Mercenary: soldiers of fortune of the Koprulu Sector

Mercenaries were soldiers and warriors of the Koprulu Sector who fought for profit rather than flag. The trade cut across every species: terran gunhands and pirate crews sold their services to corporations and governments alike, rogue protoss warbands had hired out their blades since the days of the Protoss Empire, and even zerg broods were known to offer their fangs to a paying master. Powers as different as the Kel-Morian Combine, the Terran Dominion, and Raynor's Raiders all leaned on hired guns when their own forces were not enough, and the best mercenary outfits earned reputations that rivaled any standing army.

A trade of the Koprulu Sector#

Mercenaries lived and died by their reputations, and the culture of the trade reflected it. Any "self-respecting merc" was expected to hold a disdain for government, and hired soldiers were known for taking chances in battle that regular troops would refuse. That gambler's instinct extended to their equipment. Mercenaries often customized their vehicles, whether by optimizing engines for extra speed, reworking control configurations for versatility, or adding cosmetic changes meant to intimidate their enemies. What they rarely fielded was highly advanced surveillance craft such as the raven; a mercenary force tended to spend its money on firepower rather than sensors.

The trade was old and widespread enough that it developed its own infrastructure. Recruiters such as Graven Hill made careers out of connecting outfits with employers, and havens like Deadman's Port gave freelancers a place to sell their skills outside the reach of any law. For governments and corporations, mercenaries offered deniability and immediate strength; for the mercenaries themselves, the sector's endless wars offered generous and reliable pay.

Terran guns for hire#

Terran space supported the largest and most varied mercenary market. The Kel-Morian Combine kept a well stocked and well equipped mercenary army at its command, folding hired soldiers directly into its military posture. Private businesses, such as those found on Tyrador IX, recruited mercenaries for their planetary defense forces, and the promise of an easy job with generous pay drew many marines into that service. Even the Dominion Armed Forces used a number of mercenaries over the course of the Dominion's history, though only a few of them ever received honorable discharges.

Individual terran mercenaries counted some of the sector's most dangerous people among their number: Mira Han, Gabriel Tosh, Ethan Stewart, Alan Schezar, Rosemary Dahl, and the code specialist Orlan all sold their talents across the sector. Orlan's skills illustrated both the value and the risk of the trade. An expert in Confederate code decryption operating out of Deadman's Port, he was hired by Raynor's Raiders to break the encryption of a captured Confederate adjutant, then attempted to betray his employers and sell the information to the Dominion before the rebels recovered it.

Whole organizations built names in the same market. The War Pigs became famous as hard cases who finished jobs other outfits would not touch, while Mira's Marauders, Schezar's Scavengers, Hale's Commandos, the Kimeran Pirates, and the Tiger's Claw, whose Bengal gunships could ferry troops while shooting down enemy aircraft, each carved out territory of their own. Raynor's Raiders themselves were counted among the sector's mercenary organizations, and Jim Raynor carried the reputation of a hard-bitten mercenary through the years of his rebellion against Arcturus Mengsk.

Protoss soldiers of fortune#

Mercenary work was not a purely terran vice. Protoss mercenaries had existed since the reign of the Protoss Empire, and some of those groups rebelled against the Conclave itself rather than submit to its authority. Among their leaders was Judicator Blackman, commander of Blackman's Reavers, who claimed to have traveled from one side of the galaxy to the other and to be knowledgeable in the ways of revolutions. Alongside his Reavers stood other warbands, including Dabiri's Shadow Company and Zyrkhan's Legion, protoss forces that answered to coin and cause rather than to the templar caste hierarchy.

Mercenary broods of the zerg#

Strangest of all were the mercenary broods of the zerg, swarms that hired out their numbers like any freelance company. After the Brood War, numerous zerg mercenary broods offered their services to the infested Alexei Stukov when he sought assistance in destroying enemies of his who had collected on a dark planet. Their commanders bore names that read like warnings: Cardis the Destroyer, Eschueta the Wicked, Frayne the Feral, Gilson the Evil, Meserole the Marauder, Morik, and the Wise Old Torrasque, whose Swarm of the Torrasque was joined in the trade by the Eschutriarchs, the Feral Guardians, Gilson's Oppressors, and Meserole's Plague Bringers. Nor did Stukov's coin buy only zerg; the terran vulture pilot Aios Karnage offered his services to the infested vice admiral to help him dispose of what Karnage called "detestable vermin."

In the same period, mercenaries offered their services to the Terran Dominion to help deal with the New Trinidad Pirates, a coalition of mixed species that had itself risen from the sector's freelance underworld.

The Second Great War#

The Second Great War was a golden age for the trade. Raynor's Raiders, short on manpower against the Dominion war machine, hired mercenary outfits throughout the conflict, and those hired soldiers passed through the cantina of the Hyperion alongside the crew. In the war's late stages the Raiders continued to employ mercenary units, and in the final attack on Korhal Palace the War Pigs, Spartan Company, and the Siege Breakers all contributed to Raynor's allied offensive with Sarah Kerrigan on Korhal. Mercenary units also appeared in the employment of the Umojan Protectorate during the same conflict.

The End War and after#

When Amon returned, mercenaries fought in the End War beside the very governments they professed to despise. Mira's Marauders joined with the Dominion Fleet under Admiral Matt Horner to help push back Amon's Forces, and Marauder mercenary technology was used to augment the fleet's elite Asteria wraiths, enhancing their firepower and cloaking systems. The Dusk Wings were deployed in support of Raynor's Raiders in the same struggle. At the war's end, Raynor employed mercenary units on his journey into the Void itself, fighting alongside the Daelaam and the Zerg Swarm to destroy Amon.

Peace did not end the trade. In the years after the End War, the Umojan Protectorate hired members of the War Pigs to guard its expedition to Jarban Minor, proof that whatever power rose or fell in the Koprulu Sector, there would always be work for those who fought for pay.