Chapter 1
Battle Cruiser Montgomery, somewhere within high orbit of Tarsonis's first Moon…
Escorted by five fully armed resoc marines, General Edmund Duke, once a proud high officer of the Confederacy now turned a rebel, made their way towards the battle cruiser's holding cell. Walking in front of him, his hands in metallic restrain, was Jim Raynor.
The battle cruiser had become the command ship for the Battle of Tarsonis.
Battle cruiser Montgomery was in the same class as Norad II but compared to the later, the former was an older version of the Behemoth class battle cruiser. It had none of the new techs installed in Norad II. Duke had to make do with it however for he did not really have any other choice. Anyway, Mengsk promised him that he will receive a new spanking ship once the rebellion succeeds apart from a host of other benefits. Duke had been holding on to Mengsk words ever since.
Duke's eyes travelled over the Montgomery's much more spartan corridor with complete utterly distaste. He hated that ship. Even the Hyperion was a lot better than the ship he was in.
He was particularly proud of himself when General James Longstreet gave him the key to the latest and the most advance battle cruiser the Confederacy had ever built, the Norad II. He was just a colonel back then but his family's political connection, plus the fact that his father was a close friend with General Longstreet, was enough for him to win favors with his superiors.
Of course that was the only 'talent' that he had. He never really wins any of the battle, not even skirmishes that he was involved in. His failure in one particular mission, the retrieval of one missing Confederacy Ghost operative, Agent 24601, put a dent in his ambition of becoming a General. He of course got promoted at the beginning of the first Great War when General Longstreet nominated Duke to be his successor as the General of the Alpha Squadron. That personal victory short lived however. Not long after that, he lost Norad II to the Zerg in the Battle of Antiga Prime. He had been mourning the ship since then.
His defection caused quite a stir among the Confederacy that they had to rally together both Beta and Gamma squadron in order to combat the threat of the defecting Alpha Squadron.
The party had finally arrived at the holding cell.
"Hold him firmly," he instructed two of his escorts.
The resocs obliged. They walked up to Jim and held his shoulder firmly.
Jim grimaced in pain from the pressure exerted on his shoulder.
"Afraid that I would run away, Duke?" said Jim. "That you had to bring along five of these men to escort me to this lock up? I'm deeply honored by the gesture."
Duke's lip curved into a malicious smile, looking at the man now stood hunched in front of him.
"Oh I know you're not going anywhere, Raynor," he said, that victorious smile remains. "I just wanna do this!"
A full and strong punch hit Jim's abdomen.
"Urgh!"
The groan of pain escaped Jim's mouth as another punch arrived.
"Lock him inside," instructed Duke.
The marines did as told. They roughly pushed Jim into the holding cell and immediately lock the cell door, leaving Jim writhing in pain on the floor.
"I could kill you, you know that?" said Duke. "But I have a feeling that Mengsk wants you alive. He really likes you, you know? But don't get too comfortable, Raynor. He might change his mind once this is all over. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a battle to win."
"What battle?! You aren't fighting any battle, Duke!" Jim shot back.
Slowly he rose from the floor, his hand still at his abdomen where Duke hit him prior.
Duke who was about to walk away, paused and turned back to look at Raynor.
"Planting that psi emitter on the surface of Tarsonis was all you did. You just stood there smugly at the bridge, watching the Zerg destroy everything. You did nothing. This ain't battle, Duke. This is massacre!" shouted Jim.
"Maybe it is," said Duke. "But remember, you're part of it, Raynor. You and Mengsk were the one who forced me to join this ragtag band of misfit. There's no turning back. We all don't have any other choice but to see it until the end."
Raynor walked closer to the cell's bar, nearer to Duke.
"The choices are always there. You just chose not to bother with it. You have friends, families down there and you condemn them all to hell," said Raynor.
"So now you care?" said Duke, tilting his head. "All I remember is that you only care about that redhead you called your girlfriend. Tell me, if Mengsk pull her out of there, would you still oppose him?"
"I would have!" said Jim.
"No you won't. What's in it for you? You don't care about those who live on the surface of Tarsonis. Why should you? They're the elite. You're just a damn fringe yokel who won't give a damn about loyalty," sneered Duke.
"I'm not the one who planted the psi emitter, Duke!" said Jim. "You're the one who sign them the death warrant! I thought you of all people would care more for Tarsonis. Clearly, I was wrong. I shouldn't have rescued you back then on Antiga Prime. I should have let you rotted inside the carcass of your ship!"
"But you didn't, so the joke's on you," said Duke, smirking. "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm not going to recommend you to be killed. Instead I'm going to bury you within the deepest lair of New Folsom where you can spend the rest of your days wishing that you'll be free."
"You're not going to live long. Mark my word, Duke!"
"Consider them mark," said Duke as he began to walk away from the cell. But just as he reached the threshold of the holding cell section, he suddenly stopped. Looking over his shoulder towards Jim, he said, "I have a feeling that it's you who won't last long, Raynor. Better make the most of it till then."
And with that, he continued to walk and disappeared into the corridor on the other side.
The battle was still raging outside. From the window of his cell, he watched silently as the battle shifted from the fight between human and aliens into the fight between aliens. The Protoss led by their commander by the name of Tassadar were the ones who now waged the war against the Zerg. Explosion upon explosion can be seen erupting from the surface of the planet, its shockwave reached far into the high orbit and beyond, rocking the ship every few seconds. The orbital platform had been completely destroyed. The fate of his beloved Sarah was still unknown. She was still down there, facing you know what.
If only Mengsk agreed to rescue her. If only he could go down there to rescue her.
All of a sudden, he heard gunshots coming in from behind. He quickly turned around and saw the two guards assigned by Duke earlier went down.
And he saw who did it.
"Mike!"
Mike Liberty, one of his closest companions, one of those he could trust on board the ship.
Mike said nothing at first. Instead, he pointed his rifle towards the lock of the cell door and began firing. The lock disabled and he pushed the door open.
"Come on, Jim! Let's get out of here!" said Mike.
Jim needed not to be told twice.
He immediately grabbed one of the dead marine's rifle and followed Mike out of the cell.
"So, it's just you and me? Do we have a ship?" asked Jim as they carefully navigated the corridor. Thankfully, due the raging battle outside, virtually every marine were at their station so the corridors were pretty much deserted.
"There's more and we do have a ship," said Mike. "That Horner boy had agree to be our pilot. But we gotta move fast."
Jim nodded.
"We gotta get Sarah," he said.
Mike immediately skidded to a halt.
"I don't think we can do that, Jim. I don't think she's still alive, Jim. Just look out there," said Mike.
"She's our friend, Mike. She's more resilient that you think she is. I know she's still alive. We gotta do this for her, Mike. I'm not leaving without her!" said Jim firmly.
Mike stared at Jim for a few moments. He could see that nothing would make Jim changed his mind. At last, he nodded.
"Fine," he said.
The two then continued their way towards Montgomery's main hangar. The hangar was fairly deserted when they arrived. And right at the middle the saw a shuttle. Two men were standing at the bottom of the ramp. They were looking right at Mike and Jim's direction.
Jim recognized one of the men.
Matthew Horner.
"Come on!" said Mike.
The two of them sprinted towards the shuttle.
"Ready?" asked Mike the moment they arrived.
"The engines warmed up," said Horner. "Just waiting for both of you, sir."
"Good chap," said Mike, patting Horner on his shoulder.
Together, the four of them climbed up the ramp. Once inside, Jim saw nearly forty men and women were already at their seats, waiting for them.
"There are those who agree to join us, Jim. They saw Mengsk's treachery. They refuse to live by it," said Mike.
Jim nodded. He said nothing. He knew that he should feel grateful, but for now all he could think of is Sarah.
Mike, Jim and Horner weaved their way towards the cockpit.
As Horner fastened his seatbelt, Jim placed his hand on Horner's shoulder.
"Matt, we need to go down to Tarsonis," he said.
Horner paused.
"But sir, I was told to get you and everyone else as far away from here as possible," he said.
"You will, don't worry about it. I need to rescue someone. Will you do it for me, please?" said Jim.
Horner turned to look at Mike.
Mike just shrugged.
"Just do it, Matt," he said.
"Yes, sir."
The shuttle took off minutes later.
As Matt pointed the shuttle's nose down towards the planet, from the cockpit, they saw three shuttles headed their way back from the surface of Tarsonis.
To be continued…