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. Upon their creation the core of the Raiders were from Raynor's Rangers; the Rangers left the Sons of Korhal after Arcturus Mengsk abandoned Sarah Kerrigan to the zerg.

The Raiders' base of operations is Hyperion, a former Confederate Behemoth-class battlecruiser. The ship served as the Sons of Korhal's base before the Great War, before being 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 an elite unit, Raynor's Rangers. During the fall of Tarsonis, Captain James Raynor became disillusioned with the Sons of Korhal's leader, Arcturus Mengsk, and decided to sever his relationship with the rebel group. Many Rangers felt the same way and left the Sons of Korhal with Raynor, becoming 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
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 heavily defeated his forces. Kerrigan allowed Jim Raynor to leave her presence alive.

As Infested 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
The Raiders were stranded on Char, at least until 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 Infested 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 Psi Disrupter and Kerrigan's Weakness
Despite Infested 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 plan called for an attack on Braxis, where the Psi Disrupter had been relocated by Vice Admiral Stukov of the UED. Raynor's Raiders would destroy the Disrupter's fusion reactors, which were poorly guarded, while one of Mengsk's SCVs would carry a psi-emitter to lure the uncontrolled zerg in the area. These zerg would fall under the control of Infested Kerrigan, enabling her to rebuild her forces once the Psi Disrupter was destroyed.

The Raiders' attack shut down the Disrupter, and with her tiny reinforcements, Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm quickly grew large enough to destroy the UED forces guarding the Disrupter. Finally, she destroyed the Disrupter itself.

True Colors
The Raiders, Terran Dominion and Infested 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 fell upon the protoss contingent of Raynor's Raiders, defeating them and killing Fenix. The Raiders lost most if not all of their protoss support. Raynor swore revenge for the killing of his friend Fenix, and left the region destitute of any speculation of his whereabouts.

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 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 out 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
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, the group running out of money and belief. Raynor began drinking heavily, his doubts spreading to his crew, Matt Horner being the only noticeable exception.

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

Wings of Liberty
Four years after the, having accepted a "business proposition" from Tychus Findlay, Raynor led the Raiders in an attack on the installation of White Rock on Mar Sara in order to "liberate" an alien artifact from the Terran Dominion. The zerg arrived shortly afterwards, and the Raiders became engaged in a firefight with the invaders. The Raiders were rescued by Matt Horner on the Hyperion. Afterwards, the Raiders were given the choice of rescuing the colonists of Agria from the zerg after they had been abandoned by the Dominion, or harvesting another artifact from the world of Monlyth, which would involve combat with protoss fanatics.

Game Faction
In StarCraft II, Raynor's Raiders will have access to some older technology, such as Wraiths, goliaths and medics; Raynor's been around for a while and would likely use the older technology.

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

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

- Jim Raynor



Command

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

Engineers

 * Chief Engineer Rory Swann
 * Engineer's Mate Aaren Ruth
 * Kachinsky

Scientists

 * Dr. Ariel Hanson
 * Dr. Egon Stetmann

Soldiers

 * Tychus Findlay
 * McMurty (also a chaplain)

Other

 * Belloc (shuttle pilot)
 * Graven Hill (mercenary recruiter)
 * Gabriel Tosh (arms dealer)

Unknown

 * Cade
 * Hall
 * Thatcher

Deceased

 * Lieutenant Physon
 * Sergeant Ling
 * Sergeant Lisa Mannix
 * Private Deslan
 * Private Gina Elani
 * Private Lance Messner
 * Private Non
 * Chuck Ayers
 * Leanda Bluth
 * Fedders
 * Ari Patel
 * Sanchez
 * Melinda Squire
 * Warriton