(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)
A/N: A little bit of piracy never hurt anyone~
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In the end, it would honestly be worse to try and keep his own hands clean, Myk-Zod decides. After all, if he’s willing to benefit from piracy, he should be willing to partake in it. Not to mention that there’s a chance he and Mystique can keep the deaths to a minimum and save some lives in the process.
And so, when Raynor’s little fleet finally arrives at the Dylarian Shipyards a few days later, Myk-Zod is stood on the bridge of the Thunder Child right alongside the human man. Sarah and Mystique are there as well, along with the bridge crew. But its Raynor who does the talking, his arms crossed over his chest as they’re connected to the Shipyards’ controller.
“Who is this? This is Confederate Space; you’re not authorized to be here.”
Sighing, Raynor shakes his head.
“You’re speaking to Commander Raynor of Raynor’s Raiders. We’re here for your ships. Look son… there ain’t a Confederacy to be loyal to anymore. Nobody down there has to die so long as you stand down and let us take what we need."
There’s a pause at that, perhaps while the controller is consulting with someone off camera. Finally…
“We can’t do that. The Dylarian Shipyards are… are now under the control of the Terran Dominion. We aren’t open for business.”
Now that was an interesting change-up. Raynor’s jaw immediately clenches at the mention and Sarah jolts too. But to be fair, from what Myk-Zod understands, they have plenty of reason to be angry.
After getting off Tarsonis, he and Mystique had finally had the time to extract the whole sordid tale from Sarah, with bits and pieces provided by Jim. Put simply… it was a mess and a half but the end result was undeniable. They’d been part of a rebellion, a movement of freedom fighters designed to tear down the old regime.
However, in the wake of the successful overthrowing of the previous government, their so-called ally, this ‘Arcturus Mengsk’, had not only betrayed them both and left Sarah to the not-so-tender mercies of the Zerg… he’d gone and formed a new government as well.
This in and of itself wasn’t a bad thing… organization was usually preferable to pure anarchy, after all. However, Myk-Zod had seen the broadcasts by now. This new Terran Dominion was an Empire… and Arcturus Mengsk had gone and named himself Emperor for Life.
It was so very… predictable. Men in power almost always let it go to their heads. Myk-Zod knew that well enough from his original world. His uncle would certainly have named himself some title like Emperor or Supreme Leader if his coup had been successful. Even the likes of Zor-El and Jor-El had let their power go to their heads to the detriment of the Kryptonian people.
Still, as predictable and unsurprising as Mengsk’s grab for power was, that didn’t make its effects any less real. Because a petty man decided to become a tyrant, these people were going to fight Raynor and his men… and likely die trying in the attempt.
It didn’t seem fair… hell, it wasn’t fair. Fortunately, Myk-Zod didn’t have to sit by and do nothing. He hadn’t stuck his head in the sand and begged off this raid, so he might as well have an outsized impact on it. No half-measures.
“Raynor.”
His voice cuts the human man off from whatever he was going to say in reply to the controller’s words. Looking over, the bearded man arches a brow at him. Myk-Zod gestures towards the large window dominating end of the Thunder Child’s bridge.
“Point me in the direction of where that voice is coming from.”
His words are audible to the other side of the call, so they produce some sputtering from the man from the Shipyards. Meanwhile, Raynor hesitates for a moment, his brow furrowing… before his eyes widen as he realizes what Myk-Zod intends to do. Glancing over to Sarah, he nods his head towards the viewport.
Heh, of course. Myk-Zod follows Sarah over to the viewport and watches as her eyes glow briefly with blue light. Then, she points at a specific tower among the extremely expansive shipyards. Myk-Zod nods as he memorizes the location.
“You know, I could probably just disable them all from here… you don’t need to go over there.”
Chuckling at Sarah’s words, he shakes his head.
“No. I want them to make the decision themselves to send out the order to surrender and stand down. And I think they will… with the right persuasion.”
With that, he turns and heads for the bridge doors. Raynor is once again arguing with the Shipyard Controller, but he ignores their conversation… in a moment, it won’t matter. Meanwhile, Mystique immediately falls into step beside him and Myk-Zod shoots her a grateful smile. He’s not surprised to see she has his back just like always, but it doesn’t mean he’s not thankful for it.
“Wait! You’ll at least need suits; there’s no air out there!”
Glancing back over his shoulder at Sarah, Myk-Zod shakes his head.
“That won’t be necessary.”
This part, of course, not even their allies knew about yet. But not because it was being kept secret or anything like that. Rather, it just hadn’t come up… until now. As Myk-Zod and Mystique leave through one of the Thunder Child’s airlocks, they fly out into space… and directly towards that tower among the Dylarian Shipyards. Nobody rises to meet them in defense, possibly because they’re too small and therefore go undetected.
Regardless, they make good time over to the tower, arriving outside of it. Floating there, Myk-Zod peers through the reinforced glass to see the people inside… one of whom is still arguing with Raynor over the call. It takes a second for the first person to see him and Mystique, but once they do their eyes widen and they begin to panic and shout, alerting more people to their presence.
As the man talking to Raynor looks over, Myk-Zod smiles grimly and waves… before pointedly arching a brow as he reaches out and knocks on the glass just hard enough to make it vibrate but not start to shatter.
The Shipyard Controller’s jaw drops open along with the rest of the room’s inhabitants, all of them looking awed, terrified, and horrified in equal measure. It doesn’t necessarily make Myk-Zod feel good to produce this much terror… but if it keeps them all from losing their lives fighting a senseless, pointless battle for a tyrant who doesn’t care about them… then he’s happy to do it.
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Suffice to say, Myk-Zod and Mystique’s little shock and awe display works wonders. Indeed, once they enter the tower properly and tank a few bullets to really drive home the inevitable defeat, everyone is a lot more docile. The Dylarian Shipyards are taken by Raynor’s Raiders without a single life lost on either side.
From there, it’s a simple matter of taking everything they need… which is basically everything they have the room and men for. They’re limited in ships by how many they can crew and they’re limited in what supplies they can ‘requisition’ by how many ships they can take.
It means they’re not completely stripping the place dry at least, a cold comfort to those that Myk-Zod had forced to surrender. However, there are actually plenty of people in the Dylarian Shipyards who are willing to sign on with Raynor and his growing fleet, in large part because nobody had to die and they see an opportunity to switch sides where they might not have seen one previously.
Within hours, everything is moving like a well oiled machine… and so Myk-Zod feels comfortable going with Mystique to see ‘his’ new ship. What the Terrans call a ‘Science Vessel’ is both more and less than Myk-Zod was expecting. It’s what they refer to as an ‘Explorer’ class Science Vessel, capable of transporting itself across the sector and built for the purposes of a wide range of research and development.
The tools are… still not quite as good as what Myk-Zod was forced to leave behind back on Krypton, unfortunately. However, they’re good enough and that’s more valuable than any of his human allies can ever hope to know.
Sure, if he’d had unlimited time and resources back on Krypton, he could have done wonders that this technology would never allow him to create. He could have not just created his experimental dimensional traveling tech but perfected it. He could have turned the tech in his armband into something capable of letting him take along more than just mostly biological matter... even an entire ship, perhaps!
… Unfortunately, looking around the insides of the Science Vessel, Myk-Zod highly doubts he’ll be able to build something that will let him take it all with him when he and Mystique eventually leave this universe behind. The technology is comparatively advanced by the standards of the Earth that they just left behind, but at the same time… it’s comparatively primitive to what Krypton had.
This was fine though. Baby steps. He would use this tech to build what he could and go from there.
“Is this up to your standards, Myk-Zod?”
Blinking, Myk-Zod is pulled out of his thoughts by Sarah. The red head had insisted on being the one to escort him and Mystique over to their spoils, and she had been watching him as he’d looked around. There’s a knowing glint in her eye now that makes him arch his brow in response.
“Are you reading my mind right now, Sarah?”
To her credit, she has the good grace to blush a little bit at that, even averting her eyes for a moment.
“… Not so much actively reading as just… listening. Ever since Daggoth down in that hole… I can hear you and Mystique better. I couldn’t before, at least not very well. You were more protected than most of the galaxy. But now…”
Myk-Zod hums at that, frowning slightly. That didn’t sound good. Was she implying that the Cerebrates’ concentrated attack on his and Mystique’s minds had stripped away this natural protection they’d originally had? Given how prevalent psionics appeared to be in this universe, that seemed like it could be very bad indeed…
“I don’t think it’s that, mind you. Err, I don’t think your natural protections were destroyed or anything. I think… I’m just more connected to the two of you than before. Not to mention whatever I reached out to in order to kill Daggoth and the other cerebrates… well, I think it’s sticking with me. I’m more powerful than I was previously and I was already pretty damn powerful.”
She raises a hand and a bit of purple energy flickers across her fingers for a moment. Sarah isn’t showing off though… if anything, she looks a little grim as she stares down at her own fingers. Like she’s not sure whether to be afraid of this new power of hers or not. Honestly, that was a sensible view to have in his opinion.
Still, she’s obviously a bit uncomfortable with the topic so Myk-Zod chuckles and shakes his head, bringing things back around.
“It sounds like you already know my feelings on the matter of this vessel, Sarah. I’m incredibly grateful for it… and it will be helpful to me too. However, it will likely only allow me to take my work so far.”
Sarah slowly nods, jaw set as she looks around them at the height of her people’s scientific and technological development. Being told it will ‘only take his work so far’ is clearly something she’s having to mull over. But only for a moment. When the moment passes, she looks back to him, determination shining bright in her eyes.
“We can help in other ways too, I’m sure. There are other aliens in the Koprulu Sector aside from the Zerg… they call themselves the Protoss. Hell, they were on Tarsonis… but they were destroyed and overrun before you two arrived.”
The way she grimaces at that lets Myk-Zod know not to touch the subject with a ten foot pole. Sarah continues on a moment later anyways.
“This is a good start, but if its not enough… we should look into getting you some Protoss Tech as well. Their stuff is centuries beyond us, frankly… there’s just a lot more of us than them and they’re usually more focused on the Zerg than us Terrans.”
Myk-Zod hums, considering that for a moment. These Protoss sounded intriguing. That said…
“I’m not looking to go and steal anything from anyone if I don’t have to, Sarah. This was… a one-off.”
Rather, this raid was always going to happen and by participating in it, Myk-Zod had been able to save lives. And while he was now benefiting from all of it, he could at least assuage any guilt he was feeling over the way he’d been able to make the shipyards surrender peacefully.
Myk-Zod highly doubted a similar situation would crop up with these Protoss. If it did, he wouldn’t necessarily be above taking advantage of it… but he also wasn’t going to go out of his way to hunt some Protoss down and steal their shit.
“I understand. But you know… never say nev-!”
Before Sarah can finish her sentence, she abruptly cuts herself off and twists around, her eyes narrowing as she stares at a nearby wall of the Science Vessel’s interior. Raising his brow, Myk-Zod looks as well… only, he can literally look through the ship’s wall.
What he sees is a new Battlecruiser approaching the Dylarian Shipyards at speed… and from the look of things, it’s not on their side.
“The Hyperion… Mengsk has sent his attack dog to try and stop us.”
Well now… that certainly didn't sound good.
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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!
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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cfugkg6xt7t51-lzKTnGy5gYglzruXBqr5EWY-KunEQ/edit?tab=t.0
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SomewheretoBelongCh23.pdf
SomewheretoBelongCh23.epub