Inside a ship at a staging area in orbit of Korhal, Nova checked her weapon again as she talked toward two separate computer screens.
“Admiral Princeton. Admiral Bane. You two command two of the top fleets in the Dominion, and today we are going to put them to a good use.”
On the other side of the computer screens were two men in captain’s uniform.
“Indeed. Alpha Squadron will follow your command, lieutenant. The rebels got away back in New Folsom. This will not happen again. This time, we will be the ones attacking.”
Admiral Princeton was the commander of Alpha Squadron. The fleet of seventeen battlecruisers fought well against Tosh and Jean’s combined forces, but last time they warped away before the Dominion could do real damage. This left a bad taste in the admiral’s mouth, but if everything went correctly, this bad taste would be cleansed by the blood of the rebels.
“Omega Squadron is the best of the Dominion. Unlike some people, we accomplish the missions we are given.” Commander of the Omega Squadron, Admiral Bane, smirked proudly. He was obviously referring to Princeton.
The top Dominion fleets were in intense competition for resources and manpower. Mengsk wanted that. The more dissent there were among the ranks, the less likely they would come together against him.
Princeton remained quiet.
“Now, what is this mission that requires two entire fleets, the best ghost in the Dominion, and an entire squadron of Special Forces to carry out?” Seeing no answer from his rival, Bane rose his eyebrows, disappointed, and demanded at Nova. Dominion command structure operated on a need to know basis, but as an admiral, Bane had to know what the mission was about.
Nova nodded and tapped a few keys on the computer. An image of Jean appeared.
“This woman has infiltrated the New Folsom Defensive Fleet and somehow made it disappear. Our spies inside Raynor’s Raiders and Deadman’s Port place her identity as Jean Turner, a former lieutenant of Raynor’s Raiders. She recently broke away from the Raiders and joined forces with a rogue spectre by the name of Gabriel Tosh. The two worked together and seized the New Folsom Prison.”
“One of our spies located her at a space platform of Deadman’s Port. Our mission is to take her alive. Terminate anyone that poses a threat to this objective. Is that clear?”
“Affirmative, but what are the exact plans?”
“We will exit warp space in close proximity to the platform. The local mercenaries shouldn’t put up much of a fight, not against two fleets, but if you encounter any resistance, destroy them. When the skies are cleared, all the ships will surround and blockade the platform. No one gets in or out. This will trap our target on the platform, and I will personally lead the Special Forces into the field and capture her.”
“Clear? We should move ASAP. Remember Jean still possesses the entire New Folsom Defensive Fleet. The longer we wait, the more likely she can turn these ships into her own. We need to act now.”
The two admirals nodded.
Minutes later, the combination of the two fleets, thirty Minotaurs and four Gorgons in total, along with a modified Special Forces battlecruisers, disappeared.
A random mercenary battlecruiser was the first to discover the Dominion fleets.
“What the...why is the Dominion here?” The captain’s eyes widened.
All the ships in the Dominion combined could obliterate every mercenary ship in Deadman’s Port in one round of bombardment, but there was a reason Deadman’s Port was still standing till this day.
The Dominion Fleet had over twelve hundred battlecruisers in total, but they were spread across the countless planets the Dominion held. Research stations. Core world planets. Manufacturing planets. All of these positions required at least a dozen ships to secure.
After being spread across all the positions, the mighty Dominion Fleet was down to a couple hundred battlecruisers. Among them, a large number was devoted to the defenses against the zerg, the protoss, and other terran factions like the Umojans and the Kel-Morians.
The number of ships the Dominion could spare was less than ten percent of the overall fleet.
Although even those ships were enough to wipe out Deadman’s Port, there was simply no point to do that. There was always going to be criminals and guns for hire in the sector, and the Dominion saw no point of losing ships for nothing.
But things have changed. Now the Dominion has a reason to strike.
The captain could never get the answer to his question. One of the Dominion battlecruiser’s Yamato cannons charged up. The captain tried to jump the ship away, but it was too late.
The ship was immediately engulfed in flames. All the crew members were dead in an instant.
The ship was simply unlucky enough to be in the Dominion Fleet’s way, and the Dominion needed to send a message to the other mercenaries. They weren’t fooling around, and if the mercenaries wanted to live, they should leave this place ASAP.
There were still a couple hundred mercenary battlecruisers in the port. If the Dominion wanted to take the port by force, they would need much more ships and much more time. The Dominion couldn’t afford to waste time on a few thugs and crooks when there was a larger fish to fry.
The news of Dominion arrival was immediately spread across the entire Deadman’s Port. Among the first ones to hear was Mira Han.
The one-eyed mercenary had scouts all over the port.
“The Dominion? What do they want with us?” Mira frowned.
Her lieutenants looked at each other, speechless. Mira groaned. “If Matthew is here he’d know what to do.” She scanned her men again, frustrated. “We can fight the Dominion, but we don’t need to. Pack up. We’re getting out of here.”
The men nodded. To them, Deadman’s Port was just a platform. As long as they had their ships in their grasp, they could rebuild the port with ease.
Almost all of the mercenaries made a similar thought. Battlecruiser after battlecruiser jumped away. Those who couldn’t afford a battlecruiser paid a large sum of money to buy themselves a ticket to safety.
Before long, most of Deadman’s Port was vacant.
Jean and Viper heard about this report as well, but they were too late.
After another short distanced jump, the two fleets appeared right next to Isaac’s platform. A squad of vikings was patrolling the area, and they were immediately blasted out of the air.
“We need to move now!” Viper barged into the command center of the platform with her sniper rifle in her hand.
“Too late.” Jean noted and pointed outside the window. There, the dozens of Dominion battlecruisers have spread out and surrounded the port from all directions. Wraiths were deployed to make sure dropships couldn’t escape through the empty space between the capital ships.
The platform’s orbital defenses retaliated, but the Dominion fleet had overwhelming firepower. The few Drakken orbital cannons were destroyed before they could fire a single shot. A couple railguns were obliterated at once. Missile turrets fired futilely into the air, hoping to get a miracle done.
The fleet went into action, but they were completely outnumbered and outgunned by the Dominion ships. Three Behemoth were blasted apart before they could even lift off into the air. A few Minotaurs temporarily survived the hail of laser batteries, but this only delayed the inevitable as hundreds of vikings, wraiths, and tac fighters swarmed over the lonely cruisers. Hundreds of missiles and torpedoes tore open ship platings and sent ship after ship to their demise. The laser batteries tried to fight back, but they were dissected one by one.
Everything happened so fast. Thanks to some inside source, the Dominion Fleet had the exact coordinates of Viper’s platform, which allowed them to make a jump on the mercenaries without giving any time for them to prepare. Mercenaries weren’t the most disciplined men, and most of them were either drunk or partying somewhere else. Only a few ships were manned, and they only lasted a few minutes up there. Just the amount of time needed to get all the crew members in battle position was a problem.
“Damn it!” Viper swore. She gripped to her rifle tightly, but she knew there was nothing she could do against an entire fleet. Even Kerrigan would think twice about taking on dozens of battlecruisers just by herself. There was no way she could fight her way out of the Dominion fleet.
“Calm down my love.” Jean said smoothly, and her calmness brought some confidence into the officers inside the command center. “Isaac, what’s the status?”
Even under a situation as dire as this one, Isaac was still as calm as ever. He was completely blinded by the idea of serving and protecting Viper, even if it meant death. Faced with Jean’s question, the man glanced at Viper, saw that she nodded, and turned back with an answer.
“Scanners indicate thirty five battlecruisers in the perimeter. They have completely surrounded us. If we focus our ships at one position we can break through, but all the Dominion battlecruisers at that location have to do is delay us for a few minutes, and the entire fleet will jump into our flanks. I’m not sure if we can jump away in time.“
Jean nodded. “Gather the ships we have left.”
“But…”
“Do it.” Viper demanded.
“Yes sir.” Isaac backed off and started giving orders. He was technically still the leader of the mercenaries.
Behind Jean, the reaper captain quietly walked out of the bridge.
In orbit, Nova saw a communication channel blinking in her visor. She tapped it open.
It was a message. Nova smirked as she read it.
“The mercenaries are planning a counterattack. They have assembled their fleet.” She turned to the two admirals. “All ships assemble at these coordinates. That’s where the mercenary ships will enter the battlefield, and that’s where we will destroy them.”
Bane nodded. He was eager to end this fight. Gunning down mercenary ships out of the sky and burning down turrets was fun, but he has seen enough destruction in his early days. At this point only victories could impress him. “Fine, but where did you get this information? Is it reliable?”
He didn’t want the entire fleet to be dragged away by a false information. It would open up a hole in the defenses and buy enough time for their foe to flee.
“Trust me.” Nova replied and turned to a crew member. “Prepare for jump.”
“Where are you going?” Bane keenly realized Nova’s ship wasn’t targeted to jump to the coordinates they were going to. When entire fleets jump, their destinations would be marked out and shared to every ship in the fleet so they wouldn’t come out of warp space crashing into each other.
Nova shook her head. Her blonde ponytail waved behind her. “Just do your job, Admiral.”
Bane nodded.
When twenty mercenary battlecruisers that belonged to Isaac’s mercenaries lifted off into the air and planned on running by the lone Dominion battlecruiser and jump away to safety, they were met with Dominion ships almost twice their numbers.
“Forward! This is our only chance! Fight, and we might live! If we falter, the Dominion will kill us all!”
A captain screamed on the radio. The mercenary fleet immediately pushed forward. All twenty ships were packed with mercenaries, and every single one of them knew the only way they could live was by fighting. The debris of dozens of mercenary vessels told them the Dominion would show no mercy.
Fighters were thrown out like they were on sale. Pilots screamed and rammed their ships into enemy vessels. Their minds were filled with anger and hatred. If they had to die, then they would bring their enemies down with them.
“Hold your ground!” The two Dominion fleets were caught by surprise, but they immediately retaliated. Trained and experienced officers passed down commands. Elite crew members operated like they were in a training exercise rather than a heated battlefield. Vikings, wraiths, and tac fighters were flung out of the capital ships. With superior hardware and software, they picked off the mercenary fighters one by one.
The mercenary fleets charged up their Yamato Cannons, but just as the energy signatures were at the maximum point and just before the plasma bolts could be sent out, the Dominion vessels the Yamato Cannons were locked onto suddenly jumped away. Shells capable of destroying entire ships were shot out, only to reach nothing and continue to fly into the endless space.
Normally this wasn’t possible, but a couple ravens were among the two fleets. Armed with the top technology of the Dominion, they scanned the mercenary ships from top to bottom, found out which targets they were going to fire upon, and made countermeasures. An entire volley of Yamato Cannons was useless.
“These mercenary scum. Let’s return the favor.”
Admiral Princeton groaned and ordered. Although not a single battlecruiser was lost, he had to admit he was frightened for a second. He thought the mercenary resistance would be scattered and ineffective, but he underestimated the power of men and women who spent most of their lives fighting. When fighting was the only way, they demonstrated excellent skills.
But war wasn’t only about skills.
The Dominions retaliated. For a moment most of the battlefield went silent as the laser batteries quieted down, but it was the peace before the storm.
All thirty four battlecruisers charged up their main cannon, and not long after thirty four bolts of orange energy smashed into the mercenary fleet.
It was a disaster. Battlecruisers were ripped to pieces. A single cannon could maim a battlecruiser. Two could destroy it. Three...you’re lucky if you can find some pieces of remains.
Seven battlecruisers were killed in action. The rest were wounded more or less, but that was just the first round.
Hundreds of Dominion fighters struck. Their mercenary counterparts have been slaughtered to the last, and now the battered mercenary ships were defenseless.
But instead of destroying the battlecruisers, the fighters merely took out their batteries, missile turrets, and other weapons.
The mercenaries inside the vessels got to live for now, but they weren’t relieved.
Ten Dominion battlecruisers jumped to beside the mercenary cruisers, and hundreds of drop pods were launched out.
Boarding parties.
The Dominion wanted to take Jean alive. The two admirals ordered the round of Yamato Cannons out of the anger of almost losing their fleets to a group of puny mercenaries, but now that victory was within their grasp, they no longer needed to use deadly force.
The mercenaries fought back and gunshots ran through all the mercenary ships that survived, but it was a futile effort. Dominion reinforcements came in waves of dropships and drop pods, and the mercenaries were counting their bullets.
But as the last battlecruiser fell, there was still no sight of Jean.
