With money in his pocket, Raynor decided the Raiders’ next destination without much hesitation.

“Matt, set the coordinates to Deadman’s Port.” The large man smiled as the younger captain suddenly had an awkward look. “We’ll be visiting your wife.”

Mira Han was one of the most influential people in Deadman’s Port. Mira’s Marauders was one of the top mercenary forces in the port and was an impressive faction in the sector as a whole. From something as insignificant as marines and reapers to something as menacing and expensive as battlecruisers and space stations, Mira could provide anything the Raiders might need.

That wasn’t what attracted the Raiders to Mira. What made Mira the best ally of the rebel faction was the favor Mira had toward the captain of The Hyperion. Legend says that Horner won Mira in a poker game, and the two were technically married. With this connection present, Mira became one of the most loyal and powerful allies of the Raiders.

The husband wasn’t as satisfied by the event as the wife was. Despite having a way of communication, Horner never contacted Han and tried to stay away from her whenever The Hyperion was forced to land in Deadman’s Port. Obviously, he wasn’t too satisfied to go to the practical home of the mercenary leader.

Still, Horner was never someone who would allow his own interest to threaten the well being of the Raiders. Without much delay, The Hyperion jumped to the mercenary port.

“Matthew, you finally decided to visit me.” Mira’s soft voice echoed through the bridge, but no one would be foolish enough to underestimate her because of that. There was a reason she received death sentence in twelve star systems.

Horner already went behind the computer screen when the transmission was turned on, and Raynor was the one doing the talking.

“Mira, I want to buy something from you.” Raynor said with a tone he never used before. It was the tone of a rich customer.

Mira rose her eyebrows. “Someone’s made a fortune. What do you want? I am sending you the menu now.” She tapped a key and a file appeared on the computer screen in front of Raynor. “Of course, if you can bring Horner to me, I can give you a 10% off discount.”

Raynor struggled to hide a smile, but as he looked at Horner, who was shaking his head like crazy, and decided to ignore the offer. “I will send you my purchases.” He said to Mira and turned off the comm.

As Matthew Horner took a deep breath and walked out from behind the screen, the leaders of the Raiders started to discuss what to buy.

Raynor, Horner, Jean, and Swann were standing around the hologram projector and went through the file Mira sent them. Tychus didn’t care about these type of calculations and Stetmann was more of a scientist than a commander.

Mira offered two types of service.

In the first type, the Raiders could buy weapons and armors. For example, they could buy a set of marine gadgets and put their own men inside them. The benefit was that the gadgets were cheaper than the alternative option, and the men inside were more loyal to Raynor than anyone else. The problem was that the Raiders had to find a man to put inside the CMC armor and had to afford the training of the man. If that man was a recruit, he would also lack experience and would take a while to be a fully functional elite marine.

In the second type of deal, Raynor could hire mercenaries. These mercenaries would be armed with their own weapons and armors. They were experienced and largely fearless. The benefit was that they could be an instant army. The problem was that the loyalty of these men was...debatable. They were loyal to either Mira or money or both. The chance of them defecting or just generally speaking leaving when the alternative was death was great. In one sentence, they couldn’t be trusted.

“I have counted the minerals mined. We have around 21000 units of minerals after paying Tosh 6000 units. Tosh also paid us 10,000 credits.” Horner pulled up a file of numbers.

“We need around 3000 minerals to replenish the ammunition and the energy of our established forces and ships.” Swann explained.

Raynor swiped on the projection, and the 21000 was turned to 18000.

Jean thought about it for a while before finally speaking.

“I think we should approach this in multiple ways. First, we can hire some of Mira’s Marauders. They should be reliable in most cases.”

Raynor nodded. “Keep going.”

“Second, we should hire some mercenaries from mercenary groups that are not Mira’s Marauders.”

“Why?” Swann couldn’t help but ask. He was a good engineer, but not a good tactician.

“To make sure Mira’s Marauders will not be too powerful. If half of our army is made up of Mira’s men and something goes wrong, whether it is because Mira or the lieutenant on our side or some other reason, we will not become sitting ducks. If we have some other mercenary forces on our ship, they are more likely to stand with us if things go wrong.” Horner explained while throwing a praising gaze at Jean. A good commander would never put all the eggs in one basket.

“Third, we should buy heavy mechanical units that don’t require many men to control but are much more effective than infantry units, whether they are goliaths or vikings, or even siege tanks.” Jean continued calmly and patiently. “We have trouble finding reliable recruits to join our cause, so it’s wiser to spend those that did join us on mech units than infantry units.”

Raynor nodded, satisfied. “This may be the best course of action.” Suddenly, he realized maybe he wasn’t that rich after all. “How should we split our minerals?”

Horner tapped a series of keys on the computer screen, and three menus were opened up simultaneously on the hologram projection. Mira’s forces were on the left and were examined by Horner. Other mercenary forces were in the middle and were went through by Jean. Armors for purchase were on the right and were checked out by Swann. The three men and one woman stood around the screens and analyzed the choices.

“Check this out,” After a few minutes, Horner suddenly spoke. Jean looked over as the man pulled out a profile.

“Mercenary reapers. Differentiated from standard reapers by weapon, armor, and a function called jetpack overdrive that allows the reapers to temporarily fly. LD-9 Cluster charges are more useful than normal KD-8 charges.” Jean read out the description before checking the price. “50 units for 5000 minerals. 10 minerals for every unit every week. That’s expensive, but judging from the description these reapers should be worth their price.” Reapers were specialized units, and when used well, they could be potentially deadly.

Raynor nodded and agreed with the choice as he subtracted the minerals from the 18000 minerals, returning the number to 13000.

Jean went back to going through the mercenaries and found someone she favored.

She pulled up two files.

“War Pigs. Elite marines. A squad of 20 requires 1000 minerals for the initial contract. 5 minerals every week.” Raynor knew the power of war pigs. At one point he was almost assassinated by them. They were one of the most reliable mercenary groups in the sector.

“Hammer Security. Elite marauders. A squad of 10 requires 1000 minerals for the initial contract. 10 minerals every week.” Hammer securities were generally hired by corporates to protect their interest, but that didn’t mean they were soft in a frontal combat with the protoss or the zerg.

“Five squads of war pigs and three squads of hammer securities should be enough.” Jean announced as she did the math. “100 war pigs and 30 hammer securities can be a powerful force against whoever we will face later. They also have a reputation of staying loyal to those that hired them.”

Raynor nodded. 13000 was turned to 5000. Finally, he turned to the chief engineer, who had been quiet the entire time.

“Swann?” The large man didn’t answer, and Raynor repeated. “Swann?”

“Huh? Oh.” Swann was snapped out of his mind wondering. He quickly pulled up a few files. “I say we buy some vikings and goliath. These bad boys can gun down any enemy. Vikings without pilots cost 500 minerals and goliaths cost 300 minerals. I promise you they are worth the money.”

Vikings were fighters with two modes. In fighter mode, they could use their lanzer torpedoes to gun down enemy fighters and ships in the air as well as bombard enemies on the ground. In assault mode, their Gatling cannons could rip through anything that didn’t have half their body covered in armor.

Goliaths were support units. Autocannons could take down ground enemies and hellfire missiles could blow up air oppositions. Compared to vikings, they had more firepower but were less flexible.

5 vikings and 5 goliaths brought the mineral count down to 1000. That was the point where any less mineral storage might be dangerous.

As the decision was made, Raynor filed the demand to Mira about the mercenary reapers and the mech. “Graven has some connection with the local mercenaries. I will let him submit a contract. Swann, refill the ammunition. Anything else?”

The others shook their head and left the bridge as Raynor headed for the cantine.