• "James Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk. Never thought I'd see you two working together." I said. Yoko looked at me oddly, but the looks from James and Arcturus were stranger.
    "How do you know us?" Mengsk asked threateningly.
    "Does it matter right now. I think the more important question is why you didn't kill us while we were asleep." I returned. James looked at me, a smile on his face.
    "I don't believe in killing innocent people. Besides, you two look like you've been through enough hell as it is." He said, then motioned for us to follow him, "We've got some bikes you can use, we're headed to our base."
    "Seems like we weren't the only ones to think about staying put..." Yoko said, and we grabbed our gear and followed them. Mengsk didn't look too trusting, but James was perfectly at ease. He led us to the bikes. Vulture class, ion thrusters in the back, frag grenade launcher in the front, with spider mine capability.
    "You'll take the one in the middle. The firing system's jammed up, so don't try anything." Mengsk said, and I climbed on it. Yoko climbed up behind me and threw her arms around my chest as I revved the bike. James shot out ahead and Mengsk motioned for us to go ahead of him. Soon we were racing through the desert wastes, headed for who knows where. I assumed this base would be a haphazard, thrown together mess like ours was. Boy was I surprised.

    James stopped us outside a large crashed Battlecruiser, which, along with what appeared to be a few smashed Carrier bits, had been converted into a defensible and functioning outpost. We walked inside, in awe of how they managed to get the place so well fixed up. We passed a few marines and ghosts who were headed to or from lookout duties, and the organization of the place stunned us. James led us to the bridge, which they'd converted into a war room. Inside were another familiar face. Zeratul, a Protoss Dark Templar. He stood with two figures I didn't recognize.
    "En Taro Adun Raynor. Who are these that you bring with you?" Zeratul asked.
    "Couple of kids we found out in the wastes. They were asleep, looked like something had been chasing them all night." James said. He couldn't have been more right.
    "All are welcome here. We are all victims of a much larger plot, and so we must band together to solve this mystery." Zeratul said. He motioned to two of the seats to his left, while Mengsk and Raynor sat next to the mystery figures. I could tell that things were about to get very serious.