The blinking lights of the great battleship Panacea glowed in the blackness of space
Prologue

Seventeen years after the events of Brood Wars

The blinking lights of the great battleship Panacea glowed in the blackness of space. The sound of Beethoven flowed softly within the spacious quarters of the Admiral. A fair skinned hand reached out to cradle within its grasp a thin crystal glass, the color of red wine within it. The man drew it to his lips then stopped, and instead tilted his head to smell the aroma of the spirits. He smiled faintly, apparently contented with the fragrance the drink gave off. He sipped at it and closed his eyes, relishing the taste of the aged liquor. "Piquant enough." He mumbled, and turned around to face another person in the room. "What do you think Alric?"

His friend tasted his own portion of the drink and after a moment shook his head. "I am not enough a connoisseur of wine to be able to judge this Sir Marcus." Alric smiled. "Although to the best of my taste buds ability, I should say this batch of Vodka is quite exquisite. Where did you get this?" Marcus turned around and faced the darkness of space outside the thin pane of Plexiglas. "From the Galadium sector." Alric's eyes widened in surprise for a moment and he slowly stood up and placed his Admiral's cap on his head.

"The Galadium sector? How interesting. And how does that explain this?" Holding his glass of Vodka up to the window, the reflection of it clear to both. Marcus faced his friend as spoke. "A few days ago, a scout party of six Blackwing stealth fighters encountered a ship warping into the edges of Galladium space. The ship was identified as a derelict Behemoth Mark-Four battlecruiser. You know that our ships of that type were phased out over a decade ago and mothballed." He walked over to his desk and opened up a small control panel. Alric followed when Marcus motioned him over to stand beside him behind his desk.

Pressing a few keys on the board, a projector popped out and flashed into life. A projection flashed into existence the image of a badly mauled ship its focus. A pair of Blackwings uncloaked and sparkled into visibility, cruising towards the battlecruiser. As Marcus continued, another pair of fighters flashed into view and shadowed the first pair of stealth fighters. "The two flights immediately called for backup despite the obvious harmlessness of the devastated space craft. Soon one of my cruisers, the Nostrum, arrived on scene about an hour after." He pressed a button and the recording done by one of the outlying Blackwings sped up. A few seconds later the projection showed the flash of a warp in, and the shape of the Nostrum came into view. He skipped a few more frames, stopping and playing it at normal speed when a pair of fighters and a trio of dropships exited the bays of the cruiser, heading towards the abandoned craft.

"The ship's Captain, Donovan Ricarte, was smart enough to board and order his men to retrieve all the remaining data on-board. His Intel department on the cruiser managed to analyze what remained of the Behemoth cruiser's main computer core." He tapped another set of keys and a new window popped into sight. It showed an audio only recording of what seemed to be the ship's last moments. Alric nodded, and Marcus began the playback.

"—are making a series of jumps, final destination at Dun Sadan starbase—" The voice crackled and came back alive again. "—under heavy attack! Have over a dozen wings of Zerg lifeforms swarming over us, task force is down to three capital ships and—" The voice faded again. "—only surviving craft, making blind warp to star coordinates 202.11.27.15! Will try to reestablish conta—" At that the recording abruptly cut off. Alric looked slightly disturbed at this. Marcus continued on though, apparently unaffected by the recording. "We also managed to determine that as the ship warped into the system, that its hull was finally breached completely as it entered warp space. Its structure and warp drives survived long enough to get to the coordinates input previously, which so happens to be the Galladium system's star."

Alric nodded, mulling over the questions in his head. Marcus spoke after a few more moments. "As we can see, the Zerg are expanding quite rapidly, even for their species, and at this point have control of over thirty prominent star systems, and colonies and footholds in over a hundred more major planets. At this rate of growth, they will be too massive for the Terrans in the coreward regions to combat effectively, even if some of those governments allied with the Protoss remnant." A star graph appeared, replacing the recording screen. The galaxy was now mostly a shade of red, signifying the Zerg occupied area. Of the rest, roughly half of that was in white, the color representing Terran space, excluding the UED, and a third was mostly blue, signifying Protoss space. The last part was a mix of white, blue, and red, the now contested regions where the war was being fought.

Marcus tapped a few more keys, and the graph changed once again, zooming out to include a new region of space, represented by the color green. "And this is our region of control, spanning over twenty large star systems, each fully colonized and modernized, and with bases and colonies on fifty six other planetary systems, with our control in those areas gradually growing." Alric took another sip at his glass, and looked at Marcus. "What are you implying my friend?" Marcus' eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he shook his head. "I do not need to elaborate further Admiral, you know very well what I am intimating at. You are more than intelligent enough to know what I am thinking."

Alric breathed in deeply and exhaled. He slowly put his glass down and fixed his crisp blue-gray uniform. He sighed and shook his head lightly. Marcus watched his old friend carefully. The admiral then fixed his cap again and slowly strode towards the door leading to the passageway outside. Marcus spoke before his friend exited. "I've taken the liberty of giving a full analysis on the date we have recovered to your Executive Officer. Please, take the time to study it, and think upon it before we need to act because of any further tragedy."

Alric turned to look at the Commodore. "My friend, you need not worry about that. Your pertinacity to convince our government to act against the Zerg has borne fruit. Use it well, I do not wish to see the Panacea a derelict in space like the UED ship Aleksander." With the he tossed a small disc onto the couch by the door, and left, the hiss of the doorway sliding shut. Marcus closed down the projector and quickly hurried over to pick up and study the item his companion left him.

"Red Eyes Only" it read on the cover. Hiding his shock at receiving the piece of article, he walked over briskly to his desk and sat down on his armchair, and opened the small black disc. It split open to reveal a small square microchip, barely the size of one of his little finger's fingernail. Somewhat apprehensively, he plucked it out and managed to insert it into his console panel without dropping it. The console flashed into life, and as expected, it requested for a retinal and handprint scan. The appropriate scanners popped out and he submitted himself to the scrutiny of the instruments.

With a soft ping, the program continued on, satisfied with his meeting the required specifications. Belatedly, he pushed a button to seal shut his door, and activated a small bubble field around him to shield him from any spy equipment that may have found its way into his room. Within moments, the self-running program finished uploading the information, and the chip was ejected from the slot. As he reached forward to retrieve and dispose of it, a holovideo began to play from the projector that just came to life.

He dropped the chip into the disposal bin, and it was immediately vaporized. That done he faced the loading recording. The bits coalesced to for the dark black military suit of a man. The uniform was of standard cut, but the third extra stripe that graced the man's shoulder showed him to have the rank of a Fleet Admiral. What has Alric brought me? The commodore mused, watching the unknown man's back as the figure pressed a series of keys on some sort of pad.

The man abruptly straightened and turned around to face the partly startled Marcus. What? This is Admiral Verdan Galle, why is he speaking to me? The man brushed an unseen piece of lint from his immaculately stainless suit before looking up to speak to him. "Commodore Marcus Brightonn, commander of the 59th Fleet of the Velius Protectorate, respond to this call of duty." Typical formal dispatch of new orders. "As of 1845 hours, Velius Central Time, a small force of Zerg scouts appeared on the edge of the Gradius star system. The small force of approximately sixty Mutalisk type life forms and roughly four Overlord life forms were completely annihilated by two squadrons of our Blackwing squadrons. We sustained casualties limited to the damage of our ships, and no loss of life."

Galle paused before proceeding. "Three hours after that, another force of Zerg life form appeared in greater numbers, attempting to land a cerebrate and a hatchery life form on one of our planetary systems. Again they were repulsed by the planet's defense forces with minimal losses." Galled glanced down at something. "Since we have now been finally discovered by the Zerg, and probably by our Terran brethren, the Protectorate has chosen you to have the honor to lead the first of our military forces into Zerg infested space." Galle's hand reached down to press something and looked up again.

"This is no joy ride Commodore. Even if our Terran brothers nearer the core have managed to fight the Zerg with some successes equipped with older technology, it will not be easy for us to win this war." He straightened up. "The might of our government, its people, and its military is undeniable, but nevertheless, we are prepared to face the worst. Do not show any sympathy towards these mutations of life. Annihilate them, spare not a single gun to turn against them." Galle's eyes blazed with the fire of war. "For us, for all humanity, and for all civilized life in the galaxy, we must turn the tide now!" He spoke, punctuating the last word with his pointing finger.

The man recomposed himself before continuing. "For the duration of this assignment, you have been appointed Supreme Commander of the Expeditionary Fleet, and all other forces to follow you unless ordered otherwise by an order direct from Fleet Command. For the duration of this campaign, your command shall include the 18th Velius Starfleet, the 27th Galladium Starfleet, the 101st Phalla Starfleet, and the 90th and 3rd Jonodan Starfleets. As well as your own original commands. " Galle pressed another set of keys on his panel, just below the view of the recording screen.

"Lastly, the 9th Elite Guard has been consigned to you to do with as you wish. Unlike the rest, the command of this one is permanent, regardless of whatever may happen. Treat it as you would your 59th." Galle gave him a grim smile. "Good luck Fleet Admiral Marcus Brightonn. Let us hope you keep that rank for a long time. He chuckled lightly as he reached to end the recording. "If you're lucky, you may keep that rank permanently."

As the recording faded from sight, Marcus leaned back on his seat. Fleet Admiral? Me? That's higher than even Alric! He shook his head in near disbelief. He contemplated it and after a moment of thought, got up and unlocked his room. He retreived his cap and called in his second-in-command. Alric Justin Denoshin, his old friend's second son. Marcus was never one to dally around much, and as soon as Justin arrived he and the officer began to talk.

And plan.