The Hyperion was resting above an inhabited planet.

It had been two days since the battle of Meinhoff. The survivors of the colonists were sent to a planet called New Haven. According to Dr. Hanson, the planet should be safe. It was next to protoss airspace, but to a degree the protoss were even better than the Dominion and the Kel-Morian.

At least the protoss wouldn’t turn and flee from the zerg.

After departing from the colonists, the Raiders simply returned to somewhere safe to rest and recover.

Despite all the advantages they had, the Raiders still took heavy losses on Meinhoff.

The Agrian militias were the least experienced of the Raider factions. For most of these men and women, this was their first battle. Out of the fifty militias that decided to join the Raiders, over thirty gave their lives for the refugees. If the much more experienced mercenaries weren’t present, that lost would be even greater.

Even the Mar Saran elites lost over 20 men. Following Raynor since the very beginning of everything, they were no doubt the best of the best. With sufficient weapons and equipment, they could even take on the Sons of Korhal, the best marines of the Terran Dominion. Unfortunately, experienced didn’t mean being able to take a shot in the head and live. When the infested overran the defenses and ripped the CMC armors apart, these elite troopers died just like every other refugee and colonist on the planet.

The mercenaries were in a similar situation as the Mar Sarans. 36 war pigs, 12 hammer securities, and one goliath were lost in all four entrances. During the assault on the broodmother, 31 reapers and 19 Warden marines were killed. The reapers Raynor hired from Mira Han were almost wiped out.

The hundred or so dead traded with thousands of infested. The 1:20 or so trade ratio would be a miracle for the Raiders in most cases, but against the infested, this was not enough. All the zerg spent was some energy to design and spread the infestation.

The only comfort was that the Raiders killed the broodmother and two infestors and sent the millions of infested into a fight till death. Both broodmothers and infestors were expensive and precious. They were insignificant in the swarm, but their loss still stung.

Even so, Jean considered what happened to be an inefficient trade. The Raiders lost nearly one fourth of their precious combatants. The militias were expendable, but the elite Raiders and mercenaries were almost irreplaceable.

And what did they get in return? The refugees left after leaving a few meaningless thanks. The Raiders didn’t get any weapon or armor. They didn’t get any resources or credits. Hell they didn’t even get any fresh recruits. The hundred or so men were lost with nothing in return.

If it was Jean making the calls she would never make this trade, but apparently, Raynor thought the life of thousands of refugees that could never help his cause was much more valuable than that of a hundred or so men under his command.

Jean had no choice but to obey, but she couldn’t help but start thinking.

In the original history, Raynor was able to punch his way through everyone he faced, whether they were the Dominion, the Tal’darim, the Daelaam, or the Swarm. Any one of them had ten times the army and the fleet of the Raiders, but somehow Raynor came out victorious.

Jean didn’t think that would happen this time. If she wanted to complete her mission, she would need to act wisely and carefully, and she was starting to think Raynor could not complete that goal.

He was too soft. That was a weakness, and Jean couldn’t afford the price of his weakness.

Of course, that didn’t mean Jean would leave the Raiders. It only meant she would give herself more options.

Walking into the cantine of the ship, Jean glanced around. The cantine was occupied. In fact, it has always been occupied since the war pigs were hired. Jean came to the cantine a few times before, and she keenly realized there were less customers here. Some of the heaviest drinkers never lived to touch alcohol again.

That didn’t mean the cantine was any quieter. If anything, the few drinkers were much louder. The alcohol, while numbing their mind, channeled their inner anger and fear to the outside world. In battle these men kept their emotions sealed, but in the safety of the cantine they were able to unleash it.

Jean walked to the bartender.

“Just some water please.” She was never a fan of alcohol. As far as she could see, alcohol was a way for people to process their emotions, which meant she had no need of that.

The bartender, Cooper, nodded, silently scanning Jean from top to bottom. The girl wasn’t in her normal lieutenant uniform. Instead, she wore a much more casual shirt that revealed her curves. She didn’t have any makeup on, but she didn’t need makeup to look pretty. Something about her, maybe it was how cold she felt, made her so attractive.

Despite having both men and women, most of the Raiders were men. Women, especially beautiful women, were rare.

But Jean wasn’t here to get a cup of water or enjoy the gaze of some hot-headed men. Instead, she set her eyes on a lone figure.

Cooper passed Jean a cup of water, and the girl nodded and walked to one of the occupied tables.

“Captain Beckett.” She said quietly as she sat down. “I’m lieutenant Jean Turner.”

The man in front of her was obviously drunk. His eyes were red, as if he hasn’t slept for days.

The man was the reaper captain that participated in the assault on the broodmother.

After returning to the Hyperion, the captain was hailed as a hero. Rarely would someone take down an army of zerg and live to tell the tale. Raynor paid he and his men a large number of credits in addition to the usual salary. Even Mira Han herself sent a word of compliment to captain Beckett.

Yet the captain was far from satisfied. The image of an endless wave of infested terran, in their twisted form, swarming upon him and his men haunted his dreams. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could still see the severed bodies and hear the screams of the men he lost on Meinhoff.

He wasn’t a fresh recruit who never seen a dead body ever before. Usually an experienced veteran like him would get used to losing men in battle, but he was still a human being. No amount of training or experience could change that. He could seal off his pain with his willpower in the midst of the battle, but just like the war pigs, he could no longer conceal that pain in a safe environment.

“I don’t give a damn.” The man finally replied after taking another drink, not even looking up.

Some men answered their anger and fear by being cruel. Torturing and executing innocent people was just one of the standard methods to let off some steam. Stimpacks and other type of drugs, along with alcohol, was also a common theme.

Others, like the reaper captain, would falter.

Beckett was already considering sending Mira Han a request to retire. With the credits he got after the battle, he could afford to settle down and live a relatively comfortable life. Finding a safe place in the sector in this chaotic time might be a challenge, but the reaper has had enough.

If he remained with the Raiders, he couldn’t say for sure that he could live long enough to enjoy the credits.

“Just hear my offer first.” Jean crossed her legs and sipped the water she had, ignoring the few hungry eyes from a few drunk war pigs.

Beckett was quiet. He didn’t agree to listen to what Jean had to say, but he didn’t stop her either.

“I want you and your squad to be my guard.”

Every major player in this sector had a group of elite units that were absolutely loyal to him or her. It was not because that commander wanted to stage a mutiny or something. It was to both protect the commander themselves and give the commanders a last squad of reserves.

In the Raiders, Raynor had his own Mara Sara buddies. Horner had a group of elite crew members he brought over to the Raiders when he left the Sons of Korhal and joined the Raiders with the Hyperion. Otherwise there was no way a single captain could take a ship this large. Even Swann had a set of automated turrets and warbots he had direct command over.

Every commander, whether it was Raynor or Ma’lash or Artanis, supported this tradition. After all, betrayals were rare, and generally these personal guards did more good than harm.

Jean, unfortunately, didn’t have that squad of guards. She had direct command over the Warden units, but good soldiers didn’t mean good guards.

Guards needed more than combat capabilities to do their jobs. Most of the time, guards were used as messengers and patrols and even military police. Sometimes they needed to deal with assassins or traitors. This required ability to deal with an almost infinite amount of possibilities. Human beings could actively assess the situation and do what they think was right.

Warden AIs, on the other hand, needed programming to function correctly, but there was no way Jean could consider every single possibility possible and develop a set of instructions for every one of them. She could tell the AI how to deal with a zergling as efficiently as possible. She couldn’t tell it how to identify someone who was doing something suspicious.

In order to do that, Jean needed an AI that could think by itself. Purifier AIs could do that, but Jean simply didn’t have the technology to do so. She learned about coding with ease, but it was difficult to learn something when she had neither a teacher nor a textbook.

The reaper captain rose his eyebrows, slightly intrigued. Being a guard was much better than being a foot soldier. Foot soldiers were sent to the front line, and if they were unfortunate enough they might just go out in a round of siege tank fire. Decades of training and experience, gone.

Beckett knew who Jean was. She was one of the most trusted advisors of Raynor himself and one of the most influential people in Raynor’s Raiders. If he could be her guard...he and his men would be much safer. Patrolling and dealing with potential lone assassins was much safer than charging into the battlefield.

Of course, there was always the possibility that the battle turned to a direction so bad that even as a guard he would need to get into fighting, but things like that were rare, and being a mercenary meant having to take some risk. If he was afraid of a risk this small, then he might as well retire.

“What will my status be?” Beckett asked.

“You and your men will still be a mercenary hired by Raynor’s Raiders. Your salary and treatment will be the same, but you will stay with me and follow my orders.”

Beckett leaned forward.

“You know who I work for.”

He was a reaper hired from Mira’s Marauders, which meant his loyalty laid in the female mercenary. Guards should be absolutely loyal to their leader. He didn’t think Jean would feel comfortable with having a group of men who would snap her neck with a single order in charge of her safety.

“Perhaps, but Mira Han is far away.”

Beckett finally smiled. “As you wish, sir.”

Jean leaned back and emptied the cup.