I quickly followed Fenix towards what I assumed to be the flight deck. On the way there, I saw several more Dragoons, plus smaller robots, scurrying to and fro. They had a pale yellow hue, and glided out of the way, whenever there was the slightest chance of impact.

     Reaching the flight deck, I was amazed for perhaps the hundredth time, at the technologic advancement of the Protoss. This deck housed ships which were about a size and a half larger then the average fighter craft. I assumed they would be the transport to the Norad II. They had rounded hulls and that yellowish hue, but were a darker gold color. I saw Tassadar with a few of his fellow warriors, enter the flight deck seconds after Fenix and I had, and we all met and boarded the nearest vessel, which I learned, was called a Shuttle.

     The Shuttle interior had that business feeling and had darkly colored corridors. Bright lights above illuminated the hallways, while every here and there, there were access panels in the walls. Inwardly I winced at the fact I knew nothing about this ship, but kept it to myself. Tassadar gave a simple command, after reaching the bridge, and the Shuttle ramp closed. Moments later, the ship itself rose with a just audible hum, and exited the Carrier. 

     As the Shuttle cruised towards Duke's Battle Cruiser, I noticed it had a similar bridge to the Carrier, though it lacked seats and consuls for the pilot and navigator. For several moments, I thought that maybe the pilot was on another deck, but it then clicked into my head that this ship was probably flown by artificial intelligence.

     The ship also was equipped with a holomatrix, but the images it generated were much smaller then the Ganthrirthor’s. I didn't say anything on the trip to the Norad II, but from the way things were going, no one seemed really glad to be heading to the General's ship.

     While Tassadar was conferring with Fenix quietly, I looked at the hologram, and a saw a single Wraith fly into flanking position above the Shuttle. The Wraith pilot's voice crackled over the speaker for several moments, as he announced, due to technical difficulties, that the Shuttle I was in, would have to wait for several minutes before landing inside the Norad’s cargo bay. I glanced at Tassadar, anticipating a look of annoyance, but didn't see it; he probably had dealt with situations like this on many occasions. 

     The few minutes passed rather quickly, and before I knew it, the Shuttle was landing inside the Norad II. Even from inside the Shuttle, through the windows, I could tell that this bay was an area of constant activity. Wires, tools, hoses, all not put away, and kats, running here and there, repairing or upgraded ships and smaller vehicles.

     Again the Shuttle ramp opened, and as soon as we stepped out, I could readily smell the oil and other liquids being used to fuel the Wraiths and whatever that was being run down here. The bay didn't have that filtered air smell, but the odor of dirt, sweat, and fuel. I restrained myself from acting annoyed, though I really wished this place would of smelled like anything else but this. The cargo bay stank like a month old carcass; the vapors of different materials mixing to provide a very noticeable scent.

     The Protoss didn't seem in any way bothered by this, and waited patiently by the Shuttle, until a door in the far back of the cargo bay opened. Four armed terran kat guards entered the deck, and from what the last kat was wearing, General Duke, himself, also appeared. He marched in, and approached Tassadar, and gave a quick salute. His officers did the same thing a moment later, and Tassadar and his fellows nodded in return.

     “Welcome to the Norad II, gentlemen, if you would please follow me and my men to the briefing room, we may start the meeting,” Duke started, clearing his throat to continue, “Rayor has already arrived, and so have the squadron leaders.”

     I followed the group a few steps behind, relieved that the rest of the ship had that "clean" air smell and thought to myself, “What an jerk!” Duke, on greeting everyone, had been sarcastic, sounding bored, as if to even greet the Protoss was a chore he would of rather not done. I didn't say anything; I believed he hadn't seen me, for I myself would of probably received some rude comments.

     A few corridors later, we all entered the briefing room. In the center was a large table, with plenty of seats, and chairs at both the head and end of the table.  A pair of General Duke's armed guards left and positioned themselves outside the door, while the other two took up positions just beside the entrance, inside the room.

     Everyone filed in and took their seats, while someone, probably a squadron leader, stood up and took a presentation stance, beside a huge scale computer monitor. He wore a olive green flight suit and from one of his pockets, pulled out a pointer. 

     I found a seat beside Tassadar and sat down, nervously glancing at all the officers in the room. Duke had a smug expression on his face, while another kat in olive gray flight suit, sat a chair down from him. On the opposite side of the squadron leader, sat Rayor, and beside Raynor, sat another kat, probably another flight leader. Then, a few seats down, sat Fenix, Tassadar, several other Protoss and myself. A few meters away from that, stood the presenter. I assumed he worked for Duke, and was about to do a debriefing on the battle that had just happened.

     I stiffened as General Duke's gaze slowly swept the room and then centered on Raynor. They glared at each other for several seconds, as if communicating silently. Raynor and Duke hated each other as much as possible without committing treason, but because they were on the same side, they had no choice, but to work together, and do these “debriefings.” I was also guessing that Tassadar and the other Protoss did their best to stay out of these kats’ unofficial contests, though it seemed that relations on occasion were pretty strained.

     The briefing eventually begin, with the presenter identifying himself as Major Frank Gust, intelligence officer and observations pilot. He asked for permission to begin and thanked everyone for being here. At first the discussion began orderly, everyone giving his part of the story on what happened.

     “... We were tracking the Zerg armada and had no idea that they would do something like that and be successful. Most of my smaller fighters were spearheading the attack, when all of the sudden, I received maydays from the Battle Cruisers at the very rear of my fleet. My officers tell me that the Zerg somehow evaded our sensors and were hitting us on our most vulnerable, least maneuverable ships.” said Raynor, defensively.

     “Well, you best learn that your prey isn't just gonna sit there and play stupid. You should know that while being in charge, because if you don't, you shouldn't even be in command of a fleet. You become a hazard, and in being that you shouldn't even be here.”

     “Excuse me, sir, but we're here to discuss tactics, not what you or anyone else thinks of me. I suggest you get back on task, before this becomes a complete waste of time, general,” Raynor said, anger very apparent in his voice.

     “What is, is. Major Gust, please continue with the presentation, on how Raynor’s fleet was, eh, caught by surprise,” Duke said, struggling to stop himself from giving Raynor another insult.

     “Yes sir. Raynor’s formation of ships would of been very effective if the Zerg would of stayed on their present course, but because they deviated, his formation lost all effectiveness. His fighters that were best at countering the small Zerg fighters were in front, instead of in the back, to defend the trailing capitol ships. As a result, he lost over two thirds of his fleet, not to mention thirteen out of fifteen Wraith squadrons. The fighters tried to get to their larger ships without doing the proper maneuvers and as a result, were easy prey for the Zerg. Note that Raynor’s Wraiths did not have cloak, though they were scheduled to begin getting upgraded in two weeks time,” Gust said, pointing at the ships on the large screen.

     The monitor looked something like the ones I had seen back home, but unlike them, it was about six times bigger, a lot sharper and all round improved. The screen moved according to what the presenter said, and then at the touch of a button, replayed the first few seconds of the battle that just occurred. The view switched to the very back of Raynor’s fleet, and showed a multitude of small, missile shaped Zerg slamming into Raynor’s Battle Cruisers.

     “Here, you will see that the Zerg used some of their weakest units, but in legion. The Scourges came in such great numbers that even firing a single shot would of probably taken out five or six of them. The Battle Cruisers not expecting this had but seconds to react, and either became heavily damaged or perished.” Gust paused for a second, and then replayed a few more minutes of the battle.

     The display screen showed several scores of Wraiths rushing towards the capitol ships as fast as they could, though many were attacked from behind before they reached their  destination. Some Wraiths, upon either finding their base ships destroyed or out of the fight, went about trying to destroy whatever Zerg they could. The channel usually used to give out orders had become filled with jabber, and then jammed.

     “Here you see that because orders could not be relayed, Raynor’s smaller fighters were in disarray. If they could of acted as a team, they may have been able to save a few of their fellow Battle Cruisers. The jamming was not anticipated, though it would of greatly helped if there had be something taught in case a communications blackout. After that, everything became a jumble and tactics became absent. Everyone acted on instinct, trying to save the ships nearest them, and because of that, even more craft were lost.”

     Duke held up a paw to interrupt the intelligence officer. “I believe that there are procedures to follow if such a blackout occurred. How is it that your fighters never learned them, Raynor?”

     The kat, being put on the spot, stuttered for a moment, and then replied. “Sir, I didn't anticipate such a thing happening and you know that my fleet is still undergoing intense upgrading...”

     “Upgrading? That is NOT an excuse. Many people died today because they never learned what to do. Does that even bother you? By the time the battle ended, you know longer had a fleet. What you have now is the remains of a sorry, backwards wanna-be pack of ships. I hope that this taught you something, because I might not be around next time to say your sorry tail.”

     “All right already! I understand you saved my fleet, but you don't have to be such an ass about it! I know that I didn't follow up on all the tactics! I admit it! Are you satisfied? Next time I will make sure my officers know what to do in situations like this.”

     “I hope so... Now let's continue-”

     A buzzer sounded off four times before becoming silent. Gust tapped a few buttons on the key pad beside the monitor, and the paused video on the monitor disappeared. It was replaced with a pilot kat, who had a very stressed, scared look on her face. 

     “General sir, I apologize for this interruption, but my squadron was ambushed on the way to Raynor’s fleet. Enemy ships of unknown design, but terran kat in origin, attacked and destroyed everyone in Echo Squadron but me. They say that they are the messengers from a fleet from the planet Earth. The leader said that within three weeks the main fleet with be here to commandeer our colonies...”

     I quickly glanced at Duke, who looked he had just gone into shock. His frame trembled slightly, as he rose from his seat. “Mengsk must be notified at once. I will return shortly...” He was halfway to the door when he saw me. I froze in position, as he turned to face me.

     “Who the hell are you, and how did you get here? I don't recall ever seeing you.”

     “I am-” I started.

     Major Gust glared at me, “You will address the General as “General sir” and nothing else. Answer his questions.”

     “General sir, my name is Conrad, and I got here when by Shuttle.”

     “Huh? I don't recall anyone giving you permission to travel with the Executor. Where are you from?”

     “That, general sir, is a hard question. You see-”

     Again, I was interrupted by Gust. “You will answer his question and quit showing disrespect. I expect I will be seeing you in the interrogation room some day soon.”

     “General SIR, I am from Earth. This is hard question, because I am from another dimension and the planet there is also called Earth.”

     Duke was silent for several seconds. “How many people from your dimension are here? How do I know you're telling the truth?! How do I know you're not a spy?!!” With every word, Duke sounded more and more paranoid.

     “Sir!”

     “General Duke, she came here by the Forager, when it accidentally crossed dimensions after the Zerg attacked our base on Kel’Moria. She is the only one from that dimension, and therefore could never be a threat to you,” Tassadar said, with no aggression in his voice. 

     “So this is your doing. I should of known. You act as if rifts are something under your control, but then you end up screwing up and picking up someone from another dimension. You know that this is a major security breach! I don't know, I just don't know. This is all going to be reported to Mengsk.” Duke then turned and promptly exited the briefing room.

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