Disclaimer: Whew FINALLY! Don't own Starcraft or anything of Blizzard's (wish I could own a Battlecruiser though, then again, who doesn't?) Sorry this took so long, things have been a bit crazy and my muse is fickle. Eventually I just wanted to get this chapter done so if its not my best work, sorry about that.

Anyway as always please read, review and enjoy!

Starcraft 2

Wings of Liberty

Zero Hour.

At this point, I should probably just make it official and star callin' Joeyray's bar the new headquarters of the Raiders.

After we secured the artifact at backwater station, my troops went back to partying and brought along the rebels we rescued too. A lot of them seemed to be willing to sign up for my revolution.

Tychus and I found ourselves alone at the bar again and I took a few minutes to call up Matt and let him know to come pick us up soon. Then I figured it was time to get back to business with Tychus.

"So who's your mysterious buyer, Tychus? Who're we supposed to hand this artifact over to?"

"A bunch of eggheads I ran into called the Moebius Foundation."

Huh, this was surprising. I'd heard a bit about Meobius, and everything I heard about it said that it was a clean organization.

"Moebius? They're a legitimate research group. Why the hell are they talkin' to you?"

Tychus' mouth quirked up in a stillborn smirk at that.

"Soon as your boy Mengsk made it illegal to trade in alien goods, they got desperate." Then he smiled like a hunter comin' up on easy prey.

"And you know me Jimmy. I am a great patron of the sciences."

"Uh huh," I replied with a smirk of my own.

"But enough about me. Let's talk about that stunt you pulled off earlier today." He gestured over to a Raynor's Raiders Recruitment poster. I think Matt had some of the crew come up with it. It certainly looked a hell of a lot more heroic than I felt. Personally I thought the thing was a little ridiculous but it just kind of happened.

"Have to say Jimmy, you turned into a real impressive fighter. If I was ol' Mengsk, I'd be runnin' scared from you too."

That was unexpected.

"You really mean that Tychus?"

"Nah, I was just kiddin'" then he started cackling like a maniac.

"You're an ass you know that Tychus."

He just continued to laugh it off. Lookin' back at the poster before somethin' else caught his eye.

It was a picture of one of the winners of the new "hydralisk derby."

"What's this? I heard them zerg got burned out by them creepy protoss a few years back." The thought of aliens still being on the planet probably snagged his curiosity.

"It's been four years and they're still finding burrowed dens out in the wastelands."

I could practically see credit signs light up in Tychus' eyes.

"Well a trophy like that's gotta fetch a good price on the black market. Up for some huntin' partner?"

"Knock yourself out Tychus. Me, I've hunted enough zerg for two lifetimes." Not to mention there's only one zerg I'm really interested in hunting down. Of course that's goin' even worse than my fight against Mengsk.

Tychus must've picked up on my tone cause he took another look at the hydralisk skull mounted on the wall, trying to study it for somethin'.

"What was it like Jimmy," he asked quietly. "Fightin' them zerg?"

In this day and age it's hard to believe there's anybody who don't know about the zerg. Tychus must have been released not too long ago.

"All the scrapes we were in back in the day, all the narrow escapes…none of it compares to how terrible they are Tychus. You don't know what real fear is till you've got a thousand of these sons of bitches barreling down on ya."

Tychus didn't seem to believe that. "None of it compares? Not even Ezekiel Daun?"

Ezekiel Daun. Man I haven't heard that name in years. Grade A, psychopath that one. He used to be one of the best bounty hunters in the sector before he went to prison (with a little help from a certain outlawed duo). Damn I hope that guy is dead by now. Back near the end of our career as outlaws, Daun was hired to kill me an' Tychus. Thing is, Daun didn't do dead or alive like most bounty hunters, he only did dead. The psycho liked to torture his bounties to death and record it for future viewing or to scare the livin' daylights out of another bounty.

For awhile Daun was the scariest thing in the galaxy to me. Used to have nightmares about him.

But things have kinda changed around here since then. And seeing zerglings rip bodies to pieces, or protoss zealots slice through hordes of zerg or even seeing Kerrigan in action as the Queen of Blades, kinda puts things in perspective as far as dangerous things that can kill you go.

"Hate to say it Tychus, but if I was ever given a choice between Daun and the zerg? I'd take Daun every time."

"You're crazy man."

I took another drink to cover my smirk. Sometimes I wish that were true Tychus. But at this point I think its safe to say that the whole damn sector's become crazier than I ever could be. And that's sayin' a lot.

"Course that don't come as any surprise to me. Especially after seein' that rather interesin' memento over yonder."

I looked at where he was pointing and sure enough, he was pointing right at my old marshal badge. Joeyray had cobbled a small plaque for it to hang on so now it sat proudly in a bar collectin' dust.

"Ah man," Tychus said in disbelief. "Didn't the magistrate know he was hirin' an arch criminal as his marshal?"

I grinned. "He was countin' on it. Guess my tough guy reputation kept things nice and quiet around here. All the time I wore that badge, I never had to shoot anybody."

"Well where's the fun in that?"

"Hard as it is to believe Tychus, a guy can have fun without shootin' people."

"Well…"

"Or stealin' things."

"But…"

"Or spendin' stolen money in brothels."

Tychus thought for a moment. "What the hell do people do for fun then?"

"I'll be sure to tell ya sometime Tychus."

"Hmph, you don't know either do ya?"

I was about to reply but the latest news report caught my eye. I waved for Tychus to be quiet and turned up the volume.

"Thanks for staying with us. Let's go now to Kate Lockwell with an update on Jim Raynor's violent uprising."

"Thanks Donny. Raynor's clearly widening his list of targets. He's attacked a Dominion archeological dig and possibly seized a dangerous alien artifact."

"Emperor Mengsk spoke on this subject earlier today."

The screen cut to an interview with Mengsk.

"There's no telling what kind of havoc these, supposedly innocuous relics might wreak upon our worlds. Anyone found in possession of these items will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law."

Meaning they'll probably be sent to prison without trial, that is if they're lucky enough to not be executed on the spot.

"Look on the bright side partner," Tychus intoned. "You're a wanted man either way."

"Thanks Tychus." I feel better already.

"Shocking Kate. I imagine casualties were high as a result of Raynor's terrorist actions."

Kate nodded. "The dig site was crewed mostly by scientists and volunteers. No survivors have been found at this time."

"Thanks Kate. You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen. James Raynor butchering unarmed archeologists on Mar Sara. "

I scoffed in irritation. There wasn't a single scientist on that base it was pure military. And funny how they don't mention the slave miners I freed or the fact that most of the troops in that base were still in the barracks when I sent it flying. And even if they don't have anyone in there who can crack a standard encryption the safety protocols on its boosters will force it to land long before it ever crashes.

I took another drink to cover up a sigh. Oh well, you get used to it. Hell, actually you don't. All the media attacks and the cover ups just make a guy more and more bitter.

I figured some music might lighten things up a bit.

"Hey Tychus, hit the juke box over there would ya?"

"Juke box?" He turned to where the juke box was in the corner as he noticed it for the first time.

"No way, aw hell!"

"What?"

"That's the juke box I nearly busted my back carryin' for you on New Sydney!"

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. But I guess now's a good time to get him back for that whole runnin' scared joke earlier.

"I don't know what you're talkin' about Tychus."

"Don't play with me Jimmy. I'd know that damn thing anywhere. You nearly got us both caught by the law cause you wouldn't leave without it."

"Still not ringin' a bell Tychus." I had to fight hard to keep the smirk out of my voice as well as off of my face.

"Ah whatever man. But tell you what though, if you want to take off with it this time find someone else to carry it cause I sure as hell ain't. Even if I'm actually in power armor this time."

"Sure thing Tychus," now I let the grin show.

"So when we gettin' out of here anyway? Dominion could actually track the artifact to the station."

I stood up and stretched out a moment.

"I got transport comin' to pick us up. All we gotta do is sit tight."

Tychus looked like he didn't mind the sound of that. Truth be told neither did I. It felt like ages since I just relaxed.

"Don't sound too hard. I figure, we earned ourselves a little R&R."

Hell yeah. Bit of drinkin' maybe we could get together with the locals and have some sort of party. Just a nice night to cut loose and…

"Commander, I'm detecting a massive concentration of zerg bio signatures landing at the abandoned dig sight."

Fekk me sideways.

"I should've known it," whenever there's anything , anything alien involved the zerg or the protoss were bound to be not too far behind it. And my good ol' buddy just happens to give me the job offer of gettin' the artifact on the same day the zerg come back to Mar Sara? I Don't buy it. "Damn you Tychus!"

To his credit, he looked just as spooked as I felt.

"I swear man I didn't know nothin' about no zerg."

He sounded honest at least. But right now it didn't matter, I had a hell of a lot more pressin' business to look into.

"Given their current course," the adjutant continued calmly. "The zerg will overrun this location within the hour."

"Hell, we gotta hold out long enough for extraction." I switched the holoscreen to show a layout of the station. Pointing out the bunkers and bridges that led into it. "If we man the bunkers and hold those two bridges as long as we can, we just might stand a chance."

I let out a breath as I realized just how slim of a chance we had here. "We're gonna have a real fight on our hands here."

Tychus tried to keep it cool.

"I been in plenty of holdouts before."

I didn't even bother to look back at Tychus.

"Not against the zerg you ain't."

So much for the night bein' relaxin'. I took a breath to steady my nerves. This ain't no time to let fear or surprise get the better of me. I could find out what the zerg were doin' out here later but for now…

"Adjutant, alert all my troops. Hell, alert everybody. Get all Raiders back to the station and start prepping for a holdout against the zerg. Tell em to get every scrap of ammo they can carry and start bringin' those missile turrets online."

"Aye aye commander." With that, she vanished.

"Tychus, grab your gun, you're gonna need it."

Tychus leaned over the bar and grabbed his C14 rifle with a grin.

"Alright. I want you to be in charge of settin' up defenses on the low ground till I get back. Try and see if you can find some SCV's and get em to build a few more bunkers and turrets. I'll be right back."

I ran out of the bar to be greeted by the sight of a oddly calm pandemonium. Everyone was gettin' stuff together and headin' toward a nearby shipyard. It was out of the sea of people that the familiar face of Joeyray ran up to me.

"Local sensors are goin' nuts Jim. The zerg really here?"

"Yep. In force. You guys got an evacuation plan?"

Joeyray looked rather proud. "Hell you kiddn' Jim? After the last time we got shafted by the government we made damn sure we had our own escape plan before we resettled here. We got enough ships to get everybody out of here. They're just grabbin' their valuables and necessities."

I nodded in relief. It'll be hard enough gettin' my boys out of here but evacuating Mar Sara would be pushin' impossible.

But even so…

"Zerg will be here in under an hour. If there's any one who can't make it to your ships I could take some aboard when my ride gets here."

"Appreciate that but we both know your raiders ain't no place for civilians. We should be able to get just about everyone out. Some local militia might still be out there and they'll probably join up if they don't get eaten first. You just keep the zerg busy and we'll get ourselves out of here. We'll head for the core worlds or maybe some of the other fringe worlds. We got it figured don't worry."

I didn't quite like the idea of not bein' able to help these folks out but Joeyray said they could handle themselves and I trust the guy. And spreadin' out my forces too much would just get us all killed.

"Alright then. But you make sure to give me a holler if somethin' comes up."

"Will do Jim. Now you best be gettin' back to your boys. They're gonna have their hands full soon."

"Alright. You take care man."

After that, he got ran like hell toward the starport helpin' some of the older folks along. As for me, I grabbed an old assault rifle, not nearly as big or as powerful as a C14, but it'll get the job done and I didn't have time to get into my armor.

I hightailed it back to the bridges to see my boys had pretty much gotten the defenses online. Tychus waved me over.

"Missile turrets are online Jimmy. We've also brought ammo by the crate load and built some extra bunkers on the high ground to fall back to when your extraction gets here. Only thing that would make this defense better is if we had ourselves some tanks."

Tychus must have been feelin' pretty cocky and if we were facing other Terrans I might be too. We had a pretty good defensive position that could only really be assaulted if backed up by heavy air or tank support.

But I know what the zerg can do even to the best defenses.

I nodded.

"Alright now that we got defenses ready I want teams to grab anything they can. Any spare ammo, weapons or supplies that the locals aren't takin' with them and load them up in the dropships. You'll have about 15 minutes to grab what ya can. After that, haul ass back here. Now get goin boys!"

They formed their own teams and set out takin' everything that the locals weren't takin' cause it was either that, or let the zerg burn it all down.

Which reminded me actually.

"Hey, Johnson!"

Johnson finished loading his rifle and looked down at me (man you feel small around CMC armor)

"Yes sir?"

"In the bar there's a juke box. Grab it and load it up in one of the drop ships. Oh and grab the TV too. " The old one in the Hyperion's cantina has been broken for weeks. Figure this was a good time to get a replacement.

To his credit, he only looked at me like I was a little crazy before he said "yes sir" and ran toward the bar. What can I say? I'm rather fond of that juke box.

Tychus chose that moment to run past me. "I'll give him a hand with the tv. But I ain't touchin that damn juke box!" Translation: "I ain't letting all that fine booze go to waste. And I hope your juke box burns in hell."

I grinned a little and then went back to getting the troops organized. Getting the ammo into places we could easily get it and making sure all the medics had the supplies they needed. Damn shame we didn't have the ordinance to just blow the bridges, that would make things a hell of a lot easier.

15 minutes later, everything we could take was loaded up into the dropships and we were all hunkered down into bunkers waiting for the swarm.

To add more to the mood, it had started to rain.

It was a few more minutes of awkward silence before Tychus finally said "maybe they decided to go the other way?"

I was about to tell Tychus what I thought of that idea when the proximity alarm went off and one of my boys yelled out.

"Here they come! Lock and load!"

A few dozen zerglings ran up the bridge. Like some sort of buggy dog from hell. Only to be met with a wall of solid neo steel and bullets.

A few more waves of zerglings attempted to run up the bridges and we mowed them down easily.

"Heh, these critters ain't so tough," Tychus said cockily.

I grit my teeth as I slapped in a fresh mag into my rifle. Now's not the time to try making the troops feel more at ease Tychus. And I know your wondering if these critters ain't so tough why's everybody scared out of their minds of them. You'll see in a bit ol' buddy.

Sure enough, about several dozen more zerglings attacked the bunkers a few of them getting close enough to score some pretty decent sized rents in the side of the bunker. After they were dealt with, I realized that such damage could prove fatal in the long run.

"Get some SCV's repairing these bunkers. Do it between attacks."

Sure enough, the SCV's did their thing and made the bunker good as new. Just in time because a new wave of zerglings started running towards us again.

A few more waves of zerglings tried to make some passes and we were holding steady for now.

But then things got a little more complicated.

"To anyone hearing this message. We're pinned down near backwater station. Please assist!"

My adjutant got a lock on their location. Barely more than a klick away from the station. These must be some of the guys Joeyray was talkin' about. I didn't want to divide my forces or leave the defenses undermanned for any length of time. But on the other hand, I can't just leave people to the zerg. I'm no Mengsk.

"Tychus, I want you to lead a team to rescue those guys after the next wave. Don't argue with me Tychus!" I said as I saw the protest forming on his face. "We're gonna need every gun we can get to defend this station once the zerg hit their stride. As soon as the next wave's over, go get them and get back as fast as you can."

"Oh fine Jimmy," Tychus grumbled. I'd have gone to do it myself but without my suit, I'd be a liability out there. I just started wonderin' if I could get into my suit between waves, another wave of zerg started hittin' the base. But this time with a new creature I'd never seen in the flesh before.

Roaches. From Dominion intel I had "acquired" not too long ago, Roaches were tough and could regenerate pretty damn fast. They also had a rather nasty acid attack. Just when you think the zerg can't get any worse

The zerglings once again got some decent hits on the bunkers but when the roaches got close, their acid damn near melted the side of the bunker, and it several rifles trained on them to send them to the grave.

They may lack the range of a hydralisk, but they sure made up for it in toughness.

"Alright Tychus, grab your team and go!"

My old buddy didn't need tellin' twice, he and his team of about a dozen quickly got movin.

"And Tychus, don't forget they like to burrow!" I yelled one last bit of advice to him.

SCV's repaired the bunkers as fast as they could and we held off a few more waves. Learning that roaches are damn near murder on bunkers. A few minutes later, Tychus came runnin' back with a few dozen more marines than he had left with.

"You owe my a drink partner!" He said less than amused.

Hell Tychus, I'll give you two. With our new reinforcements helping to hold the line, I'm starting to feel a little bit better.

The sound of gunfire became more and more constant as the night went on. Zerg would attack, we'd hold it off, SCV's would repair the damage and we'd be back at it again. We still had plenty of ammo though, so that was good. But the zerg should be about ready to shake things up soon.

No sooner than I thought that, Tychus gave out a warning.

"Multiple air bogies detected. ETA, right the hell now!"

I didn't need to tell anyone to take cover. We all hunkered down in the bunkers and let the missile turrets take out all the mutilisks.

Must have been almost a hundred mutilisks trying to break the defenses. Their glave wurm bouncing off just about everything to cause more damage. Lucky for us, each missile shot by our turrets took em down almost a dozen at a time. We were just starting to repair again when the ground zerg surged toward us tyring to take us off guard. Everybody's finger went white on their triggers as we shot into the writhing swarm. Zerglings throwin themselves into the lead we were pourin out out without a care in the world and the roaches soaking up bullets like a damn sponge.

As soon as that was over we got another distress call.

"Mayday,mayday! We're trapped by the zerg, they're burrowed all around us, if you can reach us, please help!"

I did a quick scan to see if any zerg waves were incoming. Seeing nothing I looked at Tychus.

"Take a rest Tychus, I'll let you sit this one out."

But he just shook his head. "Naw ol' buddy, I got this. Besides like you said, we need every gun we can get. Alright ladies lets go!"

With that, Tychus and a new team started to head out. But before they did, Tychus lowered his visor and scanned the outlying area.

"Uh Jimmy?" he asked. "Why is the ground changing color and moving?"

I did another scan of my own. "That's creep Tychus. Zerg spread it around. It nourishes their hive structures. They're setting up shop here."

"Already! Its only been a few hours."

"Zerg work fast Tychus. Better get a move on."

He nodded and went out. Mercifully, we had a few minutes of quiet at the base. Enough time to prepare for the next wave. Which hit pretty hard with several dozen roaches.

"Keep at it boys! Our rides on its way!" I encouraged them. Looking at the clock, we had about 2 and a half hours till sunrise. On the bright side, at least the rain looked like it stopped.

Another message came in, this one panicked and fearful with the sounds of zerg shrieks and guns in the background. "We need immediate support. Hostiles all around us. IS ANYONE OUT THERE!"

I tried to get a message out to them but the suit to suit coms weren't workin. I could only hope that Tychus ran into them on the way back.

I couldn't think too much on it cause the zerg hit us from several angles. As we fought, I noticed that the creep was now touching the bridges. We also had several incoming zerg drop pods coming down on our heads.

"Incoming!" the drop pods disintegrated into creep. Great now we got the stuff in our base. And just as zerg started a massive wave of attack. Zerglings, roaches, hydralisks and mutilisks, it was a complete assault. And if it kept up, our defenses were gonna break.

"Hold out just a little longer we'll be getting out of here soon." I tried to rally my troops over the hail of gunfire and zerg screams. Damn it Tychus where are you? You didn't…

Another hail of gunfire interrupted that thought before it could finish. Tychus and his team was hitting the attacking zerg from the back. Muscling his way though them to get back on the other side of the bunkers. As they all got back behind the bunkers, Tychus yelled over at me.

"Ran into another group while we were out there. And if you EVER ask me to do something like that again I will shoot you Jimmy!"

I couldn't respond because one of my boys at the other bridge seemed to panic a bit. "They're breaking through!" I turned to the other bridge, sure enough, one bunker was down and my boys were backing up to avoid the roaches. They needed back up fast.

Me, Tychus and our new troops ran toward the second bridge and standing shoulder to shoulder with the troops there, we locked down our triggers and poured buckets of lead into the advancing swarm.

Tychus roared as the adrenaline coursed through his veins. Nothing like zerg to get the ol heart pumping. As mutilisks swamed above and zerglings poured into our base, we still managed to hold.

Then time slowed down as I saw one zergling hop on the head of a dying hydralisk and leap toward Tychus, its claws aimed for his helmet visor I aimed my rifle to get it fist.

Click.

Empty.

Damn.

On instinct alone I dropped my rifle grabbed my revolver, took aim and let one bullet fly.

The bullet went right between the little monster's eyes but it still hit Tychus hard enough to knock him on his ass.

I ran over to him and kicked the corpse off of his armor.

"Ever gonna go on about how I waste my time with antiques Tychus?"

"Shut up," he groaned as he lifted himself to his feet. I took one look around and realized something.

The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon and the swarm was on us in all its fury.

"Brace yourselves boys here they come!"

The last wave had only ended two seconds ago before this one started. And now that the zerg had established a base, they wouldn't stop until we were dead.

The bunkers were beyond salvation now so we all continued to back away from the bridges as the swarm broke through the scrap and poured in from all sides.

"We're gettin; tore up out here!" Tychus yelled. "We gotta fall back to high ground!"

"Fall back!" I shouted as I slammed a fresh clip into my rifle and continued shooting. "Get to high ground!"

Fresh bunkers were on the high ground and my boys quickly dove into them while the rest of us took cover behind them or behind the railing.

"Keep em off the ramp don't let em get close to the bunkers!"

But that's the thing about the zerg. Once they attack, trying to shoot the swarm feels a lot like trying to plug a leak with a toothpick. It just doesn't work.

Our guns were workin' overtime and the missile turrets that weren't destroyed must have been nearly out of missiles by now. Come to think of it, I think we were all starting to run low on ammo. This ain't good.

But then a voice that I've been wanting to hear since this whole thing started finally spoke over the comm..

"Commander this is Matt Horner. Just hold on, cavalry's on the way."

"Take your time Matt. No rush!"

In other words, hurry the hell up or you'll be pickin us out of their teeth!

Not a single gun stopped firing as long as it had ammo in it. Zerg were dying by the hundreds as we rained lead on em. But there was always more and they just kept comin'.

Come on Matt, come on…

The zerg were starting to rip the front of the bunkers apart which would have been the end of the line for us when one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen dropped down from the heavens.

The Hyperion, Mengsk's old flagship, now the closest thing I had to a home and the most beautiful ship in the sector as far as I was concerned right then and there.

When she arrived she arrived all guns blazing. Vaporizing zerg by the thousands as she headed toward us. Even destroying the bridges to cut off the zerg swarm.

That didn't slow the zerg down long though, some giant worm thing erupted from the ground and zerg started to emerge from it.

But the familiar whine of the Hyperion's yamato cannon filled the ear and a mini ball of thermonucular power incinerated the creature and all the smaller ones around it.

Then the guns started to focus on the mutilisks in the sky as the ship settled over us like a giant neo-steel guardian.

"Cavalry's arrived. Anyone still alive down there?" he asked.

All the troops cheered as they saw the Hyperion above us. I couldn't help but smile with them.

"Good to see you Matt. Welcome to the party!"

"Glad we made it in time sir. Now let's get you boys out of there."

Couldn't have said it better myself.