than three kilometers out."
"What about the Hyperion?"
"The Hyperion is moving to engage the Norad Two."
"New priority, we make sure that detachment doesn't make it planetside and if they do, for not very long." I activate the base's speakers. "I want all active wraith Pilots on standby for deployment, we have Confederates dropping down nearby and we're going to roll out the red carpet for them!"
"Lieutenant, take what you need and get us into their network, I have an air raid to coordinate." I don't look, and I don't need to to know that she's already gone.
"This is Wraith one, ready for deployment."
"Wraith two on standby."
"Thought you were rid of me?" Aaila asks jokingly on the coms.
"Wraith Seven on Standby."
Several more Wraiths report for duty. "Adjutant, paint a target on the descending Alpha Squadron forces."
Alpha Squadron appears on the radar with a ring around each dot. "Everything's out of my hands now." I say to myself as the Wraiths take off, three Dropships take off, one of which almost clips the exit to the Starport. "Make sure everything's being maintained, and keep me updated on the Air Raids."
"Yes, Magistrate." The Adjutant's voice echos behind me as I leave the command room. I have a military installation to oversee.
"Everyone buckled back there?" Aaila asks over the dropship's intercom. Eleven marines and Lieutenant kerrigan are on board. Escorting them is two wraiths and another dropship. "Eta to destination is five minutes."
Some of these men were from the magistrates own landing party. "Didn't think I'd miss the banter between the Magistrate and the Pilot." One of them notes.
"They always argued like that?" One of the other soldiers asks him.
"I've only been on two missions with the Magistrate, but yeah."
"Argue?" Kerrigan butts in.
"Yeah, it helped with the nerves knowing that our leader and pilot were both human."
Kerrigan's going to file away that bit of information, it's useless but it tells her about the Magistrate. "You look up to him?"
"He got us through the Mar Sara crisis, I'd follow the Magistrate into Hell if he told me too." The rest of the soldiers from the Magistrate's squad cheer in agreement. Sounds like Kerrigan's own position with mengsk.
"Landing." The dropship shakes as everything comes to a sudden stop. "This is as close as I can get."
"Thank you Pilot." Kerrigan says over the coms.
"I do what I can." There's a crunch just before the ship's coms turn off, the ramp opens and everyone rushes out.
The second dropship is landing close by with another twelve marines, the wraith escorts have set down as well to conserve fuel. "Wraiths fourteen and fifteen, if we need you I'll send a message, otherwise be on standby to defend the dropships."
"Roger Lieutenant."
"Everyone, we're taking that tower!" Kerrigan points past the Dropships and towards a missile turret. "Do not destroy it."
The marines charge past Kerrigan, she cloaks and follows suit. Not only is there a detachment of marines guarding it, but there's also a Goliath. If a ghost wasn't with them, the Goliath would have been a challenge for the marines.
But a well placed EMP round disabled the mech, leaving the Confederate marines without mechanical assistance, and outnumbered. It wasn't even a close fight, the marines tried taking cover behind the Goliath but none of them saw the ghost pull the pull the pin from one of their own grenades.
Somehow the Goliath remains standing, the pilot dead in the dirt closeby with a single bullet hole in the head, couldn't risk anyone getting away and alerting the confederates to the security leak.
"Hey Lieutenant, what do we do with the Goliath?" The marine who says he'd follow the Magistrate to Hell asks.
"Don't know, has the emp worn off yet?" Kerrigan hops into the pilot seat and fiddles with the controls, the Goliath responds to it.
"I'm no genius, but I think it has." The marine calls out sarcastically.
Kerrigan hops out of the mech. "Might as well take it back with us." And without further orders she heads into the missile turret. The good thing about it being automated is that there's no one inside who'll get in the way. And there it is, the control room.
There are a lot of things in here that Kerrigan could fiddle with, the target recognition, the radar, removing it's infernal detection. But unfortunately if she wants her intrusion to go unnoticed when the Confederates come to investigate, she'll have to limit her activities to just the communication console.
The Ghost rips open the bottom of the comms console and reveals a device, cutting wires and feeding them into the device until she can hear the Confederates in her earpiece. "Terrorists spotted by the sector five A missile turret, mobilize and protect the tower!" Excellent, they haven't detected the intrusion.
"I'm detecting several dropships on the way." Aaila warns the squad.
"Perfect." Kerrigan replaces the panel and seals it in place. They'll get suspicious if they find nothing, so Kerrigan reveals some G4, sets the timer for an hour, and places it on top of the communication console. "We got what we came for, pull back to the dropships." She runs for the exit.
"What about the Goliath?"
The Ghost uncloaks in the pilot's seat of the mech in question. "How hard can it be?"
The answer, if your goal is to go straight and do nothing else, easy. To turn around is a whole other issue altogether. "I can't turn this thing, Can you move the Dropship so I can walk it straight in?"
"In the pipe, five by five." Aaila lifts the dropship mere feet from the ground and moves it expertly around without raising the ramp.
Confederate wraiths fly past overhead, followed by explosions on the ground. One of the escort wraiths is already burning. They take off in retaliation. The Goliath fits in the vehicle bay, but not much else is going to fit in there. "Strap yourselves in, we can't stall any longer." The dropships turn around, giving kerrigan the perfect view of seven Confederate dropships landing by their landing zone, and one landing by the missile turret.
"They're retreating! Take that terrorist bitches!" The ramp closes and the dropships take off. Kerrigan rolls her eyes at the insult, they'll be the ones to win this war, and Mengsk will lead them to a glorious future.