Magistrate to Commander
Chapter 8: Second verse, same as the first
"It is now Six, AM, Antiga Prime Central Time." My personal Adjutant wakes me up.
"Has the base burned down while I was out?" I wipe the sleep from my eyes.
"No Magistrate."
"Good." He's not as incompetent as I thought. I turn on the sink and take out a tooth brush. "How went the evacuation of the Norad Two?"
"Thirty seven casualties, dropship included."
I take a deep breath. Thirty seven, it would have been higher had we not stepped in and lent our ships, and to think I wouldn't have went to save them if I wasn't ordered too, all because of my disdain of the general. "Status report on the base." I spit the toothpaste out with the bad feelings.
"In the process of evacuating, General Duke's orders are to fall back to the Antigan base for an easily defensible location."
"We need to change positions to protect the civilians, with Zerg on the world the settlements will be overrun without our aid, send a message to Mengsk for me." I say, rinsing the last of the toothpaste out.
"Recording."
"This is Maxton, as you've probably heard we've succeeded in securing Edmund Duke, as requested." I clear my throat. "However I request that we evacuate the Antigan's from the planet before the Zerg spread all over, I don't want a repeat of Mar Sara and I know you don't want that either."
"Message sent, will await response."
Kaleb is waiting for me outside the door. "Huh?" He snaps alert, pushing himself away from the wall.
"Sleeping on the job?" I tut. "What if some assassin snuck in while you were sleeping?"
"We're in the middle of our base." he says sheepishly.
"Oh, so now the base is the safest place on Antiga prime?" I tease.
I chuckle softly as Kaleb accompanies me out of the Command Center. "Have you been paying attention to the happenings around the base?"
"I'm not a secretary."
"Fair enough, I'll have to get one then."
"Morning Magistrate!" Raynor's Vulture comes to a stop in front of me, I have to shield my eyes to protect from the dirt that's kicked up.
"Captain, how's it going?"
"Word of Alpha Squadron's defeat is making the rounds and people are cheering." He hops off his vehicle.
"I don't want anyone harassing Alpha Squadron, understand?"
"Didn't they leave you for dead on Mar Sara?" Raynor asks curiously.
"Yes, but we don't need infighting, that can wait until we're off world, for now we work with Alpha Squadron… at least until the Zerg aren't an immediate issue then you can insult them as much as you want."
"Motion alert, Zerg assault force enbound."
Collectively we look up at the loudspeaker. "I want every able body deployed now." I tell the captain.
"Yes sir!" Raynor hops back onto his bike and speeds off.
"Where're you going!?" Kaleb demands.
"The perimeter, we're in the safest location on the planet."
"When we're not about to come under assault!"
"With the Zerg involved and no natural barriers between us and them, no place is safe." I say and Kaleb hails a car so I'm not running around risking the chance of an episode.
"How far out?" I approach Graves, even from this distance I can see the waves of purple coming towards us.
"Few miles, minimum, was this what it was like on Mar Sara?"
"Yes, there was no ground to see, and now we won't be able to see the blue sky." My gaze turns skyward. There are some zerg fliers, but I know that the swarm is coming. We can't have a repeat of Mar Sara. Down at the base of the cliff is a gang of Vultures, laying spidermines in the path of the Zerg. "We can't hold this position." I say in finality.
Graves opens his mouth, closes it, thinks, and then opens it again. "Why's that?"
"We're too open out here, the Zerg fliers will strafe us until we can't hold back their grounded counterparts, you saw what they did to the Norad Two."
The Sergeant nods. "What do you propose we do? Lay down our arms and welcome death?" He says playing the devil's advocate.
"Concentrate all forces at Andasar City and do what we can until we can leave safely."
"You want us to leave our plateau location, and move to a flat and open plains?" Graves looks at me like I've gone insane.
"What cover do we have against the suicide flying Zerg?" I counter. "We had to overbuild Anti Air to clear a hole in the skies, and that was without their ground forces breathing down our necks. At least in Andasar City we can have forces occupying the perimeter skyscrapers and set up anti air with relative protection."
"The people of Mar Sara are yours to command, Magistrate." Graves stands at attention.
I let out a sigh. "Why can't you be like him?" I point at the sargent, looking at my bodyguard.
Kaleb lets out a groan as I continue to tease him. "Did the Zerg send everything at us?" He asks.
"Look over there, what do you see exactly?" I point away from the incoming Zerg.
Kaleb strains his eyes, trying to see what I'm pointing out. "All I see is desert." he finally admits.
"Commander Mengsk is calling for a meeting of all senior officers." The Adjutant informs me.
"That answers your question, and if you don't mind I have a meeting to attend, make sure everyone's packed and ready to go Sergeant."
"Yes sir."
I'm not alone, Raynor's bike is already parked on the ramp in the Command Center. "Now's not a good time." I announce entering the comms room. "The Zerg are on their way now, it's only a matter of time until we're overrun."
Duke, Kerrigan and Mengsk are on holo screens, Raynor and I are in person. "We'll be gone by the time that happens." Duke assures us. I see he's already planning to leave us behind, again.
"I've got worse news, Delta Squad has warped into orbit, no doubt responding to Duke's emergency transmission, and is searching for the Norad Two." Mengsk informs us.
"It won't be long until they find the wreck, and then they'll look for us."
"Hey Raynor, you hear that?" I look over my shoulder.
"Hear what?"
"Dunno, I thought I heard something." I straighten my collar. "If Delta Squadron is going to be gunning for us as well, we need to regroup, there's no way we can fight on every front against two enemies if we're split up. Like this."
"I assume you've already come up with an ideal location for us to defend?"
I nod. "Andasar City, not only is it the largest civilian settlement in need of protection, but we can set up anti air in the sky scrapers and see for miles in every direction."
"Andasar City, we'll need to import minerals and vespene in order to stay in the city." Mengsk strokes his beard thoughtfully.
"They should have a stockpile somewhere in the city, it's one of the many regulations I had to learn competing to be magistrate."
"You compete to be Magistrate?" Kerrigan pipes up.
"Kinda, a pool is elected by the people and then they compete amongst each other to prove that they're the most capable out of the rest before a final election."
"Zerg forces have met the defenders." The Adjutant pipes up.
"We should leave while we have the chance, before Delta Squadron can Pin us down." Duke casually throws out there.
"And abandon the people?!" Raynor shouts.
"I'm not leaving these people, Duke." I say through clenched teeth.
Mengsk sighs. "They're right, the Zerg are savage and will render the planet a lifeless husk, we have to get as many as we can offworld before we can think of leaving." He continues with certainty and confidence.
"Alright, I can see when I'm beat." Duke relents. "What are we doing?"
"I'll route as much as I can to Andasar city, Kerrigan find this stockpile the Magistrate was talking about."
"Roger."
"Duke I want you and Raynor to take your forces around the planet, rescuing as many people as you can."
"Sure thing."
"Understood."
"Magistrate, as you have the most experience fighting the Zerg I want you to make a beeline for Andasar City and fortify it to the best of your abilities."
"I'll do my best."
"Dismissed." Duke, Mengsk and Kerrigan vanish from the holo screens.
"Good luck." I tell the marshal.
"It'll be a cakewalk." Raynor says with a grin.
"I'll leave the Mar Sara Soldiers with you and I'll take the Antigans, next time we meet it'll be in a fortress." I hold an arm out, and he clasps it.
"Good luck."
"Oh please, if I weren't lucky I wouldn't have gotten off of Mar Sara, Adjutant prep the dropships."
"Alert sent, A dropship will be waiting for you outside, Magistrate."
Great, I'll collect my Adjutant before heading out, hopefully we get to Andasar before the Zerg, or before any of the other squads respond to Duke's emergency transmission.
"Portable unit disconnected." The Command center tells me as I pull the plug. "All transmissions have been recorded for future review."
"Good job, let's get out of here." I tuck the case beneath my arm and make my way out of the enormous structure.
Just outside is a dropship closing the vehicle bay and opening the shuttle doors. Several marines with the Antiga Prime sigil flood aboard. "Strap yourselves in boys."
I make my way to the pilot seat. "Are you my personal dropship pilot now or something?" I ask Aaila, settling down in the co pilot seat.
"Only way to make sure nothing happens to the Magistrate is to be the one to drive him, am I right?"
All I can do is sigh in response. "Just be quick."
"Quick is all I am." She chuckles, lifting the transport off the ground, several other dropships follow suit. Aaila flicks on her mic. "Alright ladies, time is of the essence and we don't have the luxury of being slow, so follow my lead and don't fall behind."
There is a collective groan from the other pilots, myself included. "Did you get a promotion while I was resting?"
"The general was so impressed with my flying that I was promoted to captain of Mar Sara Transports." She says, barely holding herself back from laughing.
That bastard.
"Keep your eyes to the skies, last thing we need is to get clipped by a Scourge."
"Scourge?" I ask furrowing my brow.
"Yeah, it's a name we came up with for the suiciding fliers, they're the scourges of a dropship pilot's existence." There is venom in her voice. "Fast, agile and determined to die."
"I think that's a great name, my Goliath took a hit while extracting the General." I can still remember the chaos, as it was yesterday when it happened.
"Destination, Andasar city! I haven't been welcomed in a city in a long time." Aaila lets out a sigh. "I think I'll find a restaurant and get something fancy."
"I think the most exotic creatures they have are vultures and buffalo."
"Still, it'll be a nice treat."
"You can romanticize later." One of her fellow pilots pipes up.
"It's not romanticizing if it's food! It's… food!" She counters hotly.
Now it's my turn to conceal a laugh.
"Har har, laugh it up." Aaila puffs. And I am joined by several pilots in the mirth.
"I like these guys." I wipe a tear from my eyes.
Aaila frowns, but doesn't look away from the sky ahead. "Incoming!" Without warning Aaila banks the dropship to the side, narrowly dodging a Scourge as it speeds past and impacts the ground with an explosion of acid.
"Fun time's over ladies and gents, get get serious or get dead." Aaila turns professional and I shut my mouth.
Above us is a flock of Scourges, and they have noticed us. Another Scourge divebombs the caravan. "Anyone hit?" Aaila asks quickly.
"Almost, got hit by the splash but I'm still airborne."
"Adjutant, are we in comms range of any wraiths?" I ask my briefcase.
"Contacting."
"Wraith one reporting in."
"Wraith one this is Magistrate Maxton Dirge, I'm taking the Antigan forces to Andasar City and we've come under assault from Zerg suicide bombers, there's too many to avoid forever." The dropship shakes as A scourge misses by mere feet, the wing is splashed by acid and I can see it burning through the plasteel.
"Roger that, standby for air support."
"This is worse than Mar Sara." I tell Aaila. "The Zerg must have been here longer, but why assault Mar Sara first?" These creatures blindly attack anything that stands in their way, a spear that cannot stop going forward. The dropship shakes once more.
"Brace for impact!" Aaila suddenly shouts, lifting higher off the ground to avoid one, but placing the dropship in the path of another.
The Scourge detonates before making contact. "Backup has arrived." Wraith one says simply as a wraith decloaks next to us. "We'll get you to safety in one piece."
A cheer goes up from the pilots. "We're saved!"
"Kick their asses!"
The Wraith cloaks, leaving no trace of it ever being there. "I want my entire army equipped with those." I say in awe. Seeing a Ghost cloak is one thing, but seeing a Wraith cloak is something else.
A wraith uncloaks, diving towards the cloud of acidic death and firing rockets into it. There is a chain reaction of explosions, but the cloud separates before it could get too bad. Scourges break off from the cloud to pursue the Wraith, but it cloaks leaving confused suicide bombers wandering around looking for the air superiority fighter.
Once again a wraith decloaks just to fire rockets into the mass before cloaking to lose the pursuing scourges, and again, and again. Each time the cloud gets slightly smaller. "Wait, are they leaving us alone?" A pilot pipes up.
"We've poked the beehive, you should be clear from here out." Wraith Two informs us and Aaila pushes the dropship to go as fast as it can.
"Thanks for the assistance, remind me to give each of you a medal."
"Just doing our jobs, Magistrate."
"Doing a fantastic job of it I might add, you've earned it."
"So, what's the plan once we're at Antiga City?" Aaila asks.
"First thing's first, I need to speak with Antiga Prime's Magistrate, if they're still alive, and take a stroll around the perimeter to asses our options."
There it is, the skyscrapers of the island city of Andasar city, I wouldn't call it a city and more of a town as Antiga is still in it's colonial phase much like Mar Sara was. A dropship is leaving the city, it seems that Kerrigan is already here.
"I'll do you one better and drop you off at the Magistrate manor's front door." Aaila tells me professionally, and then flicks on the coms. "Our end goal is to fortify the city, drop your payloads around the perimeter and I'll take the Magistrate to the manor." She tells the other pilots.
Aaila expertly weaves the transport between the tall buildings, civilians below us are staring at our entrance. Some are concerned, others are cheering.
"Sons of Korhal transports, this is Boris Farmer, Magistrate of Antiga Prime, I demand to know why you're on my planet."
"Magistrate Boris, this is Magistrate Maxton Dirge of Mar Sara, Zerg have been spotted on your world and we've come to lend assistance and evacuate your people."
"With a terrorist group?" Boris scoffs.
He's a loyalist, this isn't going to be easy. "We're working with Alpha Squadron, the Zerg is a bigger threat than anything we humans can do to one another."
"I know what you did, sold your loyalties to save your own hide, and forced Alpha Squadron to surrender to your ideals." I can hear the disdain in his voice.
"Alpha Squadron abandoned us to the Zerg, I did what I had to do to save my people." I turn off the mic temporarily. "Can the soldiers in the hold hear this?"
"They can, do you want them to?" Aaila asks me.
"Yes." I tell her, and Aaila presses a button before flipping the mic back on.
"You're a traitor Max, take your soldiers and leave before I tell mine to arrest you."
"The soldiers I bring are yours! Alpha Squadron was suppressing your military to the point of open revolt and you still believe that the Confederates will stand by you as the Zerg ravage your planet?" I argue.
"We have laws for a reason, those who break them are outlaws, and if what you say is true, then you'll be arrested upon touchdown, I look forward to seeing you in chains."
"I won't stand by and watch civilians die because of some delusion that the Confederates will always uphold their laws, when I know for a fact that they break them when it suits them, the Confederacy is full of corruption."
"Every magistrate knows there's corruption, you were chosen to be Magistrate of Mar Sara afterall."
"See you when we land." I say hotly.
Boris laughs as he cuts the transmission. "Touch a nerve?"
"It's a process to become Magistrate, first the people vote on a pool of candidates, and then they compete amongst themselves to show who's most competent before a second election to pick the planetary magistrate, I won both votes fair and square-"
"Then why was he talking about corruption?"
"First day I got so drunk that I woke up in a separate solar system wearing someone else's uniform, I still don't know who's it was." I poke at the uniform I'm wearing. "That's the long story turned short."
"We're here." Aaila lands the transport, in front of us is Boris with armed guard.
"Max! I know you're in there, come out and face justice!"
"Tell me you aren't going to surrender?"
"Depends on the soldiers in the hold." I stand and leave the pilot room and walk amongst the Antigan soldiers. I stop in the midsts of them, none of them look up at me. "Your magistrate has demanded that I be brought for justice, make your choice now before we leave."
Again, silence. "I understand your hesitance, your loyalties are to Antiga Prime, but on the other hand you've been helped more than he ever has, I fought with you on the frontlines and plunged headfirst into hell alongside each of you, so make your choice, I'll abide by it." I hold my hands out to be cuffed, knowing that if I'm taken prisoner I may be left behind, or mengsk would break me out just to leave the people of Antiga Prime to die to the Zerg, and I wouldn't blame him.
"To hell with him." One soldier finally pipes up. "Our 'Magistrate' stood by while we were disarmed making excuses as to why it was needed and why we needed to be grateful for the air we breathed!" The soldier stands at attention. "Maxton is my Magistrate!"
"Maxton is my Magistrate!" A cheer goes up amongst the Antigan soldiers as one by one they stand at attention.
"MAXTON IS OUR MAGISTRATE!"
I can't help but smile with pride. "Alright Militia, it's time to show Boris what loyalty really is."
"Hey Max, by the door to the Cockpit is a hatch, inside is a present from Simmons." Aaila says on the internal comms.
I do like presents from my chief engineer.
The doors to the transport open and out comes the Antigan soldiers, Boris grinning, watching and waiting to see the traitor to be brought to justice.
Pride fills the Magistrate as the soldiers stand at attention in a line on either side of the ramp, it lowers to the vehicle bay, where Max will be wheeled out by Boris's soldiers.
The vehicle bay opens, and confusion settles over the Antigan magistrate, where's the traitor?
A Goliath bearing the Sons of Korhal standard walks out of the dropship. "Boris Farmer, you've abused your power for too long and neglected your duties as a Magistrate, how do you plead?" Maxon's voice is amplified by the Goliath's speakers.
"Seize him!" Boris points at the Goliath with panic.
"A Magistrate's first duty is to is people, to which he owes his position too, you've broken this and as such you are no longer fit to be Magistrate, I will be taking over until a proper trial can take place." Max continues, and the Antigan soldiers who came out of the dropship approach Boris, his bodyguards look at each other in confusion.
"You'd side with a traitor over your own Magistrate?! Traitors all of you! Adjutant activ-"
Kerrigan decloaks behind the Magistrate, pressing her rifle into the base of his skull. "Turn over command of the Adjutant, ex-magistrate." Maxton orders Boris.
"I don't have the authority to-" Kerrigan pushes harder. "I don't! Don't kill me!" Boris is now crying.
"Disgraceful, knock him out, we'll deal with him later." Maxton tells the Ghost, and she complies by slamming the butt of her stock into his temple, knocking him out instantly.
"What's going on?" One of Boris's bodyguards asks, one of the Antigan soldiers approaches and clasps his arm.
"We'll fill you in, but for now we have a major problem."
...
I hop out of the Goliath and approach the ghost with a wide smile.
"Thank you Kerrigan, we'd be in trouble if Boris had turned the automated defences against us." I hand her my briefcase. "This is my mobile Adjutant, it overrides any Adjutant it plugs into."
"Why're you giving me something so important?"
"Because I need you to get into the AI core and plug it in, without authorization it'll be more of a hindrance than an aid, the Adjutant will also use every resource in it's disposal to make sure you stay out, which ranges from vulcan turrets to gassing the access corridor, and if all else fails it'll emp itself to make sure any information it had is wiped, and those are the last two things we need to have happen."
"Two?"
"I don't want you to die in there, and I want the information the Adjutant has… it's a win-win... when you get out."
"And if I die?"
"And break my heart?" I playfully tease. "I have full faith in your abilities, Kerrigan." Stay professional.
"Where's the AI core?"
"You've never been in the AI core of a Magistrate manor?" I furrow my brow, the possibility didn't cross my mind.
"No, I've been in a Command Center's AI core, but not something so pompous."
"Ouch, thankfully it has a maintenance access hatch so we don't need to alert the Adjutant to your entry."
The hatch was hidden by a statue of Boris, built to scale with the man's pride no doubt. "Anything else I need to know?" Kerrigan asks, pausing on the ladder down.
"There's a vault door right before the Adjutant, it has an access hatch in the lower right corner but making the door open will alert it to your presence, however every hour it performs a routine checkup in which it activates everything in sync, the doors will be last, it won't gas the room or fill it with holes so long as it doesn't know you're there."
"Cameras?"
"Cloaking will be the only way to remain undetected, you may need to stay cloaked for up to an hour." I give her the short answer.
"I've gone longer." She shrugs, and closes the hatch above her.
"Good luck, Angel." I say with a grin.
"What now?" An Antigan soldier asks me.
"We can't use the city's Adjutant until Kerrigan's done, in the meantime I want you to find and fortify all exits to the city, if any Zerg gets into the city they might multiply to unreasonable amounts in a blink of an eye, and then the war is lost."
"With what?"
"Mengsk is routing as much as he can to the city, as they arrive tell them help fortify the exits, and to establish Anti Air around the city."
"Yes sir."
"I want every block covered by three separate Anti Air emplacements, understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"Dismissed." The soldier sprints off and I let out a sigh. This isn't going to be like Mar Sara, it'll be better… I promise Lesly.