Author's Note: Here's the new update. Sorry it took so long, but like all modern day American teenagers, school get's in my way. Fucking educational system...anyway, here you go. As always, let me know what you thought, preferably in the form of a review. I'm not much good when it comes to reading minds. *Salute*

StarCraft: Brain Storm

Chapter 21: Baby Steps

Toji reached the entrance to the hidden Hardballs base and was met by Jim, who stood outside the doorway with his Impaler. "It's clear in there, right?" he asked the marine.

"Yeah, we've checked everywhere. If anything's left, it's fucking amazing at hide-and-go-seek," Jim replied, opening the door as he spoke.

Toji followed Jim through the tunnels, carefully stepping over dead bodies. "So what's this story possibility you talked about?" he asked, wiping some rocky powder off of his duster.

"You'll see," Jim replied mysteriously as he continued on through the tunnel.

Toji stopped in the middle of the path, rubbing the back of his head nervously. He sat the camera he had hauled up the slope from the Dream down beside him. "Hey, Jim? Can I talk to you a sec?" he asked.

The massive CMC 300 armor in front of Toji stopped with an abrupt clang, before slowly turning and blinding him with light from the shoulder lamp. The reporter shielded his eyes, but still couldn't reduce the glare enough to see Jim's face.

"About what?" the marine asked, the sound of his voice indicating the presence of a cigarette in his mouth.

"About pulling me out of story zones," Toji said.

Jim's response was immediate. "Fucking hell," he groaned, "Can we just be done with this?"

"Damnit, Jim, that's what I'm trying to do! Give me a fucking chance to talk before cutting me off!" Toji stopped himself, taking a deep breath before continuing. Jim's light still beat down on him, but he pressed on. "Okay, look, you're right. You hear that you stubborn asshole? You're right!"

Jim's light vanished, and Toji's vision changed from searing white to a greenish blue sunspot on his retina. "Come again?" Jim asked, "Did I hear correctly? Or was I imagining things with my amazingly stubborn mind? It sounded like you said I'm right to pull you out of high risk areas."

Toji sighed. "Yeah, you heard right," he admitted, then added, "But it would be nice if you could let me know it's time to go before picking me up and running off to the dropship."

"And then you'll quit bitching?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, I'll quit bitching."

Jim looked hard at the reporter for a minute, seeming to test the validity of his statement. Finally, he extended his armored hand. "Shake on it," he said, more a statement than a request.

Toji reached out against his better judgement and pressed flesh to steel. The two men shook, then Jim turned and continued down the tunnel.

"Jefferies is waiting," the marine Major said, "He's ready to film when you get there."

"Got it," Toji said, picking up the camera and following Jim.

There was a long way to go before they could call each other friends, but Toji allowed himself a small smile at the thought that they had progressed even this far. If anything, at least he wouldn't get knocked out and punched as often.

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"We're safely in warp space," the Tarsonis' helmsman reported, turning in his seat to face Bill.

The Confederate Colonel looked up from one of two tactics tables on the capital ship's bridge to see that each crewmember in the room was looking to him, waiting for him to say something. Bill carefully looked each member in the eyes, checking each of them. All of them had the same look of worry adorning their faces.

Bill knew why, he could sympathize, even. Hackdirt had been their home since the fall of the Confederacy infrastructure all those years ago. And now, to abandon it, along with losing the rest of the ships in their Squadron, things looked kind of dark.

"Yeah, I know what you're all thinking," he said at last, "But don't worry. We've lost homes before, each of us. Am I right? This is just one more loss."

Then, seeing the faces darken, he continued. "However, this will be our final loss. From now on, we're on the offensive. I know that we've only got one ship, but it is a hell of a ship. With the finest crew a commanding officer could ever want. We're a bit understaffed, but so fucking what? We'll all have to pull a little more weight, sure, but we're used to that, right? I assure all of you, each and every one of you, that you will live to see the Kel-Morian Combine perish beneath the boots of those it has come to terrorize."

Bill didn't have to look especially close to see that his words had sent shivers up spines. If there was one thing he was good at it was getting people fired up. As he turned and strode from the bridge, the crew getting to work behind him, he realized that the only flaw in his plan was actually having to go through with it.

He would need more men, more ships, more ammunition, more able officers, more water, more food, and most importantly a workable plan for how he was actually supposed to bring down an enemy ten times bigger than he was. Suddenly it seemed a more ominous and insurmountable task than it had a few short seconds before.

"Nice one, Billy boy," he mumbled to himself as he walked, "Now what're you gonna do?"

"Talking to yourself?" a voice asked.

Bill looked to his right and saw Ayanami standing at the entrance to the medical bay. Her suit was off, and with nothing on her upper body but a light blue tank top, Bill had an unobstructed view of her robotic arm.

"Well, I just made a crazy promise that I can't keep to about twenty officers who'll have spread it all over the ship in a matter of hours," he said, "So, at this point, talking to myself is totally acceptable."

"What'd you tell them?" Ayanami asked.

Bill shook his head. "That we can beat the Combine."

Ayanami smiled. "Sounds like fun," she said, "Who are we working with?"

"No one as of yet," he said, slightly embarrassed about the lack of allies, "But I'm sure we'll find some."

"Yeah, well if we could get in touch with my teammates, we'd at least have the media on our side," the blue-haired medic scoffed, "I wonder what the fuck they could be doing."