Well, here we go again. Honestly, I didn't think that I would be back anytime soon. But I guess the urge to write something has become far too powerful during the last couple of months. So yeah, after giving it much thought I have decided to write something again. Nothing big, though. I hope. What you read here is, in a nutshell, a sequel to my other story "Putting the Pieces back together". While I do not intend to write another story with over one million words, I feel like there's some juice left in the tank, some ideas that I want to turn into reality. This story takes place after the end of "Putting the Pieces back together". That's all you need to know. I hope the story will put a smile on a few faces.

Also, I do not intend to post a chapter every day or every three days like I did in the old days. Prepare for slow progress.

Chapter 1

Knock Knock

Dust. It was everywhere. Not just on the ground, but also on the walls. It was not thin but had formed a massive crust. Beneath it, cold metal continued to oxidize. This place had been abandoned ages ago and all you could hear was eternal silence. The corridors were dark and endless. It was like a labyrinth from a dark tale, one where the monster would lurk in the shadows, waiting for someone to be foolish enough to enter its realm.

Only that in this place the shadows were everywhere.

It was obvious to anyone who would take a closer look who had created this place in the first place. It wasn't natural. It hadn't even been created on this remote planet. No, it had ended up here by accident. Or maybe not?

It was hard to tell.

A riddle.

One that was worth to be investigated.

What was not a riddle was the nature and origin of this place. The architecture was simple and sturdy. Some would probably call it "crude", yet it had survived the centuries so far. It was a testimony to the skills of its builders. Or, to be more precise, it's engineers.

It wasn't Protoss. Not because it was too dirty for that but...yeah, that too. The rust on the bulkheads was proof enough that this place hadn't been created by the Firstborn. And it was a lot smaller than what Protoss were used to. The corridors were barely big enough for even one Protoss to stand upright, let alone a whole bunch of them. No, this place wasn't created by Protoss.

It wasn't created by Zerg either. It wasn't alive enough for that. There were no organic structures. This thing hadn't been grown, it had been built.

This left only one species...

Thunk...

They say that whatever humans build isn't meant to last. That time will wither away everything this short-lived species can create. Kinda harsh if you think of it. Some things humans build are meant to last. For centuries. For millennia. The Protoss weren't the only to create miracles that could withstand time. The ancient temples of the Greeks are a proof of that. Even though they have become ruins by now, you can still tell what they once had been.

Perhaps the Protoss had created the most sparkling temples but that didn't mean that humans were completely incompetent.

Only most of the time...

However, temples were one thing. Temples were meant to last centuries, maybe even longer. Other things weren't meant to do that, tools for example. You can only use a hammer so many times until it breaks. And when it does, it loses its purpose. Then again, if you don't use a hammer, it won't break and stay intact for as long as it takes for the metal or wood or plastic or whatever it is made of to rust or rot away.

It's actually somewhat sad if you think about it. It's the nature of a tool to be used, even if that means that it will break one day. But the other option is that it will just be turned into a useless piece of junk.

Thunk...

Now people probably won't feel bad for a hammer. If it breaks, or if it gets lost, you usually get a new one. Not many folks have a "favorite hammer". Maybe some craftsmen, but that's probably it. However, there are objects that cause people to think of them as something bigger than just a piece of tech or a tool to be used. Like the already mentioned temples. They usually stood for something, a deity or an idea. Some other things were less "spiritual".

Like ships.

Ships?

Yes, ships.

Ships were more than just a name. Some of them had become legends in their own regard. Names like Enterprise, Ark Royal, Rebel Heart or the Spear of Adun...to the people who had served on them they hadn't been just mere pieces of tech. They had been homes. And stallions they had used to ride into battle. Poetic, right?

But not just the people who had served on these vessels had been inspired by their feats. Legends have to start somewhere, and the name of certain ships had turned them into something more than just a mere ship. It had turned them into myths.

Thunk!

But even if a ship was a legend, it was also a tool. And if you use that tool, it will reach the end of its life eventually. Sometimes it will just be phased out of service and replaced by something newer. Other times it would meet its destiny in glorious battle, which would only make the legend even bigger.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Sometimes, if you put a tool away and forget about it, something curious happens. Under the right circumstances, it won't rot away. A lot of things have to come together for that to work. The right place, the right time. The lack of oxygen usually helps too.

THUNK!

There was oxygen in this place. The moment a bright flame appeared as it broke through the thick steel of a bulkhead, hot sparks filled the dust-filled corridor. The blowtorch was moving slowly. It was as if whoever was on the other side was careful not to be too hasty. Was it because this place was ancient? Or because that bulkhead was made out of military-grade steel? Even after all this time, the thick metal was so hard that it proved to be an excellent match for that blowtorch.

"...out..." a male voice could be heard.

The blowtorch was making slow progress, but it was progress nonetheless. Hot sparks landed on the dusty ground and threw it into the air. In fact, there was so much dust that it clouded the atmosphere inside the corridor.

"...areful!"

The flame stopped and moved in another direction. Soon it was clear that someone was trying to create an entrance.

"...ake it big!" a new voice suddenly spoke up. "...needs to fit inside too!" It belonged to a woman.

"...imme a break, I'm doin' my best over here!" another voice growled. Just like the first voice it too belonged to a man.

"...ease, be careful! This isn't one of your...important-"

"...ip it or I might..." the two men seemed to argue. The sparks continued to fly as the blowtorch was doing its thing. Minutes passed and when the tool finally reached the point where it had started, the bright light faded and silence returned. Just not for long...

"...so, what now?" the female voice asked. "Are we just gonna stand here and wait until nightfall?"

"No. We are just waiting until the edges cool off." the second male voice replied. Whoever that man was, he sounded annoyed.

"Perhaps we should stop here for today. I think it's a good moment to return to the base camp and-" the first man mused. He tried to sound calm but there was a lot of anxiety in his voice.

"Gosh, no!" the other man shot back. "First you keep pestering me for days that we should use this place as the entry point, make me cut through endless numbers of bulkheads, and now you tell me to quit it and call it a day? No friggin' way, Prof! Now stay back, I'm about to get reckless!"

"What? No. No! Marshal, don't do that, this is an archaeological site and-"

THUNK!

One loud kick later the metal-plate came loose and fell down. It only fell a few meters until it landed on the dusty ground. Bright sunlight fell inside but was blocked out almost immediately by all the particles in the stale air. For quite some time nothing happened. Not until some shadows from outside partially blocked the light.

"This...this is it." the first man whispered in awe.

"Looks pretty dirty if you ask me." the woman muttered.

"Can't see shit." the second man growled.

"This is magnificent. Magnificent!" the first man explained. "Look at it! Those bulkheads! There is no doubt! Pre-Imperial age, the design is clearly from the time of the Confederacy!"

"I repeat my initial statement..." Number 2 sighed. "I can't see shit."

"Looks pretty dusty down there." the woman mused. "I think I'm developing a ruin-dust allergy just by looking at it."

"Why is there so much dust anyway?" the second man wanted to know. "Wasn't this thing supposed to be abandoned? Hey, we searched days for an entry-point. Does this mean that there was a goddamn open door or hatch we missed?"

"I'm pretty certain that we didn't miss anything." the first man tried to ease the tension. "The dust must be from inside the derelict. Perhaps we should wait a while until it has settled."

"Waste even more time waiting?" number two groaned. "I'm not getting younger over here, you know! And unlike you eggheads, I don't enjoy being out here and do this stuff."

"Marshal, please..." the first man tried to reason with his hotheaded colleague. "...I understand that this isn't exactly your area of expertise. But we wouldn't have come this far without your help and-" That's when the woman interjected.

"You're doing this all wrong, Professor!" she cheered. "Hey, Marshal, wanna' call the Magistrate and tell her that you don't want to be around us eggheads?"

There was a long moment of silence and when the Marshal finally spoke up again, you could hear the frustration in his voice.

"...no. No, it's fine. Forget that I said anything." the Marshal sighed. "Well, at least now we know that we didn't dig this hole for nothing. Looks like there's more down there than just a bulkhead."

"Scans indicate that the structure beneath the rubble is extensive." a new voice suddenly spoke up. It sounded strange, almost blurred. It belonged to a woman...or at least something that qualified as female. "It seems that it's in good shape too. Better than we hoped."

"Well, guess we finally hit the jackpot, people!" the first woman cheered.

"Perhaps we should wait with the celebrations until we know more." the Professor muttered. "I understand your optimism, and your enthusiasm is refreshing. But we still have to be careful and plan the next step in order to-"

"I wonder if there are skeletons down there." the woman suddenly mused and interrupted the Professor.

"I... don't think so." the Professor replied.

"You sure 'bout that?" she wanted to know. "It would be awesome if there were skeletons down there! Wouldn't that make us grave-robbers?"

"I think you're overthinking things." the Marshal growled. "Also: Skeletons mean dead people. You want to find dead people?"

"I didn't say human skeletons." the woman explained. "I totally want a Hydralisk's skull. You know, for my aunt. She collects stuff like that."

"What's a Hydralisk?" the Marshal asked.

"It was a Zerg. Became extinct ages ago." the woman explained. "You know, when the Swarm became peaceful and all they got rid of a lot of strains. No one has seen a living Hydralisk in centuries."

"And how would you know anything about these...Hydralisks?" the Marshal wanted to know.

"My aunt is an expert on Zerg. Teaches about them at the university."

"Must be some aunt..."

"Yup!" the woman chuckled. "Anyway, what's the plan? Are we gonna stand up here and stand into that whole until we turn into dust as well?"

"Of course not!" the Professor spoke out. "But first we have to gather the rest of the team and secure this location. After that, we should take samples and see if the atmosphere inside the derelict is harmless. Maybe we should send the samples to a nearby laboratory and-"

"You do know that there are no laboratories on this world, right?" the Marshal interjected.

"...well, we should take it slow. That's what I'm trying to say. And-"

"I say we go inside!" the woman suddenly said. There was an awkward moment of silence until the Professor spoke up again.

"I... don't think that this would be a wise move. We should-"

"I vote for Sirella to go down there first!" the woman simply continued as if she wasn't even listening to the Professor.

"Wh-what?!" the strangely blurred female voice suddenly stuttered. "Why me? What did I do to be sent into that dark hole?!"

"You got no mouth. And no nose." the woman explained. "No offense, but there is a lot of dust down there! Also, you are bigger than anyone else. If there's something down there, it will think twice before it will go up against a Protoss."

"I'm not a warrior!" the female Protoss whined. "I don't want to go down there!"

"Aw, come on, big girl!" the woman replied. "I know you can do it! I got your back, I promise!"

"I don't know, Paula..." Sirella mumbled. "...I didn't even want to come out here. You just talked me into it!"

"I sure did!" the woman called Paula gloated. "Come on, it's an adventure! Everyone loves adventures!"

"Well, I don't love adventures." Sirella replied. "Especially adventures that involve dark caves and mysterious structures."

"Eh, so much for plan A." Paula sighed. "Say, Marshal, do you want to take point on thi-"

"Leave me out of this." the Marshal interrupted her. "I don't even want to be out here. I'm just here because you somehow managed to convince the Magistrate to breathe down my neck and make me help you find this thing. No one said anything about entering it."

"It's a derelict! Who doesn't want to enter it?" Paula wanted to know.

"Me." the Marshal and Sirella answered immediately.

"Aw, you two are party-poopers. Hey, Professor, want to check it out? Be the first person to set foot inside this thing? History will remember your name forever!" Paula tried to convince the other man.

"I don't know..." he mumbled. "...I think we should be very careful about this, Paula. We don't know how stable this thing is. Besides, the rest of the team is still waiting at the camp. We should inform them first. There are guidelines for archaeological work. Rules. We should abide by them."

"Come on, what could it hurt to take a quick peek?" Paula wanted to know. "I'm pretty sure that we find all sorts of awesome stuff down there!"

"Wait a second, I just remembered something..." the Marshal suddenly interjected. "...didn't they use nuclear weapons back then as well? And weren't those ships powered by fusion cores? Uhm...did someone actually bother to check if there's any radiation coming out of that thing?"

"Aw, quit 'yer bitchin'." Paula replied. "There is no radiation, I checked it out."

"And how did you do that? I never saw you use a scanning device. Ever. Come to think of it, what is it you're doing out here anyway? Aside from making stupid jokes?" the Marshal wanted to know.

"Hey, you should be glad to have me around!" Paula replied. "Also, I know that there's no radiation inside. Female intuition and stuff."

There was another awkward moment of silence. And then...

"That's it, I'm going back to the base-camp." the Marshal growled. "Do what you like, I'll call it a day."

"That sounds like a reasonable plan. I think I will follow the Marshal." Sirella announced, much to the dismay of Paula.

"H-hey! Sirella! Wait, aren't you supposed to back me up here?!" Paula protested. But the next thing you heard were the heavy footsteps of a being that was a lot bigger than a human.

"Professor!" Paula whined. "Just a quick peek inside! We can just take a look and that-"

"I'm sorry." the Professor replied. "But I think we should stop for today. Don't worry, we will continue tomorrow. This derelict has been here for centuries. I'm sure it will still be here by tomorrow." And then the Professor too walked away. The woman remained behind.

"Uh...sorry, people. Seems like this will take a bit longer than I thought it would." she whispered to herself. And then you could hear the voice of the Marshal in the distance once more.

"Yo! Kerrigan! You comin' or what?!"

"The Professor is back!" someone yelled when the unlikely group of four returned to the base-camp. Though "base-camp" was a rather generous term for those four big tents and a handful of vehicles they had brought along for the trip. Nevertheless, the group of young students hurried over to the small group and started to swarm the Professor and ask all sorts of questions.

"Did you find something?"

"...managed to get inside?"

"...we found some more relics south of here."

"...there's something you need to see!"

"...how did it go?"

"Professor Allagan! We got word from the city! They told us that they are going to send more supplies by tomorrow." someone mentioned and Professor Jerome Allagan sighed when he heard that.

"Oh, those are indeed good news." the thin man sighed and beat some of the dust from his dirty pants. "That saves us a lot of trouble. Did Franklin tell you when he will be back?" The young man who had told the Professor about this development just shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but he couldn't give us any details."

"Well, so be it." Allagan mused. "We just have to plan our schedule according to his arrival."

"That means we might lose a whole day!" Paula whined.

"Girl, if your colleague wouldn't bring those supplies tomorrow then you would lose an entire week. Be grateful with what you got." the tall man next to her growled. He looked very different from the other people. The Professor and his students looked like...

...well, let's just say that they looked like people that weren't used to work in the field. That other man, however? He looked as if he was used to spending most of his life outside. Even though he wasn't that old, his face already carried more wrinkles than people that spend their lives in urban areas. It gave him a look of seniority. The badge on his shoulder and the gun holstered to his upper leg were the only signs for people to assume that he was actually a marshal.

He wasn't the only one who didn't look like a piece of cheese, though. Behind him was the tall figure of a Protoss. This one, a female of her species, seemed to be rather uncomfortable with having so many small people around her. She looked down at the last member of the group as if she was looking for advice or anyone to tell her what to do next.

"Can I take a break now?" the Protoss whined and the young woman next to her looked up and frowned.

"Sure. Why do you ask me?"

"Because you dragged me out here." Sirella moaned. "I never wanted to come out here! I've never been so far away from home before! You drag me to the most insane places, Paula!" the Protoss complained.

"Aw, quit being such a big baby." her friend replied. "You've been studying too hard anyway. It's like your grandpa said: Fresh air and a nice tan will do you good!"

"My grandpa said no such thing." Sirella replied. "And Protoss don't get a tan."

"Details, details." Paula shot back. "The point is..." And then there was a long moment of silence.

"Yes?" Sirella asked after a while.

"...I think I forgot what the point was. Uh...weird." Paula mused and looked up at the sky. "Uh, look! That cloud looks like a kriecher!"

"What's a kriecher?" the Marshal asked and Sirella shook her head.

"Trust me, you don't want to know. Please excuse me, I think I want to be alone for a while and lament my fate." And with that, the huge Protoss simply stomped away. The students made sure to give her enough room. Not because they were afraid of her. Not many people could claim that they had ever met a living Protoss, even in this time and age. But Sirella was hardly what you would call a "normal" Protoss. If there was such a thing in the first place.

Born on Korhal as the child of diplomats, she had grown up among humans. As a result, her mind was a lot less disciplined than that of a warrior that had fought during the Great War. In fact, Sirella was probably a lot more human than she would ever like to admit, at least when it came to the way she acted.

"Well, take care, big girl!" Paula shouted after her friend. "And whatever you do, don't try to eat some of the local food! Or any food! Since you don't have a mouth and all that stuff." Sirella didn't comment on that. Professor Allagan and the students walked away as well, busy talking about their findings and other stuff that was actually pretty damn boring.

Soon Paula was all alone. Except for...

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a weird woman?" the Marshal mused. Since he was neither a scientist nor a frustrated Protoss, he had nowhere else to go either.

"Plenty of times actually." Paula mused and looked back at the cloud above them. "And that cloud does look like kriecher."

"Whatever. I'm gonna grab me something to eat now." the Marshal declared and turned away. With no one else to talk to, Paula continued to stare at the sky and compare it to the other skies she had seen so far. At one point it had turned into some sort of hobby. The sky of this world had a beautiful blue thanks to all the oxygen in the atmosphere. This planet was called...

"Hey, Marshal, what's the name of this world again?!" Paula screamed into the man's general direction when she realized that she had totally forgotten the name of this place. The Marshal stopped when he heard that and turned around.

"For crying out loud! I swear, Kerrigan, your brain is made out of mush!" he barked. "Flemmington! We are on the world called Flemmington!"

"Oh, right!" Paula mused. "Flemmington. I knew it was something with a C in it." The frustrated look on the Marshal's face made it clear that they had talked about this topic a couple of times before. The moment he turned around, he heard her voice once more.

"Oh, and just to be certain, Marshal...what's your name again?" However, this time he didn't answer that question. He just stomped away and muttered something about "damn bird-brain".

"Hey! That's not nice!" Paula yelled after him. "Sirella has a beautiful and big brain! Far bigger than that of any bird!"

"I WASN'T TALKIN' ABOUT SIRELLA!" the Marshal screamed when he was finally out of sight. A goofy smile appeared on Paula's face when he was finally gone. Of course she knew the name of the Marshal. She liked to toy with people. Dan Bowski. That was his name.

However, she had indeed forgotten the name of the world they currently were on. It was a weird habit of hers. Paula remembered almost every name that she had ever heard. But planets? Pfff, who cared about that. She was glad if she didn't mix up Char with Aiur.

With no one else to annoy, Paula decided to call it a day as well. It wasn't her choice, not really. But even she knew when she was defeated. And she didn't want to cause any chaos. Well... any more chaos than she had already caused. Causing chaos was one of her most favorite unintentional things to do. Or so people liked to claim.

"Well..." Paula mumbled after a while. "...this is getting boring. Let's set something on fire!"

Flemmington was a world on the outer edge of the Empire's territory. Someone once said that "you can't see the ass of the galaxy from here, but you sure can smell it!". Then again, that's what probably everyone said about a world on the fringe. The world itself was rather unspectacular. Roughly Earth-sized, though a bit bigger, it also had a somewhat higher density, which meant that the gravity was a bit higher as well. Not much, though. Just enough to make you realize that something was off.

The world was pretty dry with no real oceans. At least not as big as on Earth or Aiur. There was water, though. Especially the northern hemisphere was covered with thousands of majestic lakes, some of them among the biggest people had ever seen. It didn't change the fact that most of the planet's surface was dry steppe or desert. A few rivers crisscrossed the landscape but perhaps it didn't come as a surprise that most agricultural products had to be imported.

In a way, this place was not unlike Mar Sara.

The old Mar Sara, before it had become one of the richest trading-hubs in the entire Empire.

Paula had only seen that place once, though she didn't really like to think about that specific moment. She looked up at the sky and sighed. The blue heaven was gone, now it was dark and the stars were sparkling like endless numbers of diamonds. Even though this place was far away from the worlds she knew, Paula still recognized a few stars. A smile appeared on her face when she realized that they were closer to Aiur than to Korhal. She hadn't checked the star charts, but right now she wasn't even certain that Flemmington was still within the Koprulu-Sector.

Then again, that name had lost its meaning a long time ago.

The young woman squinted her eyes and searched for a specific object in the night sky. Not a star, but something far more magnificent. But after a while Paula gave up. It was useless, the place she was looking for was simply too far away.

"I wonder how they're doing..." she whispered and shivered when she thought about her family. She hadn't told them about her little idea. They would have told her to not do it, to give it a rest. Good thing that she hadn't listened to them. Paula had told no one about her plan. Well, no one except her uncle. And even he didn't know any details.

"...get to bed early, tomorrow will be a busy day!" the voice of the Professor echoed over to her from the base-camp. It put a smile on her face.

"Heh, someone will be in for one hell of a surprise." she mumbled to herself. While setting the records straight wasn't her reason for coming here, it sure wouldn't hurt to do something like that. Another shiver ran down her spine, this time because of the cold. Paula moved closer to the fire and stretched her arms out. The heat of the campfire felt nice. She closed her eyes and started to hum a melody, one that her parents had sung to her so many times when she had been little.

"...hmm hmm...hmm hmm hmm hmmmm...leavin' on a jet plane. I don't know when I'll be back again..." she started to sing. It was getting cold outside and she could hear how the other students were preparing to crawl into their sleeping-bags in order to prepare for the night. Sirella was probably already sleeping as well. Paula's friend was not exactly someone who liked to stay up all night. So that meant that Paula would be able to enjoy some peace and quiet before-

"How the hell did you manage to make a fire?" Marshal Dan Bowski asked when he walked around a huge boulder that was between Paula's position and the base-camp. The young woman blinked a few times and looked up at the man. Damn, she had totally not noticed how he had approached her. Good thing that her mother wasn't around, she would have told her to be more careful.

"Whadda'ya mean?" Paula replied. "I can make a fire all on my own, you know. I'm a big girl!"

"You're a weird girl." Bowski corrected her, but then he walked over to her and sat down on the other side of the campfire. "Where did you get the firewood from? There aren't any trees around for hundreds of miles!"

"Heh, you just have to know where to look." Paula teased him and looked back up at the sky.

"The others are getting ready to sleep." Bowski told her. "Perhaps you should get some rest too."

"I'm fine." she replied. "Besides, Sirella snores. And she drools in her sleep."

"She's a Protoss. She has no mouth." the Marshal explained

"That you know of."

"You are the weirdest girl I have ever met, you know that?"

"I'm not a girl." Paula corrected him. "I'm a woman. Only my parents call me "girl". And you don't look like my Pa, so you don't have to call me "girl" all the time."

"You just called yourself a big girl. So...no."

"Heh, have it your way."

And then both of them fell silent. Neither Paula nor Bowski felt the urge to say anything. Paula noticed how he looked over to her a couple of times while she was studying the stars above them. There was no ill intent in his suspicion. And no romantic feeling. Sure, Paula was a beauty, there was no doubt about it. Her long, brown hair was lush and her face had a beautiful triangular shape. Her brown eyes and her full lips gave her something soft, something gentle. Was she attractive? Damn right she was. But Bowski didn't seem to care about that. He stared at her not because he felt attracted to her, but because she was a mystery to him. And that brought a smile to her face.

"What's so funny?" Bowski wanted to know.

"I just have to think about something." Paula replied and took a deep breath. "Say, Marshal...?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you...have you ever visited another world?"

"Yeah. A couple of times. Why? Is this your first trip to another world?"

"No. I've been to plenty of worlds before. It's just...have you ever noticed that there is always at least one star that you recognize?" Paula asked.

"...no. Not really." the Marshal replied truthfully, which caused Paula to groan on the inside, yet she managed to keep a straight face.

And after a while...

"Which worlds." Paula muttered.

"Say what?"

"Which worlds did you visit?" She lowered her gaze and looked Bowski straight into the eyes. For a moment it seemed as if Bowski would refuse to answer her question. But then...

"Kallico." the Marshall answered. "And Bryce."

"Never heard about those." Paula mused. "Nothing big and important? Korhal? Tyrandor? Ramelow?"

"Naaa, too big and fancy for a hillbilly like me." Bowski replied. "I would just feel like a fish out of water."

"So... you like to be out here. In nature." the young woman concluded.

"No, not necessarily." Bowski mumbled, which sparked Paula's interest.

"Uh, I smell an interesting story! Tell me!" she demanded.

"Like hell I will."

"Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellme-" Paula annoyed the Marshal.

"Has anyone ever told you that you can be pretty obnoxious?"

"...tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellme..."

"Perhaps some other time." Bowski sighed and got back up. He looked around and straightened himself. "I'm gonna walk the perimeter now. There isn't anything out here larger than a dust biter, so you shouldn't be in danger. Still, you should go back to the camp once you're done with...staring at the stars."

"What's a dust biter?" Paula asked.

"You know it when you see it. Just make sure that there's nothing in your sleeping bag. Their bite isn't deadly but it causes an itch that will drive you mad for weeks."

"Sounds lovely." the young woman mused.

"Sure. Whatever. Just make sure to not do anything stupid. We are still in the wilderness out here. This is where animals live. Humans are the unknown factor out here." Bowski explained.

"Whoa, that sounded deep."

"Nevermind. Good night, Kerrigan."

"Good night, Bowski."

And then she was finally alone. Again.

And once she was certain that no one was around...

"...all my bags are packed..."

"...I'm ready to go..."

"I'm standing here...outside your door..." Paula began to sing.

"I hate to wake you up to say goodbye..."

"But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn..."

"The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn..."

"Already I'm so lonesome I could die..."

And that's when a gentle smile appeared on her face.

"So kiss me and smile for me."

"Tell me that you'll wait for me."

"Hold me like you'll never let me go."

"'cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane."

"Dunno when I'll be back again."

"Oh babe, I hate to go..."

She continued to hum the melody until the song had run its course. And when she was finally done, she got back up and stretched her limbs. It was pretty cold by now and the fire was hardly able to keep her warm. Still, Paula didn't feel like going to sleep just yet. There was a certain kind of restlessness inside her chest. She was so close, so very close. Soon she would have all the things she needed. Except for one thing...

"Well..." she whispered. "...maybe I will find something that you will like." And then she looked up at the sky and smiled again. Yeah, she would definitely find something for all of them. That was the whole point of coming here, right? And she wouldn't leave this place empty handed.

When Paula turned around and walked towards the camp, the cold started to gnaw at her limbs almost immediately. She slung her arms around her chest and shivered. Behind her, the fire continued to flicker until she raised her hand and flicked with her fingers. The moment she did that, the campfire went out immediately.

She was ready. Yes, her family would be worried, but she was no little child anymore. She could do this. She wanted to do this. For herself. But also for them.

Or her name wouldn't be Paula Kerrigan!