StarCraft On Liberty's Wings Chapter 002

StarCraft
On Liberty’s Wings
Chapter Two

Backwater Station.  
Backwater Station had been the turning point for both the ex-Marshal and ex-Magistrate of Mar Sara.   According to the stories, Marshal Raynor and the a Squad of Mar Sara Militia Marines and Firebats had made their way to the station, fighting off the dreaded Zerg off at every corner, to save the folks at Backwater Station after they sent out a request for help.  However when they got there they burned the base down instead.  The Dominion Claimed this was Raynor’s first act of open rebellion against the Confederacy, and one of the reasons why he had been considered an Ally of the Sons of Korhal.  
However, Mar Sara never really liked the Dominion, as they had always loved their local Marshal.  They knew the truth, even if they had been forbidden to say it.  Raynor and his Militia had burned the station because it had become infested by the Zerg.  Mike Liberty managed to even capture a small amount of footage of the event.  Though the Dominion had attempted to censor it, Mar Sara knew the truth.  
That was why Raynor came back.  That’s why he came to save those who still had faith in him after four long years.  That’s why Mar Sara will never be pushed around by the Dominion’s Forces.  That is why the Raiders and the Mar Sara Militia were going to win.
That’s what young Michel Koiter kept telling himself over and over again as the dropship carried him, Marshal James Raynor, and 4 other Marines.  Koiter considered Raynor still Mar Sara’s lawman, if not just out of respect, for out of pure desire to keep the legend alive.  Four years ago Koiter and his family had been evacuated from Mar Sara by the Sons of Korhal, being rescued by heroes such as Marshal James Raynor, News Reporter Michel Liberty, and of course The Magistrate of Mar Sara, who Koiter had never met in person.  
However he had saw Liberty and Raynor in person.  Even four years ago, he dreamed of fighting by their side, helping to liberate planets from the Confederate scum, and protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves, but alas, four years ago he was just a kid, nowhere near old enough to fight.  He had to sit out both conflicts that followed with the rest of the refugees.  However once Mar Sara had become habitable again, Koiter’s family moved back home, where Koiter had been one of the first to volunteer to be part of the new Mar Sara Militia.  The Proud Blue Colors that stood for the Militia had been replaced by Yellowish Green Color, but Koiter didn’t really care, he wore the uniform with pride.  
Now he felt a bit out of place surrounded by the professional Raiders, in their Proud, yet worn out, Blue Suits.  His Yellow-Green Suit seemed a bit stood out a bit too much, but then again so did Commander Raynor’s Black one.  
“Alright boys,” Raynor turned to the Marines, “We’re nearing the drop zone.  Let’s go over this one more time, just in case a few of you dozed off the last few times the plan was explained.”
Laughter rippled through the troops.  Koiter couldn’t bring himself to laugh, the nerves wouldn’t let him, but he did manage to smile, and calm down a bit.  He hadn’t seen any real combat.  Sure there were times he suited up, fired weapons, and looked tough, but never had he had to shoot anything more than a lone Zergling or practice dummies, let alone another Terran.  If the Dominion hadn’t started the fekking dig site, and brought their own troops to enforce the laws, Koiter probably wouldn’t have been able to stomach this.  
However, the Dominion was pushing around the wrong group of colonists, and Koiter wasn’t going to let that slide.  Not when the colonists could do something about it.  Not when Raynor and his boys were here to back them up.  
“Alright kid,” Raynor turned and looked directly at Koiter, “Give it to us one more time.”
“Sir,” Koiter stood up, “Backwater Station is the center of Dominion Logistics on Mar Sara.  Destroying Dominion Authority here should be disrupted.  The People of Backwater Station are largely anti-Dominion, but we lack the weapons and organization to resist them.”
“Recently,” Raynor Continued, “Dominion Troops were pulled out of the city, leaving their defenses at their weakest.  If we can knock out the Dominion Headquarters here, we can severely cripple Megnks’s grip on this planet.”
A whooping Hoorah can back from the troops.
“That’s right,” Raynor nodded, “We’re finally going to get back into this fight.  Tell ‘em what they’re up against kid.”
“Right,” Koiter continued, “For the most part, the Dominion had only standard Marines guarding Backwater, however a flight of Vikings are at their disposal.  Most of the pilots are undertrained, giving us ample time to take them down before they can switch to ground combat, but by no means are they to be taken lightly.”
“Anything else?”
“There are a couple Firebats that were transferred down recently, as well as a large number of Hellions.  Likely they were moved out of the city, but we shouldn’t take any chances.”
“Good call,” Raynor patted the kid on the shoulder, “We hit the ground in five.  If we’re lucky, we’ll land outside of the patrol area.  Unlikely considering my last few card games.”
This sent another chuckle through the troops.  It wasn’t all that funny, but Koiter managed to laugh this time too.

Something was wrong.  The landing zone was not only clear, but it was practically empty.  Scratch that, it was fekking empty.  Jimmy didn’t like it.  This was too easy.  Nothing was ever this easy for him.  It made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.  
The Kid, Koiter, looked pretty nervous about it too.  He kept looking at the houses for signs of life.  That bothered Raynor as well.  Where were the civvies?  Shouldn’t they be here?  This wasn’t a stealth mission.  This was a mission designed to show the people of Mar Sara, they didn’t have to be bullied by the Dominion.  Fat lot of good that would do if there weren’t any people around to stand up for themselves.  Maybe it was the old Raynor’s luck, picking a perfect landing zone with no witnesses.  He turned back to his troops.
“Alright boys, let’s show the locals they don’t have to fear the Dominion.”
The march into town took nearly no time at all.
“Alright ladies,” Sargent Cody “Gunny” Hanings barked, “Keep your intervals wide and your hinnies covered.  Let’s move.”  
However after a few more minutes, and after passing tons more empty buildings, even the Gunny was letting his guard down.  There was nobody there.  Absolutely empty.  No patrols, no Vikings, no Marines.  Worse, no Civilians.
“Don’t go up that road,” a voice called out to them from a nearby building.  The squad turned to talk to her, but the sound a barking dog drove her back to the small shack she had been hiding in and locked the door.  No matter how they tried to reassure her of her safety and of their intentions, she wouldn’t even respond let alone come back out and explain her warning.  Things looked bad.
However the Jimmy wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass them by.  If she couldn’t tell them why the roads up ahead were dangerous, they’d just have to find out for themselves.
It was only five and a half more minutes up the road they ran into their first conflict.  Two Dominion Marines out on Patrol, looking for something.  Like the Raiders, they seemed occupied by the fact that the whole placed seemed empty.  One of them took notice of Raynor and tried to shout a warning to his companion, but both were cut down in a hail of spikes before that.  Then an eerie silence followed.  No back up arrived.  No civilians came out to see the ruckus.  Nothing.
“Where the Fek is everyone?” Raynor asked aloud.
“There should be people here,” Koiter replied, “This isn’t the busiest time of day, but it shouldn’t be dead.  Something is terribly wrong.”
The Gunny kicked one of the dead Marines, “Sir, this ain’t no guard patrol.  These boys were lookin’ for somebody.  And I have a funny feeling it was the missy we met back there.”
“I don’t like that one bit,” Raynor shook his head, “Keep moving.”
Raynor kept his eyes around the town.  Looking at windows hoping for any sign of life.  There was none.  Worse, he was starting to notice some other problems.  A few of the signs advertising the Dominion they passed had green paint on them calling Mengsk and his mother, ghastly names ranging from him being a liar, to….well, stuff that would make even the most hardened criminal cringe.  However one sign remained unfinished.  A body covered in green paint laid next to it, with a large chuck missing from his torso.  Poor man never knew what hit him.
There were other signs too.  Bullet holes in the housing areas.  Blood stains on the road.  Burned out vehicles that look like they were torn apart, likely from Viking Fire.  Yet there were no more troops.  No patrols no-
“My neighbors, my family…” a voice groaned.
Koiter rushed to the elderly man leaning up against the building.  He was clutching his right shoulder.
“He looks pretty beat up,” the kid observed, “There is a nasty bump on the back of his head.”
“Can you tell us what happened here old timer?” Raynor asked the man, but the only response he got was the same phrase over and over, “My family…”
“This is starting to look ugly,” Koiter groaned.
“Fek that noise,” Gunny shook his head, “This is way past ugly.  The Dominion didn’t leave us anybody to liberate.”
Raynor turned to look around.  This wasn’t as simple as they had hoped.  There was a time constraint now, if they weren’t too late already.  
“Adjutant, prep a Medic to pick up a wounded to civilian in the dropship,” Raynor order over his comm, “The rest of you, let’s keep moving.”
And so they did.  Raynor hoped signs of life would be near the town square.
There was, but not the kind he was hoping for.  Dominion troops had turned the square in to a large barricade.  Nothing too fancy, but there were many more troops then what Jimmy’s squad could handle, and they were better defended.  
“What now?” Koiter asked.
“You know how to shoot that thing son?” Raynor asked the kid back.
“But we can’t take a group that large by ourselves.”
“Son,” Raynor gave the kid a sly grin, “I’ve always got a card to play.”  The Rebel leader clicked on his communicator once again, “Adjutant, bring in that ‘special delivery’ I had you prep.”
“Special delivery?” Koiter looked confused.
“You just worry about shooting and not getting shot back,” Raynor informed the kid, “I’ll take care of evening the odds.  Now Raider’s Roll!”

Raynor was truly a sight to behold.  While most commanders Koiter had seen stayed grouped up behind their men, Marshal Raynor was the first one to charge into the town square, guns blazing.  He took down one of the closest sentries before they knew he was even there, and two more before they even started firing back.  By the time they did, Koiter, the Sarge, and the others had joined in the battle.  They were still outnumbered, and at a disadvantage, but Koiter had decided before the battle had begun to trust in Raynor’s leadership and experience.
It paid off.  The disadvantage quickly turned into an advantage.  The Dominion were so focused on what appeared to be a downright suicidal attack, they ignored what was happening behind them.  Three drop pods hurled out of the sky, smashing down right behind the Dominions guards.  Raiders and Militia bust forth from the pods firing into the backs of the Dominion troops who were only just realizing they were now the ones outmatched.  
With both their flanks being assaulted, Red Suited Dominion Marines fell.  The Combat high fueled Koiter as he gunned down one of them, and kept shooting without thinking.  He didn’t have time to think, just shoot.  And he did.  
The battle seemed to last hours, but when it was finally done, only a few minutes hand ticked by.  
“Thanks for the assist boys,” Raynor smiled as he turned to the newcomers, “I knew you wouldn’t let me down Cam.”
“Not a chance sir,” Cam Fraser saluted, “You still owe me from our last poker game.”
The squad chuckled.
“Sir,” Gunny called from a nearby parking garage, “You better come see this.”

Raynor approached cautiously.  He was certain of what he was going to see, and that made him dread seeing all the more.  
He was right.  A sizable group of civilians lay dead in the middle of the garage.  Bullet holes had peppered the walls behind them.  Blood stained the floor.  Many of the bodies had binds and were tied.  A few weren’t.  Most were men who looked like they resisted.  Some weren’t.  Some weren’t even old enough to fight back.
Jim resisted the urge to throw up, “You’ve got to be Fekking kidding me!”
Cody shook his head, “Executed, ever one of them.”
“Why,” Raynor asked no one in particular, “Why butcher a bunch of civilian?  Were they resisting?  Was Mengsk making an example of them?”
“Sir I…” the Sarge started but Jimmy held up his hand.
“We’ll find out soon enough.  We’ve got a Dominion HQ to burn to the ground.”

It wasn’t long before the Raiders made their way out the backside of the city.  Raynor was on edge.  He wasn’t going to be too late.  He wasn’t going to sit by and let the Dominion play with the locals’ lives.  
That’s when they heard a voice over a loudspeaker, “You’ll all be given a meal when you reach the dig site.”
Raynor looked at the kid, who just shrugged.
Jim signaled the troops to be cautious as they crept towards the sound.  Jim had just peered around the corner when it happened.  A man, probably early-to-mid-twenties came running down the street.  He was dressed in a work uniform that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in days.  Sweat poured from the man’s face as he came barreling down the road.  
“Looks like we’ve got ourselves another runner,” a Dominion Marine called out to his comrades as he aimed and fired.  The bullet tore through the young man’s leg.  He screamed as he fell to the ground.  Civilians who were lined up to board an Armored Troop Carrier turned to help their friend, neighbor, brother, total stranger but fellow Mar Sara Colonist, only to be beaten back by the guards.  
The Guard who fired the shot laughed, a cold sickening laugh, “You punks never learn do ya?  Guess we gotta show you again why you should just shut up and listen to us.”
He aimed his walked over to the injured man and aimed a gun into the pleading man’s face.  Laughed at the man’s begging and pain.  Laughed at his suffering.
Laughed right up until he noticed Raynor’s rifle shoved into his.  Jimmy didn’t give the man another chance to change his mind.  The body fell where the man stood.  
“That’s Raynor!  The most wanted man in the sector,” one of the three remaining guards shouted.  They were his last words as Koiter peppered him with spikes.  
The other two Dominion guards were mowed down before they had a chance to return fire.  The driver of the Transport aimed the automated gun at the civilians to use them as hostages.  But the civilians weren’t helpless anymore.  They didn’t sit by and wait for rescue.  They ran to the truck’s door and hauled the driver out.  He was given the same mercy he and his fellow Dominion Troops had shown them.  
Raynor hefted the wounded man up, and helped him back to the other locals.
“Thank you,” the man cried.
“Mengsk has a lot to pay for,” Raynor smiled back, “I’m just helping you collect.”
“There are more people up ahead,” the woman who took to the injured man from Raynor informed.
“Don’t you worry,” Jim replied, “I’ll see to them.”

Mel Forrest sat patiently in his cell.  Well not a cell really, it was a small shack that he shared with some of the other locals.  However the Dominion troops had been holding them there against their will for quite some time now.  
He figured his time had come.  There was a lot more shooting today than normal.  Sure people tried to run and were gunned down, but today it sounded like the Dominion had just executed the group of Colonists they had just gathered up to “go to the dig site”.  Likely they’d come back and fetch some more prisoners, who would more than likely suffer the same fate.
Mel wasn’t going to let it happen, but he knew he couldn’t stop it.  He looked at the pistol in his hands.  It wasn’t much, but if he was gonna die today, he was going to die fighting.  Maybe if he was really lucky, someone could use him as a distraction and escape.
And go where?  They’d just be found by the soldiers stationed in town and executed there.  
He shook his head, at least they can he can say he resisted the best he could.  If someone can gain from that, he’d take what he’d get.  If that meant only delaying death for five minutes, he would.  
The door creaked open and he readied the gun.  The others in the “cell” moved away to give him space.  A few had volunteered to stand in front of him to take the hits so he could take down a few more guards, but he convinced them to stand back.  
The Marine that stepped in looked like the Grim Reaper himself.  Black armor with a white Skull painted across the visor.  Mel froze.   He couldn’t pull the trigger.  
The visor opened up.
“Hope you don’t mind,” the man behind the visor drawled, “but we’ve decided to let you clock out early today.
Mel recognized the man and lowered the gun.  A smile crept onto his face.
“Marshal Raynor, been a while since we saw you around these parts.”

What started out as a squad of six armored troops now consisted of sixteen armored Marines, Raynor included, and about sixty-odd-some locals, armed with anything they could pick off the local guards or had kept hidden themselves.
The locals had informed their favorite Marshal that they were with him even if he didn’t want them to be.  Jim just smiled and told them to stay to the back so that the armored Marines take the blunt of the blast, but other than that, he was proud to have them tag along.
So they did.  
The large force marched up to the front of the Dominion HQ.  Many of the guards just froze at the numbers.  There was only a handful left.  One even threw down his weapon.  The Raiders ignored him while the fired upon the other Dominion troops.  
“Burn the place to the ground!” Raynor shouted to his Rebels, locals, Militia, and Raiders alike.  A shot pinged of the side of his helmet making him take a step back.  A local tossed a grenade passed him and took down the attacker before a second shot could be fired.  
Raynor nodded to the woman, and then rushed in to join his troops, who already had the Dominion on the ropes.  The Locals took to burning everything else.  
Then Raynor heard the engines roaring through the sky, as two Viking Ships barreled towards them.  
“Incoming!” Fraser yelled to the civvies, “Keep back!”
“Light ‘em up!” Raynor ordered the Raiders.  They fired into the coming transformers, as one began to shift in the sky.  Raynor’s Raiders didn’t waste time and focused all their attention on him.  By the time the vehicle had shifted from Fighter to Walker Mode, it was so shot up that it crashed down as a fireball instead.  
However it took too long.  The other had taken the opportunity to shift while the Raiders had been distracted.  It had them exactly where it wanted.  The Raiders could take the thing, but many of them would be going home in body bags afterwards.  
Suddenly a grenade went off on the Viking’s windshield knocking it back.  More grenades and a few homemade explosives followed.  The locals had ignored Cam’s warning and let the Viking have everything they got.  The Raiders watched as the thing broke apart before their eyes.  
A loud cheer rose from the locals and rebels.  The remaining Dominion troops threw down their weapons.  It was over.
“We won!”
“I didn’t think we could beat them but we can!”
“Now you have weapons and the resources to do it,” Raynor shouted into the crowd of civilians, “Mengsk can only control you if you let him.”
“Three cheers for Raynor’s Raiders.”

After much patting on the back and shaking of hands, Raynor finally looked about the scene.  Two of his Raiders were injured in the firefight, and about 4 civilians had died.  Three Dominion Troops had surrendered to the Raiders.  Gunny had suggested turning them over to the locals, but Raynor decided against it.  Ordinarily he would have, but because they surrendered, Raynor had hoped perhaps they had a bad taste in their mouths about the things they did here.  Maybe there was hope for these three.  
Speaking of taste, Raynor had was thirsty, and JoeyRay had left him a key to the bar…..