This story takes place before an earlier Starcraft story I wrote, called Reflections. Characters and concept owned by Blizzard, original characters are mine. This story takes place during the beginning and middle stages of Broodwar.

James Raynor's ship Hyperion, in orbit over Aiur.

Raynor's quarters.

"Are you sure about this, Jim?" Commander asked.

"No, I'm not. Kerrigan's invitation smells of trap like a Defiler's Mound. Still, I must accept it in order to see what she's planning." Raynor replied.

"Are you going alone?"

"No, Fenix comes with me. She didn't specifically ask you but she might assume that you're coming with me automatically"

"Shall I come?"

"At first I thought yes, but now I feel that better not. If she attempts something and succeeds, it's better that she doesn't get us all at once. She may be hoping for such a thing to happen."

"But Jim, together we could stop anything she might throw against us."

"We might, but I'm afraid she's taken that into account. She knows how we handle ourselves in the battle."

Commander was silent for a moment, then spoke. "Yes, you're right Jim. Considering how many times I guided her during the missions in the past, not to mention her telepathy, she could read me like a book without needing to open it."

"That's right. She could anticipate our move before we could initiate it and then dispose us in one clean swoop." Jim said.

"So, what do I do then?"

"Stay here to prepare for the worst. Should I be captured, do everything you can to rescue me. But if I'm dead, try continue the battle on your own."

"Well, no matter which of those ends will occur, there's not much I could do about it at this point." Commander replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Our resources are almost completely depleted. There's not much left from the battle against the Overmind. The amount of minerals and Vespene gas we have in stock isn't sufficient for a rescue operation or guerrila war."

"Damn it, I had forgotten that entirely."

Raynor began to think. Meanwhile, Commander stretched himself. After couple of minutes, Raynor spoke.

"It seems there's something for you to do after all while I'm gone. I'll leave with a small group and take some of the resources and equipment with me. I'll leave the rest here. You stay here with the Cruiser which Fenix donated to me to fill our stock. The 'Cargocruiser' isn't as good or big as the Battlecruiser but is capacious enough to get the job done, not to mention faster."

"From where? All the planets nearby that I know of are currently under Zerg infestation or occupied by Dominion outposts or drained completely of natural resources. Even if I could find some remaining sources, it's likely there's not much left."

Raynor scratched his chin for a second.

"There's one place which could be proper enough."

"What place is that?"

"Near the edge of the Koprulu sector there is a planet called Braxis. It has been partially excavated and likely holds a Dominion base. But it's twin planet is practically untouched."

"A twin planet of Braxis?"

"In a sense, they're twins. Both have a wintry climate but the twin's weather conditions are several times more perilous. While Braxis is generally quite calm, its twin has blizzards and snowstorms raging on the surface almost constantly. Even the temperature is much colder. Although it's closer to sun than Braxis doesn't make any difference. Only a few times on random occasions the weather clears enough for the surface to be accessible, but only for a short time. That's why even the Confederation never mined there, tried once but it ended in disaster."

"But how could I succeed where the Confed didn't?"

"They were careless. They ignored the safety procedures in a perilous climate like that. They assumed they could mine it as easily as Braxis. But when the first serious blizzard struck, everything became a mess. Top of that, it had been the beginning of a long storm cycle which lasted for weeks before settling down. Nothing was found of the mining team after the storm finally ceased. Confederation was hardly troubled by the loss of the mining team but agreed that no more effort would be wasted for mining on the twin planet."

"What can I do to avoid their fate?"

"First of all, you should bring the Cruiser hovering right above your camp and leave the engines on, that'll keep the air in motion enough to prevent the snow storms covering you. Second, operate only with minimal crew and withdraw everyone inside when the storm approaches. Resume immediately after it has passed. Since you only need to build few structures, your storages should remain steady and fill up quickly."

Commander pondered this for a moment, then spoke.

"I think I'll still build some light ground forces for guard duty, SCV's can't be used for defense if something occurs. I know it's nearly impossible to use air units in those weather conditions but the Cruiser will suffice as a stationary air defense, it won't be shaken as easily by the snow storms as fighter or shuttle would be."

"That's exactly what I had in mind, Commander. Depending on the size of the mineral concentration, use as many SCV's as possible in order to get the job done quickly so you don't need to stay there any longer than necessary."

"No question about it, Jim. By the way, how soon you'll leave?"

"In an hour, once the final repairs are complete."

"All right. I'll take rest of our forces and equipment with me. Too bad that I'll have to build the base from scratch but considering the size of the Cargocruiser it's unavoidable."

"I'm sure there will be enough minerals to cover the building of the base and enough for our future needs."

"You're probably right, since no one ever hasn't managed to gather anything from the planet."

For a moment neither spoke until Raynor made a comment.

"You know, Commander? This is actually the first time we're parting company for a longer time since Mar Sara. I'm excluding my short imprisonment by Confed."

"Yeah, I noticed. For some reason it feels like I'm about to amputate my arm."

"I got the same feeling, man. We've been working so long and well together that it almost makes me doubt we can pull this off."

"I have my doubts too. But we must trust our judgement and skills. They've carried us to this point."

Raynor could only nod. They'd faced worse situations in the past.

"All right, then. You better go ahead, Commander. The sooner you'll get started the better. I'll wait a word from Fenix and then we're on our way."

"Okay, Jim. Good luck to you."

"Same to you, Commander."

Then Commander stood up, saluted in a friendly manner and left Raynor's quarters. On the way to the hangar he activated his Com-Link, relaying the orders to load the equipment onboard the Cruiser. There was lot of work ahead and it required careful planning, there was no room for mistakes.