The Mines of Zerus (Net Version)

Prologue- Shadows of War

A few weeks after the fall of Auir, Emperor Mengsk and his General Duke have traced the origins of the Zerg to a distant planet of Zerus. Many plans have been made, identifying the planet to be very mineral-rich, more minerals that the Kel-Morian Combine. Upon the Protoss Outpost of Pandora only a few parsecs from Zerus, Argos and his brethren of other Protoss have setup a small base to monitor the foolish attempts of the Terran Empire to harvest on the Zerg Homeworld. They recieved news late and the fall of their homeworld was mourned months after its fall. The Zerg have been a difficult race to deal with, with the Overmind believed to be dead and Kerrigan as their new Queen of Blades, it was going to be hard for the Protoss to survive.

"Templar Argos," a Protoss Zealot tapped on the loosely-armored and young templar's only shoulder-plate, "Message from Artanis on the Dark Templar Homeworld."

Argos was handed a electronic datapad as he stared through the window within the Templar Archives on Pandora, gingerly placing the datapad in his leg-armor's pocket, he knew there was time to view it later. He sorely missed his homeworld's beauty, similar to Pandoras but this world was more alien and had more vibrant colors in the skies.

Emperor Mengsk dispatched four colony-ships from the various factions of the Empire, one from the Umojan Protectorate, one from the Empire itself, and two from the Kel-Morian Combine.

They were to arrive at Zerus in 10 days and there was plenty of time to slack-off on the ship. There were saloons, market-places, and of-course, living quarters within the colony-ships to keep the colonists and miners from getting bored and reckless.

The yellow sun began its descent below the horizon, the skies filled with purple, red, green, and aqua, reflecting it upon the oceans nearby the base. Argos walked through the pathway from the Templar Archives to the Nexus, reading the reports sent by Artanis at the new home of all the Protoss, Shakuras, the Dark Templar homeworld.

The report was bad, the Zerg have entered the Gateway before the survivors of Aiur have and the Dark Templar are doing what they could to fend them off. It has been some time since Argos was with his long and best friend Artanis, although it was not relavent to the tasks at hand, friendship is what helped bond plans for warfare sometimes and Argos put it to good use. Decades ago, Argos recieved the highest of awards and recognitions for his studies in the various Protoss knowledges and became a High Templar even before Artanis became Praetor of Defense. They both were opposites, Argos of Knowledge, Artanis of Battle, two opposites that if joined forces would be a force to be reckoned with. Just as Argos was finished reading the report, a Psionic Message swept across the entire base, startling everyone. "Prepare yourselves! The Zerg are sighted and are coming towards us!" Argos raised his index-fingers and touched them to the sides of his head, focusing the psionic-energy to give him sight-beyond-normal sight. His eyes glowed a light green as his vision shifted from the base to view the incoming Zerg. The Photon Cannons were situated all about the base, and the Zerg were thundering through the desert opposite the ocean and the base itself. Viewing the small yet fierce horde of creatures, Argos concluded that this was more of a warning-swarm, a warning that the Zerg were on Pandora.

The Terran Wraith Fighters of the newly formed Lambda Squadron surrounded the Colony Ships as they approached the borders of the Empire. THeir mission was to guard the ships for a successful trip to Zerus, little did they know of the perils they faces, believing they were the best and the highest paid for doing this job, they were blind to acknowledge the territory they were bound to enter.