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Rebellion of Antiga Prime
Lena Raynor downed a shot of whiskey in some of her little spare time. She had been the marshal for a small Confederate colony on Mar Sara, going straight after a bout of crime early in life. She worked so hard to help that little colony, had cared about the colonists. Then came the zerg. Small at first, creatures the size of large dogs attacking with relentless ferocity. One or two were easy to dispatch. But the zerg never stopped at one or two. Lena shuddered remembering the miles of land covered in the undulating violet goop the zerg used. Slithering beasts which spat barbed spines with enough force to pierce steel. Creatures the size of buildings with giant blades to crush their defenses. The Confederacy supplied no aid, no reinforcements, no ships to take colonists to safety.
In desperation Lena reached out to the Sons of Korhal, anti-Confederate terrorists. Arcturus Mengsk saved the few colonists left, using his militia to evacuate them as a nightmare force of thousands of the zerg descended upon them. The Confederacy labeled the remainder of the colonists terrorists as well. Perhaps they could have left and survived on some far off fringe world, but Lena was angry enough that she joined immediately when Arcturus offered to let her in on his plans against the Confederacy, and so did many of her soldiers.
First Lena led her fighters to a secret Confederate facility hidden away from the Zerg to steal weapon schematics away in the chaos, a simple enough mission. Satisfied that Lena and her soldiers were sufficiently anti-Confederacy, Arcturus was integrating them into his forces proper. Lena was just happy to work against those pompous assholes as she had been, and was more than happy to continue to fight for a less corrupt government.
Whirring mechanics announced the Adjutant coming back online. The mechanical woman whirred and spoke in a synthetic voice. “Incoming transmission from Arcturus Mengsk.”
Lena nodded and pressed a button in the bar to turn on a camera screen. Before it fully lit up, Lena hid the shot glass and bottle of whiskey away from the view of the camera. She tied back her black hair just as Mensk and a woman Lena had not met materialised into view on the screen.
Arcturus nodded in place of a greeting. “Raynor, this is my lieutenant Kara Kerrigan. You're going to meet her in the field.”
Kara nodded, brushing blonde bangs from her face. “The Antigans are tired of Confederate rule, they're ready to revolt.”
“So what do you want me to do?” Lena asked. She was ready for action.
Kara smiled at Lena’s eagerness. Before she could speak however, Arcturus cut in. “I want you to meet Kerrigan in the field. It will be her job to take care of the Confederate officers.” He said. “I’m sending you the coordinates, It is your job to free this colony and show our good will to the Antigan people. The rest of the Confederates are yours to deal with.”
Lena nodded. The screen blinked out, leaving Lena alone at the bar again. She sighed. “Adjutant, get my bike and gather Squad 6.”
The robot woman whirred and jerked up. “Of course, Captain.”
~~~
Lena’s vulture bike roared under her as she slammed over rocky hills. Behind her a squad of six marines ran, keeping up by virtue of their giant metal armor which aided their movements. Between the seven of them they left a trail of giant boot prints and a set of bike tracks carved through the countryside.
The adjutant chirped up over Lena’s earpiece. “Nearing the rendezvous coordinates.”
Lena broke into a clearing. Kara stood at the other end, facing Lena directly. Her head cocked to one side and her eyebrow was raised. She wore the tight armor of a Ghost. Lena caught her breath. She let her eye wander on Kara as her soldiers stomped up behind her. She smiled under her helmet as she thought of some of the things she would like to do with Kara, perhaps later.
“Captain Raynor, I’ve finished the scouting of the area and -- “ Kara paused, face breaking into a knowing smile. “You pig.”
Lena was taken aback. “What? I haven’t said anything to you yet.” Her face flushed and she looked down in an attempt to hide further in her helmet. “Oh right, you’re a telepath. Let’s just get this over with.”
Kara smirked and shook her head. She turned to point in the direction of the colony. “Follow me, lets take them out. Maybe a little quieter this time.”
Kara took the lead and set a slower pace. She constantly looked around, as much behind her as in front of her. Occasionally she looked ahead through the scope of her rifle, but she never put her finger on the trigger. As they neared the colony, Kara put up her hand to stop the troop.
“Wait here, I’ll send you the signal when it’s safe to come up.” She said. She slinked forward, just outside visibility of the colony. She looked back at Lena, winked, and vanished into invisibility.
Lena waited, hoping the Antigan colony didn’t have anything that could detect cloaked soldiers, or that the Antigans were the ones to see her, not the Confederate officers. The soldiers behind her shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting with their guns. Over the comm, a suppressed gun rang out. Lena blinked. “Alright, I’ve taken out the officers. You’re clear to come on up to command. The Antigans are behind us.”
Lena motioned to the other soldiers. They passed dozens of metal riveted buildings and outfitted marines. Above, wraith fighter jets flitted in and out of view and other ships floated at the ready to pick up soldiers. Kara stood in front of the command, directing units of Antigan marines to move out. She turned as Lena drove near. She held her sniper rifle near her hip pointed toward the sky and smiled.
“Captain Raynor. Welcome to the party. You wanna give me a ride?” Kara nodded toward Lena’s bike.
Lena pursed her lips, then nodded. “Just tell me where to drive, darlin’.”
Kara climbed onto the seat behind Lena, standing and facing the Antigan rebel army. “Alright, the Confederates aren’t going to be ready for us if we move out now. Everyone that is ready now moves out now. The others that aren’t ready will back us up as reinforcement.” Kara pointed the barrel of her gun south. “Let’s take them down, we’re moving out.”
The hoots of the hundreds of prepared rebel soldiers drowned out all other sound. Lena found herself lending her voice too to the chorus. Her heart rushed. It had been too long since she had a good fight against other humans.
Kara sat back down on the seat of the vulture and pointed her rifle forward. “South. We have dropships at the water to take us across.” She said to Lena.
Lena let out a final howl and revved her bike. Once again she took off. She slammed over rocks and down both natural and metal ramps. As they neared the black water, a crop of bright blue luminous crystals seemed to rise up out of the earth, hindering their path. Before they reached the obstacle, a dropship hovered overhead and pulled in the two and some of the nearby marines.
Lena was no stranger to the tractor beam effect of leading into a drop ship, but she certainly did not enjoy the lurch in her stomach as gravity reversed. She tried not to react though. Kara didn’t react. Once the soldiers were all in the dropship bay, the metal floor slammed shut beneath them and the gravity reversing stopped. The bike and all of the soldiers hit the metal and the ship lurched forward.
The woman at the helm of the dropship looked back to her passengers. “Looks like we won’t have much trouble. They’re scrambling after you killed the officer.”
Kara nodded. “They’ll all be down in an hour.” She said.
The dropship pilot laughed. “Good, I hope so. We’ll all be happy to get rid of those confederate bastards.” The dropship slowed. “Here we are. I’ll be bringing soldiers over as fast as I can. Good luck.”
With that, the metal floor opened. The tractor beam started again, but slower, enough for everyone to begin to fall.
The ground beneath them was clear of Confederate soldiers. They could see the buildings in the distance, the soldiers lumbering along. And Lena knew those soldiers and the cameras on those buildings could see them too. Behind them, five other dropships dropped their loads of soldiers as well. Lena hit the ground with her wheels already turning. Behind her and Kara the Antigans charged. They all quaked the ground beneath them. The Confederate soldiers formed a quick line as they realised the Antigans approached.
Chaos erupted. The Antigans broke through with no effort, taking down most of the line within seconds. Lena broke the bike through and rushed toward a turret. She used her bike gun to tear into it. She felt a bump on the back of her bike as Kara leapt up and into the fray on foot. Lena wheeled on a large group of Confederates cornering a small group of Antigans. With her explosive bike gun she scattered them. The absolute cacophony of the battle around her prevented her from hearing Kara, but she felt Kara leap back on the back seat of the vulture. She stood and fired her gun, taking down three soldiers standing on the back of Lena’s moving bike. Kara looked down at Lena.
“You’ve been in the thick of it before, huh?” Kara yelled over the fray. Lena heard it more with her mind than with her ears. Thoughts of her old criminal days bubbled to the top of Lena’s mind.
“You could say that.” Lena said. She slammed into a Confederate marine with the front of her bike and rode over. “Not quite like this.”
“It’s not like this often.” Kara said. “It’s a lot more cloak and dagger.”
The pair neared to the Confederate command center.
“Are we ready to do this?” Lena asked.
“Yeah, the Confederates are losing.” Kara said. She sat down on the bike, and hugged closer to Lena. “Do it. Slam into the door. It’ll come down.”
Lena gritted her teeth in doubt but sped up. Her heart raced. The pair flew up the ramp to the door to the command center. The sharp point of the vulture punctured into the metal door with a great screech. Lena lost control of the bike. She was thrown down. From the ground, she saw Kara standing, holding her gun ready. Panting, Lena rose to her feet. Kara looked at her and nodded to the corridor. Together, Kara and Lena bounded down the hall. They followed the prefabricated floor plan shared by every terran control center. They neared the center and heard yelling. Kerrigan opened the door. The Confederate at the seat watched the battle through various cameras throughout the base. The battle was not faring well for the Confederates. All of the cameras showed Antigan soldiers marching forward. The Confederate commander barked orders, too focused on the battlefield to notice Kara and Lena enter the room. Kara smiled and pushed the end of her rifle into the base of the commander’s neck. As soon as he felt it, the commander stopped talking entirely. The room became quiet. Kara pulled the trigger and the compressed rifle blast echoed through the room. The commander slumped forward and Kara pulled the communication device from his ear.
“You have lost, Confederates. We have taken your command center.” Kerrigan said over the communicator. Lena couldn’t tell if there were any Confederates left to hear it. In her own communicator, Kerrigan contacted Mengsk. “We have taken out the control center. The Antigans are clearing up everything else here, we aren’t needed here anymore.”
Lena heard Mengsk over her own comms as well. “You both have done well. The Confederates will be more careful in their operations on Antiga from here on out. I am sending a ship to pick you both up.”
Lena looked at Kara. “We did good today. The Confederates are gonna be hurtin’ after this.”
Kara looked back at Lena with a smirk. Her eyes followed from Lena’s foot to her head. “Yeah, you certainly know your way around a vulture. Damn good riding.”
Lena smiled. “Thanks.” She motioned back down toward the exit of the command center. “Shall we?”