The battle of Haven went just like Jean panned. The infested had no leader. Most of them didn’t even have any ability to think. They had nearly ten times the number of the Raiders, but the battle went one-sided, with the Raiders on the winning side.
The Hyperion descended on the base, unchallenged. Anywhere with more than ten infested present received the greeting of a string of laser batteries.
Without command, the infested were crowded together, which maximized the power of the batteries. A single shot could melt its way through half a dozen infested. A single viking Lanzer torpedo could cause an explosion that could rip through dozens of infested units.
It was a massacre.
When the Hyperion moved away from the colony, the infested were down to one third their former numbers, but that was just the first wave.
Hundreds of Raider infantry units moved into the colony.
War pigs on stimpacks gunned down anything not in a CMC armor. Hammer securities fired their grenades into tight clumps of infested, knocking them over and denying them whatever chance they had of engaging the Raiders in melee. Warden marines advanced slowly but steadily, leaving a trail of bodies with their heads blasted open behind.
One hour later, the last infested collapsed with half its head gone.
As the battle ended, Jean returned command back to Raynor.
The man was slightly saddened by what happened to Dr. Hanson, but he knew Jean did what had to be done. Hanson made a choice, and she paid the price.
The missions on Meinhoff and Haven were not cost efficient at all. The Raiders lost dozens of men and countless ammunition while getting almost nothing in return.
Fortunately, the Raiders had a stable source of income. After jumping to and staying at Redstone for two days, the Raiders found themselves with 20000 units of minerals.
“We should put an outpost here.” Jean suggested as she watched the SCVs mine from the rich mineral patches on the planet.
Redstone held hundreds of thousands of units of minerals. If the Raiders could build a permanent base and gradually empty the planet, they would have enough resources to build a fleet after a while. Unfortunately, the last time the Raiders came here they didn’t have the manpower to do that.
This was slightly different now.
Raynor rose his eyebrows, intrigued at the suggestion. More minerals meant more units against Mengsk. “But who should we leave here?”
Being placed on a planet where there was nothing but minerals and lava wasn’t exactly ideal. There was no reason the mercenaries would stay here. Even the Mar Sarans would have trouble in a situation this tough. The Dominion might have the strict discipline to enforce their commands, but Raynor needed to care about the opinions of his men.
“The Warden units.” Jean had everything thought out. “I think I can develop AIs for SCVs before we leave. Swann can make some modifications as well. It shouldn’t take long. We can establish a colony and use Warden SCVs to mine from these mineral patches. These SCVs can then construct buildings and other Warden units for defense with the exact minerals they mined.”
Raynor agreed, and two days later when the Hyperion left the planet, they left one command center, one Warden captain, twenty Warden marines, and twenty Warden SCVs behind.
For the Raiders, minerals only meant more units. The next stop was Deadman’s Port.
After over five minutes of painful love chat between Horner and Mira, Raynor, Jean, Horner, Swann, and Tychus gathered around in the bridge once more.
Once again, this was the time to discuss what units the Raiders would purchase.
As always, the chief engineer started.
“I’ll need 2000 minerals to replenish our ammunition.”
20000 - 18000.
“Sir, I think we should still maintain a reaper corps. They’ve got some serious firepower. They may come in handy some time.” Horner concluded.
“Indeed, but the question is, should we get Warden reapers or mercenary ones.” Raynor looked at Jean, the creator of the Wardens.
Both Warden units and mercenary units had their advantages.
Warden units were tougher in a straight up engagement. These programmed AIs weren’t influenced by emotions like fear or anger. Whatever situation they were in, Warden units could always make the best decisions. In a fair duel, one Warden reaper could take down at least two mercenary reapers.
However, that was by no means saying mercenary units were always worse than their Warden counterparts.
There were two types of Warden AIs. The cheaper version didn’t have the ability to think independently. They needed to be given orders by the second type of AIs or by higher powers to act. The second type of AI, the command units, could analyze the situation and give orders to its underlings, but they were time-consuming and costly to program.
In contrast, every mercenary unit could think independently. In special cases like infiltration missions or protection missions, mercenary units were much suitable.
The mercenary units didn’t need to be specially modified and programmed either. All the Raiders needed to do was pay the minerals, and they would find themselves with an army in just a few days.
“I suggest we get twenty mercenary reapers. That’s it. Warden reapers are better in an all-out fight, but they can be replaced by Warden marines and marauders.”
Raynor tapped something on his shopping list and took off 2000 minerals from his bank.
“If you ask me I say we just dump all our minerals into those machines.” Tychus, as always, didn’t shy away from giving his opinion. By “those machines” he was referring to the Warden units.
Jean looked at him and had a guess of why he was supporting that, but she didn’t say anything.
Horner, for once, didn’t argue with the criminal. His dislike of Tychus was one thing, but he wouldn’t let that impair his judgment and make decisions good for the Raiders. “That is not a bad idea.”
Raynor looked at Jean, waiting for her opinion. After all, she was the one that created the Warden units.
But Jean said something that surprised everyone.
“I think it is best to split our resources between individual mercenary units, mercenaries from Mira’s Marauders, and Warden units.”
“Why?” Raynor expected Jean to support the usage of Warden units. After all, she created them. The more Warden units there were, the more accomplishing she should feel. Plus, the power of Warden units dwarfed that of their mercenary counterparts.
“Warden units are, after all, machines. In the end, they can be disabled or even turned against us with the press of a button. I have built countermeasures, but it is safer if we have other forces just in case.”
Jean knew there was a potential risk for her. She singlehandedly programmed all the codes for the Warden AIs. No one knew better about these units than she did, which meant she could take full control of the Warden units and turn them against anyone if she wanted to. There was no telling what backdoor she inserted.
Raynor trusted her now, but there was no telling when that trust would crumble.
The normal way to maximize her profit would be to stay quiet about this nature of machines and build as many Warden units as possible so she could turn them into her personal army when she needed to.
But Jean knew that was not as ideal as it sounded. She didn’t think everyone else on the ship was stupid. If she could think of this, then so could they. If Raynor or Horner realized the Warden units had a disadvantage that could potentially lead to the destruction of Raynor’s Raiders, whether if it was used by Jean or someone else, they wouldn’t be too happy about Jean not telling them that.
If that happened, Jean would lose the trust she spent so long to establish.
In that case, why not just announce the potential threat to everyone and tell them to prepare for it? Anyone with a conspiracy in her mind wouldn’t show her best card to her potential enemies and help with developing a way to stop it.
Plus, there was no going around the Warden units. Whether or not she brought up this problem, the Raiders would always need to use the Warden units.
“Is that necessary?” Raynor frowned. It was good to have Warden units on his side. It was not as good to have them on the other side.
“It’s very unlikely, but I prefer to be safe.”
“Fine. If there’s anything I learned from my old days it’s that you can never be too safe.” Raynor returned his eyes to the computer screen and continued his calculations. The others each grabbed a computer pad and scrolled through the mercenary options. To a degree, it was like shopping online.
In the end, the final decision was made.
5000 minerals were given to Swann. They would be used to purchase materials necessary to build 50 Warden marines, which Jean would then program. Despite the problem, the combat ability of Warden units was still impressive.
3000 units of minerals were turned into 6 additional vikings. Compared to goliaths, these vikings were much more useful. They had sufficient anti air and anti ground firepower as well as great maneuverability and speed. They could fight on the ground, in the air, and in space. Finding the pilots might be a problem, but that wasn’t Jean’s concern.
The last 5000 minerals were used to hire 25 hammer securities and 50 war pigs, making the overall unit count for the two units to 43 and 114, respectively.
As Raynor contacted Mira Han and Graven Hill for the mercenary contracts, Jean suddenly turned her attention to the port the Hyperion was above.
“Is it ok if I go to the port for a visit?” She asked as she walked to the window of the bridge and looked out.
Raynor frowned at the request. Deadman’s Port wasn’t exactly a tourist attraction. It was full of mercenaries, criminals, and crooks. If someone gets down there alone, he may never come back. Best case scenario, he might turn up in a corner somewhere, dead and stripped of anything valuable. Worst case scenario, his body might never be found.
It would be even worse for a girl like Jean.
“Why would you want to go there?”
“You know, just look around.” Jean shrugged, looking bored. “It’s not like I’ll be going to the mercenary bases. I’ll be going to the neutral zone, and I’ll bring my guards.”
The neutral zone was an area relatively peaceful compared to the rest of Deadman’s Port. Even the most ruthless thug needed a place to spend the money they stole and to eat and sleep. Mercenaries and criminals were no different. The neutral zone was a place where, in most cases, these criminals and mercenaries could sit down and make deals without worrying about being shot by a stray bullet. That was by no means saying it was completely safe, but it was definitely not a place where bullets fly all the directions all the time.
Some of the most powerful mercenary leaders in the port struck a deal and announced that anyone who started a war in the neutral zone would be the enemy of all the mercenary leaders.
Of course, some killing was inevitable for as long as humanity exists, so would madman, but the environment was still relatively safe considering the vast majority of the port’s occupants have taken at least one life.
Some outlaws opened a few taverns there. Some of the mercenary groups who didn’t have the money to build their own fortresses had their bases here as well.
“Just be careful.” Raynor finally nodded. Jean wasn’t a random teenage girl. She was a commander capable of fending for herself. She had more than a dozen reaper guards. As long as she wasn’t foolish enough to walk into an army of enemies, she should be fine.
Jean nodded and walked out of the bridge.
