Kel-Morian Combine

"Real men drill deep."

- Kel-Morian Combine slogan

The Kel-Morian Combine (KMC) is a terran organization.

History
The Kel-Morian Combine was formed when the Morian Mining Coalition and the Kelanis Shipping Guild merged out of fear that the Terran Confederacy might attempt to move in and use its military strength to regulate their lucrative operations. This shady, corrupt corporate partnership pledged military aid to any mining guild that was threatened by Confederate policy. Led by General Mah Sakai, the two groups also banded together in order to maximize their ability to drain the resources from the numerous worlds within the Koprulu sector. The line between corporation and government vanished.

Tensions heated up as the Confederacy continually stole Kel-Morian mining operations from locations such as the Paladino Belt and the world of Sonyan, actions internally justified that the Combine was composed of pirates and other criminals. The Combine planned on war with the Confederacy so it could control all the scarce resources. The Combine became increasingly antagonistic towards the Confederacy over its actions.

The Guild Wars

 * Main article: The Guild Wars

The war started when the Confederacy tried to steal the Noranda Glacier vespene operation on Onuru Sigma. The Confederates feared the Kel-Morian Combine had planned something big there.

Alpha Squadron captain Edmund Duke and Dominion section lieutenant Arcturus Mengsk led an attack force, which fell into a carefully prepared ambush. The Confederates destroyed the complex when brigade-sized ground forces and battlecruisers descended onto the field of battle, forcing their retreat. This marked the official beginning of the Guild Wars.

For nearly four years, the Combine battled the Confederacy on Char, Sonyan, and Turaxis II.

During the war, Kel-Morian soldiers, known as rippers, continually made raids on Confederate bases, often more interested in plunder than in military victory. Victor Kachinsky led a guerrilla squad in surgical strikes against the Confederacy on Artesia Prime, using spider mines to soften up Confederate forces before an ambush.

The Combine developed the cerberus mine during its siege of New Austin.

As the war drew on, it became obvious that the Combine couldn't last.

In 2489, the Guild Wars ended with a skewed peace agreement whereby the Combine retained its autonomy but nearly all of its affiliated mining guilds were appropriated by the Confederacy.

Aftermath of the Guild Wars
The Combine became the largest non-Confederate organization operating within terran space. Equipped with thousands of armed troops and hardware, the Combine strictly enforced its myriad territorial operations. It was rumored that the Combine actually supplied the Confederacy with fuels and resources. So great was their political influence, the Confederate forces were banned from prosecuting the Combine for any potentially criminal action. Nonetheless, the Combine was effectively a shadow of what it once was; it was strength that even over a decade later, they were not able to regain.

Servitude and Independence
Following the discovery of the zerg and the protoss in December 2499, the Combine went to great lengths to stay out of the conflict. In 2500, Moria came under the rule of the Terran Dominion. The Dominion Engineering Corps, an arm of the Kel-Morian Combine, assisted the Dominion by constructing a number of space stations for them.

During the Brood War, the Combine continued to operate while the United Earth Directorate dominated the sector, which Fenix found a surprising example of terran greed. The zerg under Sarah Kerrigan weakened some of Moria's defenses and destroyed a number of military and manufacturing facilities as they pilfered ten thousand minerals before departing.

After the Brood War, the Combine adopted the medivac dropship.

Interbellum Operations
"It was always the damned KMs. Here they were in the middle of one of humanity's darkest hours, with two alien menaces wreaking havoc on the Koprulu sector, and the Kel-Morians were busy threatening the Dominion's mining interests."

- Walden Briggs

The Combine achieved independence from the Dominion and competed with it for influence. In the years which followed the end of the Brood War, the Combine focused on building up its commercial empire. Although the rise of the Dominion caused concern among the Combine's leaders over the safety of their far-flung mining operations, they remained intent on claiming more worlds for plunder.

The Combine frequently came into economic conflict with the Dominion, sabotaging their mining operations with nuclear weapons. Kel-Morian spies were known to arm themselves with nuclear detonators, blowing themselves up if captured. The Combine valued alliance with opponents of the Terran Dominion, and struck an alliance of sorts with Jim Raynor c. 2502. Its leaders spent much time discussing matters with him. Raynor did not remain, however. Afterward the Combine continued to cover for Raynor. Conflict with the zerg was viewed as another inevitability.

Despite its sparring with the Dominion, the Combine was capable of operating with it to an extent. Both Dominion and Kel-Morian citizens dwelt on Meteor Station (albeit with a degree of tension) and both sides cooperated against the Players' Club, a pirate band which attacked both sides. The Combine staked a claim to mining and salvage rights over the Sara system shortly after its prospectors found that minerals on Mar Sara had acquired unique properties due to the protoss bombardment. When the Dominion established several outposts in the system, the Combine claimed that the outposts were established at their invitation due to security issues with piracy and mining camp revolts. Tensions still existed, the reasons including the Dominion shutting down the Combine's salvaging of the Jacobs Installation, the reasons having been put under Level Black censoring. Things came to a head in 2504, when the Dominion annexed the planet.

Combine officials were bribed by Tavish Kerr into hefting exorbitant taxes on Rory Swann's mining operation on Meinhoff. When Swann declared his operation's independence, the Combine responded by sending a military contingent to seize all of his assets. They crushed the revolt.

After Victor Kachinsky was killed by Dominion ghosts in an attempt by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk to "simplify" relations, the Combine's response was angry but reserved, as it was in no place to mount any sort of military retaliation. Victor's uncle, Kelanis Guildmaster Abraham Kachinsky, made a speech about working toward peace with the Dominion.

The Second Great War
As losses mounted during the zerg invasion of terran space in October 2504, the Combine abandoned its outlying worlds, including Redstone III, causing markets to slump.

The Combine denied responsibility for refugee massacres on Meinhoff.

Retired general referred to the Combine as "useless".

The Combine told the Universal News Network that zerg sightings on Moria were a false alarm.

Protoss forces engaged Combine and Dominion forces on Moria at Remote Mining Station Four. Though it cost both the Dominion and Combine a great number of soldiers, the protoss were eventually pushed back from the outpost.

As events moved forward, the Combine began to play a greater role in Sector affairs. Following the war, the Combine was not viewed as a "viable enemy" to the Dominion and was barely holding together.

Kel-Morian operations were present in the asteroid field where the Hyperion battled Mira's Marauders. They had a capital-class ship that was equipped with an electric field generator.

The Combine had some success on a space platform above Braxis Alpha, where its ghosts used nuclear missiles to obliterate both Dominion and protoss forces. The ghosts were subsequently overwhelmed by the zerg however. Meteor Station went the same way, as due to the withdrawal of the Dominion Armed Forces stationed there, the colony was left to the mercy of the zerg. Thanks to Raynor's Raiders however, 800 civilians were able to escape with their lives.

End War
During the End War, a Kel-Morian Combine mining colony, under the command of Guildmaster Deborah Greene, came under attack by Amon's Forces and an army of his infested terrans. Initial attack waves were led by a blightbringer, and the Umojan Protectorate eradicators sent to protect the colony malfunctioned. Greene called upon allied commanders to aid in the evacuation of the colony. The commanders successfully defended the evacuation transports as they escaped the planet, holding back both the infested, the hybrid and Amon's forces.

Post-War
Years after the End War, the Terran Dominion reformed under Emperor Valerian Mengsk and the Kel-Morian Combine were undergoing new trade negotiations, which looked to being close to approved.

Government
The Kel-Morian Combine is split into guilds. Each guild's leader is democratically elected, but once in that position, they are difficult to dislodge. The Terran Confederacy claimed the Combine's guild leaders were chosen through heredity, and family retainership was an acknowledged part of life.

The Combine's population exceeds that of the Umojan Protectorate.

Military
"Kel-Morian mercenaries always have attitude. I reckon a guy like you can keep 'em in line."

- Graven Hill to Jim Raynor

During the Guild Wars, the Combine's military was organized along corporate lines. Soldiers such as rippers and outriders were used, though were effectively irregulars and were more poorly equipped than their Confederate counterparts. Like the soldiers' armor, Combine vehicles were effectively scrapped together from various sources and the Kelanis Shipping Guild functioned as an irregular, albeit effective, naval force. As per tradition stemming back to the days of Moria's first mining guilds, guild affiliation and specialization were inscribed on uniforms.

The following ranks are known to have existed:


 * Overseer
 * Assistant Overseer
 * Foreman
 * Taskmaster

The KMC also had an "Air Wolf" position/rank during the conflict.

The Guild Wars nevertheless weakened the Combine's military. By the Great War, the Combine's militia color was green. By the Brood War, its military was operating under more conventional lines. While weaker than the Dominion, the Combine is stronger militarily than the Umojan Protectorate, though is still not the powerhouse it used to be in the Guild Wars.

The Combine has its own Ghost Program. However, this has been put on hold since the disastrous Guild Wars.

Units

 * Dominion Engineering Corps (co-opted by Dominion Armed Forces)
 * Hammer Securities
 * Snakehead Kommando

Territories

 * Main article: Kel-Morian Combine worlds

"Locusts! That's what those infernal Kel-Morian Combine mining teams are! You think you have a good claim all to yourself, but then the Combine comes to ravage everything in sight right from under your nose. They'll leave me with nothing after they're done. Well I'm not going to take it anymore, and I've got just the thing for them! I'll make this a hot spot they'll never forget! I'll show them!"

- Final recorded words of Usagi Hidalgo before the surface detonation of a 20 megaton nuclear device on the planet of Uilila IV.

The Combine currently only holds a couple of planets, having lost many in both the Guild Wars and Second Great War:

Worlds

 * Boone
 * Chau Sara
 * Chanuk
 * Feronis
 * Gamma Dorian (at least temporarily, along with the Confederacy in the Guild Wars)
 * Moria (capital world)
 * Brutus (moon of Moria, colonized)
 * Vito (moon of Moria, colonized)
 * Onuru Sigma (at least temporarily)
 * Raydin IV
 * Uilila IV
 * Warrant VI

Other

 * Meteor Station (at least temporarily)
 * Scrap Station

Former

 * Mar Sara
 * Meinhoff
 * Paladino Belt
 * Redstone III
 * Sonyan
 * Turaxis II

Notable Members
Main article: Kel-Morian Combine personnel
 * General Mah Sakai
 * Guildmaster Deborah Greene
 * Foreman Oleg Benson
 * Overseer Hanz Brucker
 * Overseer Aaron Pax
 * Tavish Kerr (merchant)