Raynor's Raiders

"It's funny. It seems like yesterday Arcturus was the idealistic rebel crusader. Now he's the law and we're the criminals."

- Jim Raynor

Raynor's Raiders are an independent terran military formation led by Jim Raynor. It has a history of cooperation with the protoss thanks in part to Raynor's personal connections. They are an anti-Dominion rebel group.

The Raiders were formed from Raynor's Rangers and scattered troops from other factions during the Great War; the Rangers left the Sons of Korhal after Arcturus Mengsk abandoned Sarah Kerrigan to the zerg at the Battle of New Gettysburg. Their goal is the overthrow of

The Raiders' flagship and base of operations is Hyperion, a Behemoth-class battlecruiser. The Sons of Korhal captured it from the Confederacy and used it as their base before the Great War. It was subsequently hijacked by the Raiders following the Fall of Tarsonis.

Once the Raiders ceased being Raynor's Rangers of the Sons of Korhal, the primary color in their paint scheme changed from red to blue.

Formation
When the Confederacy abandoned Mar Sara at the beginning of the Great War, the Mar Sara Colonial Militia joined the Sons of Korhal to survive. The Militia formed the nucleus of the elite Raynor's Rangers. Arcturus Mengsk's ruthless and callous behavior during the fall of Tarsonis alienated Captain James Raynor and many of the Rangers. Raynor and many Rangers left the Sons of Korhal to form Raynor's Raiders.

Raynor was picked up by the former Confederate battlecruiser, the Thunder Child, on his way to safety.

Rebellion against the Sons of Korhal
"Our revolution began that day - the day Mengsk murdered a whole planet and called it justice."

- Jim Raynor

The Raiders fought an immediate action against the Sons of Korhal over Tarsonis. The Sons of Korhal sought to punish the Raiders and used the Ion Cannon to prevent the Raiders from escaping the orbital platforms. Although heavily outnumbered, the Raiders struck and destroyed the Cannon and made good their escape.

Upon their escape the Raiders numbered some 300, more than Raynor expected. Not all were originally members of the unit; some were Confederate and Sons of Korhal soldiers evacuated from Tarsonis and at least one was from Alpha Squadron. To sustain even this small force the Raiders raided the Dylar IV shipyards for shipping. Mengsk foresaw this and sent General Edmund Duke to stop them. However, the Raiders gained the upper hand in the cramped confines of the yard and made off with Hyperion and several other ships.

Conflict with the Zerg
The small armada found its way to Char after its leader, Raynor, was psychically called to the burnt-out world. Alpha Squadron General Edmund Duke was also in the area, acting as a Terran Dominion enforcer. The two confronted each other but did not do battle.

Both had been lured there by psychic emissions produced by Sarah Kerrigan, who had been encased in a cocoon by a new zerg brood, where she was undergoing a metamorphosis into a special infested terran. Duke attacked the new Zerg Brood, but was defeated in a disastrous battle. He was pursued by the Tiamat Brood.

Raynor's forces landed on Char, avoiding Duke's forces. Hyperion remained in orbit under the command of Matt Horner. The Raiders ground force quickly came into conflict with the zerg. During the battle, Infested Kerrigan emerged from the cocoon and easily defeated his forces. Kerrigan allowed Jim Raynor to leave her presence alive.

As Kerrigan wished to remove ghost conditioning blocks on her mental powers, she personally led a force against the Dominion science vessel, the Amerigo, in order to access its ghost files. Her other forces attacked both the Dominion and Raiders fleet. Protoss forces under Executor Tassadar arrived, attacking both of their fleets and destroying many of their ships due to the presence of the zerg. The Raiders suffered some 50 casualties, but Hyperion managed to escape by jumping blindly into warp space.

Alliance with the Protoss
"Why're we teaming up with them again? Wouldn't we be better off going our own way and letting the zerg go after them? I thought so at first, because the zerg were leaving us alone. Now we're targets, too. We're better off all together. You don't have to like it. I'm not asking you to marry 'em. Just to treat 'em as allies. Hell, I'll take protoss over Duke any day."

- Cavez and Raynor discuss their alliance with the protoss.

The Raiders were stranded on Char, at least until the Hyperion returned. While there Jim Raynor encountered both Tassadar and the Dark Templar Prelate Zeratul. He eventually befriended both of them, and comforted members of his crew, such as Lieutenant Deke Cavez, who had problems dealing with them.

The three allied forces clashed repeatedly with the zerg. The remnants of the Raiders fled to Char Aleph with the protoss. Eventually they were rescued by a protoss fleet from Aiur sent to arrest Tassadar. By this time only 40 Raiders remained. The Raiders accompanied the protoss back to Aiur.

Raynor witnessed the beginning of the rebellion by the Templar Caste against the Judicators. During the battle to rescue Tassadar from the Judicator Caste, Raynor provided assistance from the Hyperion, although the rest of his forces did not assist. This was the first time Raynor fought alongside Praetor Fenix, a respected protoss hero. The two quickly became friends.

Raynor provided major assistance in the final battle against the first zerg Overmind. His forces maintained a base on the northwest flank of the zerg, while Tassadar, Fenix and Zeratul attacked from the southeast. Together their pincer attack drove the zerg into disarray. Unfortunately, the Dark Templar could not approach the Overmind to assassinate it. Tassadar was forced to destroy the Overmind by suicidally channeling the energies of the protoss through Gantrithor.

Raynor's Raiders in the Brood War
From Aiur the group would continue to serve alongside protoss warriors under the direction of Captain Raynor, and helped defend the flank of refugee Khalai as they used a warp gate to abandon their homeworld for the Dark Templar homeworld of Shakuras. After the evacuation of the protoss, Fenix refused to leave Aiur, and Raynor remained with him. Raynor and Fenix closed the warp gate on their side to prevent the zerg from flooding Shakuras through it.

The Raiders had come to an agreement with Kerrigan. She offered assistance in combating the United Earth Directorate, which had entered the Koprulu Sector and was conquering the Terran Dominion. Arcturus Mengsk, Emperor of the Dominion, had been deposed by the UED on the Throne World of Korhal IV. The Raiders, with the assistance of protoss forces and flying the Hyperion, rescued Mengsk. He was placed in stasis. The Raiders then fled to Aiur, where the protoss maintained a small outpost near the planet's warp gate.

The United Earth Directorate arrived on Aiur seeking Mengsk for execution. They discovered the warp gate, which was protected by a small protoss outpost. It appeared to be all the protoss had left on Aiur. Raynor's outpost was a short distance away – the majority of his forces weren't present there, and Hyperion was nowhere to be seen. The gate was surrounded by several dormant zerg hive clusters. When the gate was activated, these zerg started attacking the protoss and the UED. Despite these odds, the UED destroyed the protoss outposts, along with Raynor's command center.

Kerrigan provided aid to the Raiders – using her secret agent, Infested Duran, supposedly a special advisor to the United Earth Directorate, to create a hole in the UED's defenses. A wave of zerg drove the UED away from the warp gate, allowing Raynor and Mengsk to escape again. The gate was destroyed which prevented pursuit.

The Psi Disrupter and Kerrigan's Weakness
Despite Duran's best efforts, the United Earth Directorate activated the powerful anti-zerg weapon, the Psi Disrupter, revealing Duran as an infested terran. They also captured the second Overmind, putting themselves in control of most zerg in the Koprulu Sector. Infested Kerrigan herself could barely keep her own zerg in line on Tarsonis, where she was hiding out.

In return for destroying the Psi Disrupter, she promised Jim Raynor and Fenix that she would topple the United Earth Directorate fleet in the Koprulu Sector. To do this she needed the help of Arcturus Mengsk. Mengsk was "defrosted" and offered a choice - work with Kerrigan, or imprisonment for life.

Fenix and Raynor agreed to work with Kerrigan (and Mengsk had no real choice in the matter), but they believed Kerrigan would betray them. Jim Raynor felt the United Earth Directorate was a greater threat than Kerrigan – he knew something of Earth's history.

Kerrigan's first directed the allies against the Psi Disrupter on Braxis. The Disrupter had been relocated there by UED Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, and used by the UED to gain control over the Swarm. During the first stage of the assault, the Raiders destroyed the Disrupter's poorly defended fusion reactors. With the Disrupter disabled, a SCV carrying one of Mengsk's psi-emitters lured uncontrolled zerg in the area. Kerrigan took control of this zerg nucleus and used it to assemble a force that destroyed the Psi Disrupter.

True Colors
The Raiders, Terran Dominion and Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm cooperated in an attack against Korhal. The United Earth Directorate only had a small number of zerg forces on the planet to assist them. The coalition defeated the UED, driving them from the planet.

This was when Kerrigan turned on her former allies – while they were resting from their attack on the UED. Her forces tore into the Raiders, the Dominion, and the protoss. Fenix was killed, prompting Raynor to swear revenge. Raynor vanished for a time following the end of the war.

Aftermath
The Raiders remained active after the Brood War, fighting against the Zerg Swarm and working with the protoss Artanis and Taldarin, in a secret mission on Braxis.

Raynor networked and struck alliances with anti-Dominion groups such as the Kel-Morian Combine, even spending time on Moria c. 2502. The group frequently hid out on zerg-infested worlds.

The War Pigs
Jim Raynor was targeted by the War Pigs, a band of ex-Confederate outlaws working for Dominion official Tamsen Cauley. He offered them their freedom if they would assassinate Raynor. Unknown to the other War Pigs, one of their members, Cole Hickson, an old friend of Raynor's, had been subjected to an experimental form of neural resocialization, hidden in his subconscious.

During the War Pigs' journeys, one of them stole a xel'naga artifact, attracting the attention of a trio of Dark Templar. The protoss warriors read their minds, discovering their plans.

Raynor's Raiders hid on the zerg-infested world of Urona Sigma in a tunnel system accessible only by sea. The Dark Templar arrived, and warned Raynor of who was coming for them. The Raiders planned on leaving Urona Sigma, as the protoss felt the planet was a lost cause and they would begin a purification attack on it.

The War Pigs discovered the Raiders, only to fall into their trap, due to the warning they'd received from the Dark Templar. However, Raynor trusted their leader, Cole Hickson, enabling Hickson to secretly draw a weapon.

As Raynor explained part of the history between Hickson and himself – Hickson had saved his sanity years ago – Hickson pointed his pistol in Raynor's face, surprising the War Pigs. Raynor believed that Hickson was being controlled by neural resocialization. The zerg then broke into the Raiders' lair, resulting in Hickson's escape. Raynor, separated from his Raiders, was forced to team up with the War Pigs. Together they escaped to the surface, with the War Pigs sealing the way behind them. However, Hickson ambushed Raynor again. Raynor made Hickson remember his sanity-saving techniques and the resocialization procedure. Hickson, overcome with stress, fell to the ground screaming.

At that moment, the protoss began the purification of Urona Sigma. Raynor and the War Pigs were trapped on the surface, away from the Raiders' dropships and the War Pigs' transport vessel.

The purification attack began away from Raynor and the War Pigs' location (and away from the heaviest concentration of zerg). The Raiders, despite the name, considered themselves bigger than just one man and so would not rescue Raynor. However, transport arrived in the form of a dropship carrying Lars Trakken and a Cerberus squad. Trakken felt he had to see Hickson's death personally, and told the War Pigs he would let them go if only they gave him Hickson. Raynor and the War Pigs pretended to agree, but it was just a ruse to steal the dropship. Successful, they made it to the War Pigs' ship.

Prelude to War
"Not all terrans have bowed down to Mengsk. Some of us still believe in freedom."

- Jim Raynor

The Raiders became the most wanted criminals in the Koprulu Sector due to Arcturus Mengsk's media control, oratory and propaganda, portraying the Raiders as a terrorist organization. The battle against the Dominion did not go well, and the group ran low on money and confidence. Raynor began drinking heavily, his doubts spreading to his crew, Matt Horner being the only noticeable exception.

Over the years, Matt Horner took control of the Raiders' small fleet and many military aspects of Raynor's campaigns. He still believed in Raynor and the revolution itself despite Raynor's doubts. Horner did a lot to keep things going over the years, and made efforts to "fire up" the Raiders.

By the outbreak of the Second Great War, the Raiders' numbers were reduced to just the a handful of volunteers.

Wings of Liberty
The Second Great War found Raynor and the Rangers on Mar Sara inciting an anti-Dominion revolt. They accepted a business proposition from Tychus Findlay, Raynor's old friend recently freed from prison, to collect alien artifacts for the Möebius Foundation. Trading in alien artifacts was illegal in the Dominion but the Raiders needed the money.

The Raiders retrieved the first artifact from a Dominion dig site on Mar Sara. The zerg invaded the planet shortly afterwards, also looking for the artifact, before the Raiders could head off-world. The besieged Raiders were rescued by Matt Horner and Hyperion.

Colonial Savior
The Dominion abandoned many Fringe Worlds at the war's onset. The colonists of Agria were rescued by the Raiders and relocated to the refugee camps on Meinhoff. The colony's leader, Doctor Ariel Hanson, joined the Raiders temporarily. A zerg hyper-evolutionary virus struck the refugee camps and the Raiders were forced to purge the affected camps.

The colonists left Meinhoff and resettled on Haven, near protoss space. However, the terrans carried viral spores and a protoss fleet under Executor Selendis arrived to purify the colony. Hanson appealed to Raynor to protect the colony from the protoss, while the executor wanted the Raiders' to assist in the purification.

Spectre of Unease
Other anti-Dominion groups also took advantage of the war. Gabriel Tosh, a pirate and a spectre, hired the Raiders to acquire materials for a spectre training program. Tosh initially kept the program, and his status as a spectre, a secret; he secured the Raiders' cooperation by offering cash-for-services and an alliance against Mengsk.

Tosh sent the Raiders to mine minerals from Redstone III; the spectre secretly sought the minerals' jorium content. This was followed by a raid on Bel'Shir to acquire terrazine from the Tal'darim.

Tosh's motives and nature were revealed as the Raiders were preparing to break open New Folsom Prison and free Tosh's imprisoned spectres. Dominion ghost Nova Terra, in pursuit of Tosh, warned the Raiders that the spectres were too unstable and dangerous to trust; instead, she wanted the Raiders' help to shut down the spectre training program on Avernus station.

The Revolution
"One broadcast and it won us a bigger victory than a hundred battles."

- Matt Horner

The Raiders found themselves on Tarsonis, with the Terran Dominion excavating old Confederate technology and moving it via lightly-defended trains. They raided the trains and retrieved an old Confederate adjutant. The rebels hired mercenary Orlan to decrypt the adjutant's data. Orlan secretly planned to sell the information to the Dominion, and hired Mira's Mercs to fend off the Raiders. However, Mira Han, in turn, betrayed Orlan and resold her services to the Raiders. Orlan was forced to relinquish the decrypted adjutant to the Raiders. The rebels were pleased to discover the adjutant contained a recording proving Arcturus Mengsk ordered the use of psi-emitters during the fall of Tarsonis.

Han had another tip for the Raiders: the Dominion was testing a new weapon of war, the Odin, at. The Raiders decided to steal it; they could use it to deliver the Confederate adjutant's information to the Dominion citizenry. The mission was successful; Tychus Findlay stole the Odin and used it to destroy five Dominion bases. The Dominion was unaware of the nature of the attack and had no idea their weapon had been subverted. Finally, the Odin was transported to Korhal, where Findlay took it on a rampage. During the battle, the Raiders uploaded the adjutant's information to UNN towers. This prompted Dominion civilians to revolt.

While assaulting Korhal, the Raiders destroyed a science facility which held information about a secret installation on Castanar. Jim Raynor led a small force to raid the installation, using the security overrides to get pass obstacles. Finding a protoss/zerg hybrid cloned over and over, the Raiders destroyed the facility's fusion reactor, but released a powerful hybrid and were forced to run from the facility using a Hercules dropship.

Artifact Hunt
On Monlyth, the protoss present, the Tal'darim, refused to turn the artifact over to the Raiders and to make matters worse, the Zerg Swarm had arrived with the intention of retrieving the artifact as well. The Raiders managed to retrieve the artifact.

The Raiders once again encountered the Tal'darim on Xil, a world that housed a xel'naga temple, succeeding where the failed and retrieving the artifact inside. Findlay was pleased with the catch and the pay it would bring, but Raynor was less enthusiastic, wondering if retrieving the artifacts was worth his men's lives.

Infested Kerrigan attacked the base at Tyrador VIII, intending to learn the location of the artifacts. However, Dr. Emil Narud hired Raynor's Raiders to destroy their data cores before Kerrigan could get to them.

The Raiders pressed on, capturing yet another artifact from a burning world. When the Hyperion arrived to the meeting coordinates, they instead encountered a large Dominion fleet led by Bucephalus, Mengsk's flagship. Against Horner's advice, Raynor ordered Hyperion alongside for a boarding action. Raynor and Tychus Findlay led the charge. The rebel leader broke into Mengsk's chambers intending to execute his long-time nemesis. However, Raynor was surprised to find Prince Valerian Mengsk, and not Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. The prince revealed he owned the, and the Raiders were unwittingly working for him. Furthermore, Valerian offered an alliance against the zerg; he believed a device could be created from the artifacts to deinfest Kerrigan. Raynor agreed to work with Valerian. This action provoked resentment from most of the Raiders.

Raynor still pressed ahead, acquiring the final artifact from a xel'naga worldship defended by the Tal'darim Executor. He regained the respect and loyalty of the crew by beating a fully-armored Findlay in a bar fight, and convincing them that a successful revolution also required the zerg to be dealt with. The crew were particularly impressed by the resurgence of Raynor's determination

Going to Char
"This ain't about the Dominion. Our war's has always been about savin' lives. If the zerg wipe everyone out, it's all been for nothing. So I'm going back to Char. If you're with me, it's your choice. Just like it's always been."

- Raynor addresses his crew.

Valerian Mengsk intended to invade Char, a dangerous proposition. He took half the Dominion fleet with him, along with General Horace Warfield. Arcturus Mengsk contacted him and told him he was in over his head. However, Prince Valerian stood beside Raynor, telling his father that he would deinfest Kerrigan, something his father could never do.

The Raiders landed on Char, establishing a foothold and rescuing scattered Dominion troops and equipment. They also managed to rescue Warfield and his remaining men, whose battlecruiser had crashed onto Char's surface. Afterward, they had to decide which method they would use to weaken Kerrigan's reinforcements; Findlay proposed assaulting tunnels that Raynor was familiar with, destroying the nydus network. Warfield preferred to attack a massive space platform over Char instead, crippling the zerg's air support.

After weakening Kerrigan's forces, the Raiders moved forward, taking the artifact near Kerrigan's primary hive. The artifact's power enabled it to destroy massive numbers of zerg, but Kerrigan's forces were still numerous and she herself attacked Raynor's base. Eventually the artifact completely charged up, unleashing its power, killing vast numbers of zerg and deinfesting Kerrigan.

Raynor and Findlay found Kerrigan deinfested. While Raynor was amazed to see her human again, Findlay, under orders from Arcturus Mengsk, tried to kill her. Raynor stopped Findlay's attempt and shot him with his revolver. He then carried Kerrigan out of the ruined hive cluster, across the battlefield.

At some point after the battle, the Raiders established a permanent base on Char.

Arsenal
Raynor's Raiders have access to some older technology, such as Wraiths, goliaths, and medics; Raynor's been around for a while and uses the older technology. Over the course of the Second Great War, the Raiders gained access to more advanced technology Banshees and s.

The Raiders also possess a number of vehicles, aerospace craft and infantry that are unique to them.

Known Raiders
"Name aside, Raynor's Raiders are bigger than any one individual. They'll carry on with or without me."

- Jim Raynor



Command

 * Commander James Raynor (leader of the Raiders)
 * Captain Matt Horner (second in command)
 * Lieutenant Abernathy
 * Lieutenant Deke Cavez

Engineers/Technicians

 * Chief Engineer Rory Swann
 * Engineer's Mate Aaren Ruth
 * Annabelle
 * Earl
 * Milo Kachinsky
 * Thatcher

Soldiers

 * McMurty (also a chaplain)
 * Gabriel Tosh
 * Tumar
 * Ajendarro Ybarra

Other

 * Belloc (shuttle pilot)
 * Bralik
 * Marcus Cade (navigator)
 * Cooper (barman)
 * Jessica Hall
 * Graven Hill (mercenary recruiter)
 * Egon Stetmann (scientist)

Former/Deceased

 * "The Commander"
 * Lieutenant Physon
 * Sergeant Ling
 * Sergeant Lisa Mannix
 * Private Deslan
 * Private Gina Elani
 * Private Lance Messner
 * Private Non
 * Doctor Ariel Hanson
 * Chuck Ayers
 * Leanda Bluth
 * Fedders
 * Tychus Findlay
 * M. Koiter
 * Ari Patel
 * Sanchez
 * Melinda Squire
 * Warriton

Other Appearances
Raynor's Raiders appear as one of the main factions in StarCraft the Board Game.