Starcraft: The Fate of the Artifact

Chapter One: Stargazing

The world was still. The wind did not blow, the birds did not sing, the villagers made no noise; all was quiet. The silence hung so heavily that one could hear a pin drop from a mile away, or in this case, the depressed sighs of an Alicorn. Very few ponies actually knew how much thought and effort their lunar princess put into crafting the picture of stars that was the night. The starry maned pony paced angrily back and forth on the tallest balcony of Canterlot Castle. She was deeply engrossed in her thoughts of her stellar masterpiece: its beauty unmatched in grace across the world, yet it was still outshone by her sister.

The dark Alicorn had grown tired of hearing her sister praised by all while she lurked mournfully in the shadows. She deserved more affection from her subjects, and Celestia knew this. What infuriated Luna the most was how little her sister did to help. The white princess told her that she was a big girl now, and she needed to solve her own problems, but no matter how much Luna tried to make the night shine, her subjects simply were not nocturnal creatures at heart, and no amount of magic could change that. She looked up and realized that she had spent so much time ranting to herself that the night was almost over.

“Oh well.” Luna exhaled heavily, a small cloud bursting from her muzzle into the cold air, before dissolving away. Her midnight blue mane flowed behind her, shining with the stars that she cared so much for. “It’s a shame, I get so wrapped up in my royal duties, that I rarely have time to enjoy my own creations.” Luna sat back down on the balcony of Canterlot castle. She brought a hoof to her chin as she pondered what could be done to add some brilliance to the sky.

“Hmmm,” A devious grin slowly stretched across her face. The dark blue aura of her magic emanated from Luna’s horn as she pushed the stars in the sky outward into a big circle. From this she arranged them one by one into the shapes of letters, pausing between each syllable.

“Cel- Es- Ti- A- Has- A- Fat- Plo- What?” Luna grabbed at one of the last stars needed to complete her… message to her sister, but it wouldn’t budge. She glared angrily at the sky. “You will learn your place, you little speck! Now obey me or suffer my wrath!” She closed her eyes in concentration, using as much power as she could muster, but the result was the same. Luna quickly became furious. She had always had a short temper and was trying to control it more (at her older sister’s command, actually), but she would never tolerate insubordination from her OWN creation! Her magic intensified, trying to get the stubborn star to move, but it seemed to have a life of its own!

“All right, fine. I tried being reasonable, but if you are going to be like that, then you shall cease to exist.” She knew that the star couldn’t hear her, but she needed a way to vent her rage, and screaming was her best bet. Luna changed her spell to a more powerful one. If she couldn’t get it to move, she would simply eradicate it, and make a new one in its place.

“I haven’t done this in a while.” Luna remarked, pinning down her target. Luna concentrated all of her might into her horn, preparing herself for the tricky spell. Stars, being so far away, were difficult targets to hit. Nevertheless, she thrust her horn upward, and shot forth a beam of pure destructive energy into the night sky, and watched in fury as the light moved out of the way.

“Oh NOW you decide to move. How dare you dare mock your princess!” With a snort of rage, she swiftly charged up the spell and fired again. Same result.

“Dammit.” The dark Alicorn stamped her hoof in rage several times, leaving a wide fracture in the marble floor of the balcony. “I don’t WANT to get Celestia to help me.” She tried blasting the star once more just to be safe, but again, the star moved out of its path. Luna turned around and stomped angrily off to her sister’s room.

****

Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s bedroom

Princess Celestia was deeply asleep in her queen-sized bed, having a pleasant dream about the times before she was the princess of her kingdom. It was just herself and her little sister Luna and all the time in the world. They would play all day and night; challenge each other to flying contests or challenges of magical strength. Celestia, being the eldest usually won these little contests, and even though they had their quarrels, they both enjoyed each other’s company. It seemed like nothing could ruin this dream.

CRASH!

Celestia awoke with a jolt, wondering what caused that alarming sound.

“Wh-who’s there?” Celestia asked out nervously. Prepared for anything, who could this individual be? A burglar? Or perhaps he was an assassin? Should she summon her guards? Celestia’s racing mind was halted by a loud, booming voice.

“Sister, we require your aid in a matter of extreme urgency!” Luna shouted in the “Royal Canterlot Voice” She often forgot that such loud volume was not needed anymore, and used it frequently when she became upset (which, unfortunately, was very often). In her state of frustration, she had used more force than necessary to open the door; which was now lying in the castle courtyard somewhere.

“Oh, it’s just you, Luna. Don’t startle me like that!” Celestia then took a tired glance at her bedside clock. It showed a time of 5:00 am.  “And what is so important that you would just barge right in here an hour before dawn?” Celestia was obviously upset. Her mane, which usually flowed majestically at her side, was a big clump of pink, blue and green. Her eyes had sickly colored bags of skin hanging beneath them, and her magnificent, white wings looked severely unkempt.

“SISTER! THIS IS A MATTER OF- um, I mean. There is something I need your help with, ‘Tia.” Luna quickly remembered how early it was, and that the royal Canterlot voice could be heard all the way in Manehatten. Her rage faded into shock as she gazed at the wreckage she had caused. The force of her impact on the door had caused it to break violently off its hinges and fly out the bedside window. There were parchment and quills littering the floor, and one of Celestia’s favorite tiaras was crushed under the weight of a massive textbook. Luna was lucky that her sister was still half-asleep. If she noticed all of this carnage, she would… It’s best to not make her sister angry right now. Luna hung her head in shame of the scene she caused.

“You see, there’s this stubborn star and I need your help destroying it so I can make a new one.” Luna admitted sheepishly. This isn’t going to end well. Luna thought to herself. When Celestia got angry, all you could do is pray that she wasn’t angry with you.

“Luna, I’m sure that whatever problem you’re having, you can solve it by your self. You are a grown mare, its time you started acting like one. Now let me get some more sleep.” The princess’s head promptly fell back into the softness of her silk pillows. Celestia was still very tired, and definitely not in the mood to deal with her sister’s antics.

Unfortunately, the dark Alicorn had other plans. Luna, even if she was co-ruler of Equestria, was still the little sister. And she was annoyingly determined to play the part.  She would always bother Celestia with the most trivial of matters. From the time that she wanted some ice cream and wouldn’t shut up until Celestia caved in and bought her the accursed treat, to the time where she got so jealous of her sisters fame and respect that she tried to plummet the world into a permanent night which...

Celestia’s train of thought came to a screeching halt, waking her up completely. That incident ended when Celestia banished Luna to the moon for a thousand years. ‘That’ll teach her to throw another tantrum,’ Celestia thought angrily to herself. Sure, maybe Celestia had gotten a little carried away with the whole “banishment” thing. But Luna was so full of herself at the time. Getting a cheap makeover and a stupid nickname. “Nightmare Moon”, Oh, please! A foal could come up with a more original name!

And now, here she was, making a mess of her room and making her relive painful memories. Breaking down her favorite door! That precious door had been made especially for her, carved out of the finest oak tree and embedded with a swirling, magnificent gold leaf pattern. And Luna had just reduced it to splinters! And she had the NERVE to ask for her help!

“Luna, it isn’t even 5:10 and I’m already at my patience’s end. Now get out of my room, before I call the Royal Guard.” Celestia snapped.

“Come on, ‘Tia, pleeeeeeeeease?” Either Luna was unaware of Celestia’s fury, or she didn’t care. She had a back-up plan. It was a sure-fire way to get her older sister to do her bidding.  In all the years they had been sisters this had NEVER failed.

“I’ll make you a chocolate caaaake.” Luna stretched out the sound, waving the thought of the delicious, moist, strawberry topped delicacy in front of her older sibling’s face. Even though it burned Celestia up inside, there was no denying that cake is her one true weakness. The alabaster princess was already walking out of her room before Luna so much as blinked.

“Make sure to put sugar in the icing this time.” Celestia said begrudgingly, remembering the last time her sister tried her hoof in baking. They both then made their way back to Luna’s Balcony, with Luna cheering all the way.

Earlier, in orbit above the Planet Equestria

A single, solitary spacecraft was awaiting the signal from its commander. The ship had sleek, flowing, gold arches that bounded along the sides of the massive, oval shaped hull. This wasn’t just any ship; it was a protoss carrier. The most powerful aerial weapon the Protoss had. While slow, this metal beast more than makes up for it with its massive strength, and its legions of interceptors: Small mechanical drones that swarm the carrier’s target, and bombard it with energy strikes until only ash remains. However, this particular carrier had a valuable treasure on board it. It was an ancient relic of unknown power. This artifact was a gift from the Xel’Naga.

The main bridge of the carrier was eerily silent. None of the members of the crew dared speak up now, their commander was in a heated discussion with his superior. The ship’s commander stood in the central walkway of the bridge, and was looking up at a hologram screen. The Protoss in command of the carrier was a tall, muscular creature with grey skin, two hands with two fingers and two thumbs, one on each side of the hand. The most defining trait, however, was the creatures’ head. It had two pure white, luminous eyes, and no mouth. The Protoss species consisted entirely of advanced psionics. They had no need of a mouth to communicate, as they could talk telepathically. Even without a mouth to convey its emotions, the Carrier’s commander had a look of pure terror on its face.

“Executor, that is simply not possible. How could the Terrans have bested our forces on the planet Xil? The Artifact temple was personally protected by our mightiest troops. How could they have failed?” The Commander had every right to believe that the artifact was safe. The Protoss members on board this carrier and at the other end of the communicator were not any ordinary protoss. These were religious, over-zealous members of a powerful sect called the Tal’Darim. They were not the friendliest Protoss in the sector, to say the least. Most Protoss did not think fondly of Terrans; But these Tal’Darim would kill anything that so much as looked at them, Terran or not. There was a long, unsettling silence between the two commanders. The one on the screen simply hung his head in grief of his fallen comrades.

“The situation is far from well, my brother. The Terrans were more methodical than we ever expected. They arrived with a machine that fired the SUN itself at our relic’s temple. There was no defense against this monstrosity." The Commander on board the carrier fell down into his chair, visibly shocked by this terrible news.

“But what of the immortal guardians? What of the mighty colossi? Surely, they could have bested these inferior Terrans?” Even as he said this, he knew from the look of pure horror on his superiors face: that these Terrans were no longer a force to be underestimated.

“These wretched defilers have now three of the artifacts. If the base here on Typhon fails; then your artifact will be our last hope.” The commander said with no small amount of fear in his voice. The Tal’Darim were still unsure of how exactly the Terrans kept finding the artifacts. But they could no longer take any risks.  “Where is your current location?” The Tal’Darim commander asked.

“I am beyond the reach of all those who would seek the artifact. Do not worry, it is safe here.” The being on the carrier replied confidently. The ship was now light-years away from Terran space, there was no way they could track the energy radiation from this far away.

“Very well, I believe it is time to change our tactics. No matter where we hide, those Terrans will find us. We must devise a different plan.” As the two aliens continued exchanging ideas, the ship began experiencing some minor turbulence. The High Executor seemed concerned.

“Is everything alright?” He asked. The Carrier’s crew checked their monitors and computer systems; nothing was out of the ordinary.

“We are fine, there are no Terran or Zerg around for light-years, it was simply a malfunctio-what?” The Carrier’s commander lost his balance for moment as the ship was violently struck with something. The commander asked his crew to scan again, no hostile vessels to be detected. His eyes widened with fear as he checked the carrier’s plasma shields. They were almost completely drained!

“Executor! We are in peril!” The Executor seemed far too lost in thought to notice the other being. The commander once again violently shook as another blast of energy collided with the ship. It tore through the shields remaining energy and did major damage to the ship’s hull. One more hit like that, and they would be finished. “Brother, I need reinforcements! I’m under attack!” The commander’s voice was full of terror and uncertainty as to what could possibly be attacking him. “How soon can the fleet arrive?” the commander asked nervously. The executor finally responded to his panicking subordinate.

“I have my fleet ready to travel towards your location.” The Protoss on the screen confirmed. “However, because of your extreme distance from our current location, it will take about 20 cycles to reach you, even at warp drive.” The commander’s voice now seemed uncertain. If it was going to be that long, was it even worth sending them at all?

Below, on the surface of Equestria

“Oh, So I have a fat plot, then? Hmm?” She turned to her little sister who was starring slack-jawed at her own clumsiness. How did forget to take them out of that alignment? Luna’s eye twitched erratically and she released a nervous laugh. Celestia fumed with anger as she looked up at the scene Luna had caused with the stars. She raised a hoof and violently bashed the back of her sister’s head, causing the younger Alicorn to wince in pain.

“Well, um, that is, I.” Celestia glared at her with the strength of a raging fire, and her sibling audibly gulped. “Look, we can settle this like grown mares, can’t we? Why don’t we just finish this up, and then we can forget that this ever happened?” Luna was shaking in fear as she spoke.

“Okay, Luna.” Celestia said, her voice dripping in venom. “But you are in for a world class punishment afterwards, you understand me?” Luna nodded feebly and whimpered slightly in terror. Celestia looked back up at the sky. “Now, what star are you talking about?” Luna rose to her full height and used her magic to push away all the stars except for the rebellious one.

“That’s the star, ‘Tia. Now, hold it still so I can try blasting it again.” Celestia looked confused.

“You mean you used your destruction spell more than once on the same star? You must need more practice if you are that weak, little sister.” The older Alicorn had a very smug grin on her face.

“Just hold it still so I can blast it.” Luna retorted harshly. “You pretentious overconfident mule.” Celestia didn’t notice that last comment, and Luna was thankful. Both Alicorns readied their magic, Celestia’s holding the star still, and Luna preparing once again to destroy it. She poured all of her strength into this spell; hoping it would finally get the job done.

Back onboard the Carrier

“If I must wait 20 cycles, then so be it. It is a small price to pay to ensure the artifact’s safety.” Suddenly the vibrations came back, more severe than before. The ship wasn’t taking on any damage though, so they weren’t under attack. The Admiral ordered the ship to enter warp drive and move to a more secure location. But the ship was no longer responding.

“What is this madness? Computer, what is happening?” The commander was starting to panic. What could be holding the ship still while it was in warp drive? The Executor spoke up once again.

“Does the planet you are orbiting have any sapient life?” He asked with seemingly no regard for his troops, or their cargo.

“Yes, Executor, this planet does posses sapient life, but that is irrelevant! We might die here!” The Executor’s gaze did not falter; he was deep in thought.

“JUST DO AS I SAY!” The crew was taken aback by the Executor’s aggression. “I have a plan to destroy those Terrans AND retrieve the artifact. I need you to send some Observers down to this planet, and send their transmissions to my ship.” The crew began pushing buttons and making adjustments psychically. The three cloaked, robotic spies were launched from the ship, and began their way to the planet’s surface.

“It is done, Executor, the observers are-” The commander was cut off as the final attack collided with the ship’s hull. When the beam of energy finally struck, it did more than just massive damage. The ship was split in two straight down the middle, killing most of the crew instantly. The beam penetrated the ship’s warp drive generator, and the ensuing chain reaction created a massive explosion, sending shrapnel and debris hurtling towards the planet. The artifact’s container was sent plummeting toward the planet like a comet streaking across the sky.

On Equestria’s surface

“There, are you happy now?” Celestia asked, slightly annoyed. Luna was too busy gazing lovingly at the explosion that her magic had created. It looked like a giant firework, bright and luminous against the black sky. It truly was a sight to behold.

“Well, when you’re done stargazing, remember that you still have a cake to bake me.” Celestia chirped. “And one hell of a pranking after that.” She added with a snarl.

This managed to snap Luna back to her senses. “Oh fine.” Luna gave up on her stargazing and went to the castle kitchen. She loved baking, but was not terribly fond of what would happen afterwards. If she had stayed a few more moments, she would have noticed the remnants of the ships hull, along with the artifact, crash into the Everfree Forrest.

Meanwhile, at Ponyville Park

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were both lying in the soft grass of the park, panting harshly to catch their breath. After spending most of the night trying to improve the filly's flight skills, they were exhausted beyond belief. They rested for a bit, having called off the training as the moon started to set. The two of them watched the beautiful stars twinkling in the sky, without a care in the world. RD turned her head to the orange pegasus, who was starting to nod off from sleep deprivation.

"Hey, Scoots. Why do you always want to practice during the night? I have to get up early for my job, and you really should be at home in this hour." As she said this, Scootaloo cringed slightly, though RD didn't seem to notice.

"No reason, I just like the night better is all." That was a half-truth. The real reason was that she didn't want anypony else see her fail. Being the only pegasus in Ponyville that couldn’t fly was not something to be proud of; and the fewer that saw her crash, the better. And she didn't exactly call the orphanage "home".

"All right then." RD said, getting back to her hooves. She held a hoof towards her little friend, and helped her up as well. The two of them smiled warmly at each other for a moment, before Rainbow moved her forehoof playfully through the filly's mane. "Okay then Scoots, I’m gonna be busy tomorrow, but the day after, I'm free. But! We're gonna have to practice in the morning, alright?" Scoots looked at her hero with unreserved levels of determination.

"Sure thing, Rainbow Dash!" The filly then gave a mock salute, followed by a cheerful laugh. She looked at the sky once more; the moon was starting to set. "Okay, I should probably get back home." As she said this, her head drooped in sorrow.  RD didn't seem to notice.

"Alright then squirt, just make sure you don't get lost or something." Rainbow then stood up, extended her wings, and took off in a midair U-turn toward her cloud house, leaving Scootaloo staring in awe. As the orange filly wandered through the darkness of Ponyville to her "home", she looked up at the night stars for last time, and saw the most spectacular thing in her life.

A bright stream of light flowed up into the sky, and upon touching a star, it exploded violently, sending forth a shower of sparks and brightness one would only find from a firework. After the initial blast had receded, she noticed an object falling across the stars, and into the Everfree forest. Her thoughts of Rainbow Dash vanished instantly, her only thought was to get her friends and tell them about this comet. Maybe they could get their cutie marks in comet finding! But that would have to wait, for now, the orange filly needed sleep.

Two days later, and about 50,000-lightyears away from Equestria:

A monstrous flying fortress was aimlessly drifting in space: a powerful, Behemoth-class Terran Battle cruiser. It was armed with powerful laser batteries, near impenetrable Battle cruiser class Neosteel plating. And most importantly, it was equipped with the all-powerful, all-consuming Yamato Cannon. The Yamato canon fires a huge blast of super-heated plasma at its target. Consuming a good deal of the ships energy, but completely destroying its target. This ship was the Hyperion, Flagship, (as well as the ONLY ship) of the Terran rebel group “Raynor’s Raiders” led by Jim Raynor himself.

Jim Raynor’s state of mind could not easily be compressed into a single emotion. It was a complex mixture of anguish, shock, determination, and righteous fury. On one of the Raider’s more recent missions, they had found an old adjutant that belonged to the previous Terran government, the “Confederacy.” Adjutants are mechanical, human-looking robots designed for the collection and organization of data, among other things. They had found the corrupt government, the “Dominion” digging all over the ruined planet Tarsonis, and decided to investigate. When the Raiders found it however, it was heavily encrypted, which only increased Jim’s suspicion of why the Dominion wanted it so badly.

Now that they finally managed to decrypt it, thanks to a rather untrustworthy mercenary known as Colonel Orland, Jim had discovered why exactly the Dominion wanted it. It contained an intercepted transmission from the Dominion leader, Arcturus Mengsk, revealing that he was the one who caused the destruction of Tarsonis by luring the Zerg swarm with the Psi Emitter. Even now, Jim couldn’t stop thinking of Mengsk’s bloodthirsty rant. I will not be stopped. Not by you or the Confederates or the Protoss or ANYONE. I will rule this sector, or see it burn to ashes around me. Jim was in the ship’s cantina at the moment, trying to drown his sorrows in some alcohol.

Seeing that his friend was looking down, Tychus Findlay stomped over to him to see what was wrong. He was one of Jim’s oldest friends. They got into a lot of trouble together over the years, which abruptly ended when Tychus took the heat for both of them, and went to prison, supposedly for life sentence.

However, Tychus managed to get out of prison with the help of the “Moebius Foundation”. They were a group of researchers and archeologists studying various protoss artifacts and lore. Recently, they agreed to bust Tychus out of jail if he would help them get the artifacts. There was a catch though. Tychus had to remain trapped inside his Terran marine armor until his debts to Moebius were paid off. At least, that’s the story Tychus was selling. Jim knew that Tychus was hiding something, but decided not to pursue the subject.

“Damn, Jimmy. What’s got you so depressed?” Tychus asked in that gravelly, southern accent of his. Jim looked up from his bottle with a deadpan stare.

“It’s that adjutant. It holds the key to taking down Mengsk once and for all. Now me and Matt just got to find a way to use it against him.” Jim turned his gaze down to his bourbon and took a large gulp of it. “It brought back some bad memories too.”

“Ah gotta know. Just what was it went down with you and Mengsk? Seems you two were tight once.” Tychus asked while getting himself something to drink.

“I used to think Mengsk would be a force for good. We fought alongside each other against the Confederacy. Right up until Tarsonis. That’s when he crossed the line, using the Zerg to murder the entire planet. He left Kerrigan behind to die because she called him out on it.” Jim hastily downed another shot. “And now she’s been twisted into that monster.” He said in a sorrowful tone.

“Damn. You sure know how ta pick your friends Jimmy.” Jim gave Tychus a glare that said, “Shut up”.

“Anyway, do you have any more info from those Moebius boys? Haven’t heard from ‘em since we saved their research from the Zerg attack on Tyrador.” A while ago, the Raiders destroyed the Moebius team’s data cores so the Zerg wouldn’t get them. Those data cores provided coordinates to the remaining Xel’Naga artifacts. It seemed that everybody wanted those alien rocks, and the Terrans were determined not to let the Queen of Blades have them.

“Actually I do. They called me up today, said it was important. They got us our artifact alright, its gonna be easy money this time.” Tychus replied, giving friend a light pat on the shoulder. Although, considering he was wearing his marine infantry armor, it still hurt slightly.

Terran marine armor isn’t exactly lightweight either. It was a full-body suit of heavily reinforced armor that protected the man inside from almost everything. It was capable of providing life-support, some nuclear/biological/chemical protection, and simply wearing it makes one about a foot taller, depending on the model. Tychus’ was the CMC-300, one of the larger of the standard issue suits. The suit also increases the wearers arm length, and the suit's helmet contains infra-red scanning. The suit, while extremely efficient in combat, is rather cumbersome to move around in outside of battle, and Tychus was determined to get out of the suit as soon as possible, and could only do so until he had paid off his “debts,” as he called them.

“Alright then, Tychus. You go back to the bridge and upload the data to the star map. I have to go to the lab and make sure Stettman doesn’t blow up the ship with this new breakthrough or something.” Stettman was your typical nerd: Intelligent, clumsy, skinny, and he had a habit of making things explode without provocation. But, his previous research breakthroughs had helped the raiders immensely in combat.

Later, in the Hyperion’s Lab

The lab was much quieter than the cantina, the decrypted adjutant was hooked up to the wall on the right side, and on the left side were two very important stasis tanks. One contained a protoss crystal, which seemed to grow more and more by the day. There was also a…black hole? On top of it, performing some action that Stettman was still trying to figure out. The other tank contained a Zerg sample. Looking at the twisting, undulating cocoon was slightly unnerving for the seasoned Terran war veteran.

In the center of the lab the three Xel’Naga artifacts were floating around in a containment field. Stettman was looking up and down from his research tablet, to the protoss crystal, and back to the tablet. He was standing there in his white lab coat and brown pants typing away rapidly while absent-mindedly humming to himself. Jim asked the man from across the lab.

“So, what’s this newest breakthrough, Stettman?” Jim asked. Without looking away from his work, he called back.

“Sir, you should check out the research console. There are some exciting developments there.” With his curiosity peaked, Jim turned on the waist-high console and peered at the screen. The protoss side of the research stream yielded a very fascinating upgrade. It showed a demonstration of what this technological advancement could accomplish. A Vespene gas refinery was warping the gas from the geyser straight to the command center without any SCV’s to carry the canisters. This instantly got Jim’s interest. Normally Vespene geysers needed to be managed at all times, but these automated refineries would relieve much of the stress of the battlefield.

After clicking “yes” to confirm his wish to continue researching that particular tech, he turned around and left to check up on his old pal Rory Swann in the armory.

In the Armory:

The air was filled the smell of oil and the sound of whirring gears. Usually, whenever the Raiders complete a mission, a new piece of tech gets added to the armory hanger. Currently there was a Medivac, some spider mines, two of Tosh’s Specters, a Marauder, and a Firebat. Jim turned to see Swann standing next to one of his beloved Siege tanks. Swann noticed his pal standing around and gave his robotic claw a clang as he walked over.

“Hey cowboy, I got a fantastic schematic that you just gotta see.” The muscular, but still rather portly man walked over to the tech console and selected the siege tanks and the screen. Swann was always coming up with upgrades that never disappointed.

“Alright Swann, what’cha got for me?” Jim asked with unparalleled curiosity. Swann pushed a few icons on the screen, and the demonstration of the upgrade titled “Maelstrom Round” was put in plain sight. Two siege tanks were bombarding armored protoss units to dust with far more efficiency than ever. An armored protoss walker could normally withstand two or three shells from a tank, but this new round was blowing them up in one shot! Of course, the marker that estimated the upgrade’s cost was over one hundred thousand credits; but Jim was too impressed to care. His eyes widened in surprise and he closed his lips tightly to produce a high whistle.

“Swann, you just about out-done yourself this time.” He gave his friend a hearty pat on the back. “Those protoss can have their heavy armor and plasma shields all to themselves. It don’t really matter anymore. With this monster, we’ll tear ‘em a new one.” The two shared a quick laugh before getting back to business.

“Alright then, cowboy. I’ll change the schematics to fit this upgrade. It should be done in a few days.” Swann replied confidently. This was going to be unbelievably helpful in the rest of the Raiders campaign. Jim turned back to the armory Tech console to see what other upgrades he could afford. That maelstrom round had been costly, sure. But he still had enough for a minor upgrade.

Jim pushed a few icons until the mechanical units were displayed on screen. There was a Siege tank, a “Goliath” combat walker, and a “Hellion” scouting vehicle. But Jim turned his attention to the Vulture bikes. They were fast, skirmish units primarily used to deploy spider mines on the field. A nostalgic grin grew across Raynor’s face as he remembered the good old days of riding his bike without a care in the world, while Swann’s face sported a mischievous snicker.

“Man, those goofy mercenaries are still using Vulture bikes. Can you believe it? Damn things are deathtraps, even when you DON’T got people shootin’ at ya.” Jim looked at his friend with disbelief. Swann loved all things mechanical, what’s wrong with Vultures?

“Now Swann, my old Vulture saved my skin more times than I care to remember. I ain’t gonna let you trash talk a classic piece of engineering like that.” Swann looked as if he was waiting for his friend to say that, judging by his massive smirk.

“A classic, huh? Yeah, I guess you could call them that.” Jim thought he was done before he spoke up again. “Of course most folks like a bike that don’t EXPLODE on ‘em when the propeller seals freeze up. Or when the fuel cells start leaking radioactive waste!” The mustachioed man had an extremely smug grin; he knew he won this round. “But hey, who cares if it’s a classic, right?”

“No one likes a smartass, Swann.” Leaving his friend to chuckle to himself, James left to return to the bridge. It was time to see what Tychus thought was so important.

Later, on the Hyperion’s bridge

Jim found the bridge as busy as usual. There were crewmembers hustling back and forth with their duties, trying to maintain all the goings-on on the ship and other minor affairs. What Jim noticed immediately, was that Tychus and Matt were glaring at each other so harshly it seemed like they would actually burst into flames. None of the crewmembers seemed concerned though, so it must not have escalated into a verbal confrontation yet.

“So Matt, what’s our current status?” Jim asked with half interest. Although Matt Horner was one of Jim’s closest friends, as well as one of his oldest allies, Matt tended to be a tad too serious. He always had a plan though, and Jim respected him for that.

“Well sir, Tosh has confirmed his permanent stay with us. And he gave us the data to train additional specters.” Matt stated. Tosh was a tricky one. He was an African man with pure white eyes, long dreadlocks, and a raspy Jamaican accent. He was also part of an experiment called “Project Shadow blade”. The corrupted Terran Government called the “Dominion”, were artificially enhancing his already high natural psychic abilities in an attempt to create an even more powerful psionic soldier, along with many other men of his status, calling them “Specters” because of their defining cloaking technology.  Jim had helped him out earlier in exchange for funds, but had recently busted open an entire prison planet to secure their partnership.

Both Jim and Tosh and one common goal: to see Emperor Arcturus Mengsk of the Terran Dominion dethroned and revealed for the traitor he is. In fact, the Hyperion was Mengsk’s old flagship. Jim and Matt “borrowed” it when they parted ways with Arcturus.

“Well, I’m sure he’ll be very helpful to us. What about you, Tychus?” Jim asked.  “What did your Moebius boys pick up this time?” The hulking blue suit of armor gladly turned away from Matt to his friend.

“Well, Jimmy; Moebius had been tracking the communications between two Protoss ships for 3 days. One near Typhon, and the other was last seen around here.” Tychus stated as he pointed at the general location of the ship on the star map. “The ship was apparently carrying another artifact. Before the communications broke up, the ship mentioned something about bein’ attacked by a laser of sorts. Moebius has confirmed that the ship AND the artifact have crashed onto the planet.”

“Well hold on now, Tychus. This planet is so far out of protoss space, why doesn’t the team just pick it up themselves?” Jim was slightly curious as to why they would need the Raiders for such an easy job.

“Because, Jimmy, the Executor on Typhon said he was sending reinforcements in 24-cycles time. That’s about 20 days time for us. Even with this huge window of opportunity, after the incident on Tyrador, Moebius doesn’t have troops to spare, and they don’t like taking risks.” Tychus had told Jim all the information he had.

“Well Matt what’s your take on it?” Jim asked.

“Sir, given the distance between us and that planet, it will take us a little less than a week to reach it. We know that the protoss reinforcements won’t be there for another thirteen days once we arrive. We should go to this planet, grab the artifact and leave with the artifact before anything else can happen.” Matt smiled; this was going to be a much-needed break from the pulse-pounding missions the crew had been through of late.

“Alright Matt, set our course. I’m going to get some shut-eye.” With that, Raynor turned towards the door, and left for his personal bedroom.