On the edge of Rasalhague space, on a world fittingly called The Edge, Jim Raynor pondered the business of the day. Twenty five years of life in the Inner Sphere had been kind to the Raiders. Once a ragtag revolutionary brotherhood, the Raiders had grown into an international military force operating all over the Inner Sphere and the Periphery, and their membership numbered in the millions. Not everything had been sunshine, and the Raiders had lost their share of men in the wars that raged across the Sphere, but Jim was still proud of how far they had come.

Yet no matter how much the Raiders' name might strike fear or kindle hope in the hearts of nations, Jim would still be a marshal, a lawman. That was why he and a division of Raiders were out here on the core ward edge of the Rasalhague Republic. The Edge was turning into a boomtown as Rasalhagians headed for the Periphery to make a new home for themselves, and it had a reputation as a brawling, bellicose place that could use some tough men to remind the good citizens that the law hadn't abandoned them. If only Jim had known what was in store for them.

Right now, his division was preparing for it's daily combat exercises with the local army corps, and he expected that the Raiders would trounce them yet again-

"Commander Raynor," a synthetic voice said through his suit's com system.

"Talk to me, Adjutant."

"I am picking up jump signatures at the zenith of The Edge's star."

Jim was almost out of the door. "Regular arrivals?"

"Negative. The signatures have appeared in a military formation, and they are running under obscurement."

So whoever they were, they weren't using warp drives for faster-than-light travel.

"What kind of ships are we dealing with?" Jim asked, starting to walk faster.

"One Star Lord class Jumpship. Three Invader class Jumpships."

The former element concerned him. Considering the fact that even with technology coming out of stasis, a Star Lord was still a comparatively rare sight, whoever was coming at them had to be very rich indeed.

"I have also detected three Union-class Dropships, two Overlord-class Dropships, and three Dropships of unknown pattern."

That was the last bit of evidence Jimmy needed that the new arrivals were not friendlies.

Raynor trot turned into a run, and his suit patched him into the general command network.

"You seeing all this?" Jim asked.

"Affirmative," replied the voice of General Sammy Harnack, commander of the division. "I've just declared condition red. Marines are reporting to their combat stations now. Best get to the ops center Commander."

In less than ten minutes, Raynor had arrived at the command center, and the scanners apprised him of the approaching hostiles.

"Adjutant, any changes?"

The synthetic voice of the divisional adjutant replied, "Affirmative, Commander. Unidentified Dropships have separated. They are approaching at attack speed. Wait, I'm receiving a signal from the lead Dropship."

Raynor steeled himself for what was to come next. "Patch it through."

The face that appeared on the big screen was unfamiliar. It had a rather impressive mustache, and a set of strange tattoos, but it was definitely a human face. That at least ruled out the possibility that either the Protoss or the Zerg had followed them.

The visitor sneered beneath his mustache as he said, "I am Star Colonel Mikel Furey of the Sixteenth Battle Cluster. What forces defend this world?"

"This is Jim Raynor of Raynor's Raiders. Who are you supposed to be? I've never heard of any unit called the Sixteenth Battle Cluster. Who do you work for, and what do you want here?"

The newly named Star Colonel Furey scowled. "My cluster serves Clan Wolf, not one of your filthy Houses. I have named myself freebirth, and my unit. You will either inform me immediately of the composition of your forces or I will be forced to attack without the honor of the batchall and with all the forces at my disposal. You have one minute."

Raynor matched his opponent's scowl with his own. "Just one minute Colonel, the men under my command are no business of yours whatsoever. Now either you power down your weapons and land peacefully, or turn around and get back on your jumpships."

Furey's scowl became a snarl of rage as he practically spat, "You dare threaten a Star Colonel! I shall kill you myself for your insolence!"

Raynor cut the connection without another word. Then he turned to General Harnack and said, "I hope the Drakkens are ready for 'em."

"Yes sir. The capital city's defense grid will be fully active in a few minutes. Whoever these fellas are, they're in for one hell of a surprise."

XxX

Mikel Furey hardly expected what came from the surface of the planet he had meant to conquer. His dropships had only just arrived in orbit when bolts of pure energy had speared into two of his Carriers and blown the two Overlords to pieces.

For a second, there had been no sense in earth or heaven as he tried to reconcile what had just happened with his view of the Sphere. How was it possible that a whole battery of planetary defense cannons could have been installed on a peripheral world? A second cannonade would soon begin and the dropships had no choice but to race for the surface, so as to avoid the fire of the cannons.

In less than a minute, he'd lost the better part of his Cluster to forces which he had badly underestimated.

As the ship around him burned with reentry fire, he roared into the comms, "All remaining omnifighters, destroy those cannons! Our only hope lies in striking before the Freebirth aerospace fighters can scramble. We will destroy the Freebirth command center."

Now all they had to do was find it. Their scanners could detect nothing, and their high-resolution cameras could see nothing. But it would make no difference once they were on the ground. Then they would tear the Freebirths apart.

When they got on the ground, Furey found himself wishing they'd stayed in orbit. As soon as the first Timberwolf had taken a step out of the Union, the ground underneath it's foot erupted in fire, and the mech toppled forward with it's right leg shattered to uselessness. Furey cursed and ordered his warriors to watch themselves.

"The damned Freebirths have planted mines."

Then came their first interaction with the combat forces of the Inner Sphere. A star of mechs had gone ahead to scout a nearby valley, and before they had figured out their mistake, a storm of missiles had speared into their mechs, blasting arms loose and kneecapping legs. What made it really horrible for the Star Commander was that he couldn't see where the attack was coming from.

But on his scanners, there was distortion, a blemish of light. He could hardly believe it, but what else was there?

"Aim for the distortion!" he shouted, "They are using cloaking technology!"

AN: Need some ideas for the fight itself.