The planet Char hung in space like an incinerated, discarded hunk of waste. The inhospitable surface could not support much life, and not many being of the space-faring races were willing to try. And yet, upon closer examination, it seemed as if the planet itself was alive, pulsating and squirming. The creep generated from numerous Zerg structures had spread itself across the entirety of the planet long ago. For a short time, after the Overmind died, the swarms that infested the planet turned on each other. Since then, the atmosphere almost always held a residual scent of decay.

Despite the condition of the planet, the being once known as Sarah Kerrigan made her way to the planet's primary Hive, where she kept her private chambers. She passed numerous drones and larvae as she entered the living structure. Any normal human-her former species-would have been disgusted at the mere sight of the Hive and its surrounding minions and structures. But now she led the Zerg on their quest for domination, so she was above such petty things. This was home. And she had quite a few distressing things to brood over.

Not long before, she had learned of the bizarre events on Umoja through a psionic message from her Cerebrate there. Fortunately, the Cerebrate had managed to hold open the unusual rift they had discovered. It communicated the tactic to her immediately upon contact. Since then she had been working on a method of opening new rifts at will. It was disturbing to discover that the rift led to Earth. Was it truly the Earth that the blasted UED called home? Or was it in fact an alternate? The latter seemed to be true from the news that her minions there had assimilated aspects of an odd mineral. She recalled no such mineral ever being mentioned as being found on the Earth that the Terran colonists were from.

While new abilities for the Zerg, even an entirely new class of warrior, was certainly good news, the idea of still more militant humans having access to this sector was very distressing. If she did not move quickly, it was possible, however remotely, that the humans could thwart her campaign. Perhaps it was time for her to take a more active role.

* * *

Had he not been sitting there, witnessing and taking part in the activities before him, Slavik would have hardly believed it. As it was, the council he sat on was incredible, nonetheless. He and a few of his top commanders sat alongside Alex Soth, and his Protoss friend Arathes. Surprising everyone knowledgable of such things, Arathes had identified him as the current leader of the Dark Templar. He had apparently remained secretly in the main Protoss society to find a way to once again merge the two factions. Other representatives of the Protoss Conclave were present, as well as the rest of the current leadership of the Dark Templar sect. Finally, Emperor Arcturus Mengsk and his entourage took their seats at the large round table. Mengsk's chair was more throne-like than anything else. Then again, the meeting was taking place on the Dominion capitol world of Korhal.

The large, mostly-stone room was lavishly decorated, yet Mengsk insisted that it was his "war room." He's no soldier, Slavik thought to himself, he's a politician. Alex chuckled lightly. Slavik glared at him, realizing the man had been reading his thoughts.

"Sorry. Bad habit. I tend to forget that most humans aren't psionic nowadays."

"Try to keep it in mind a bit better from now on."

"Gentlemen, please," the Terran Emperor spoke up, "Are we not here to discuss an alliance between all of our great armies?"

"Listen to me very carefully, Mengsk," Slavik rose, barely controlling his anger, "I am not one of your subjects, and I don't appreciate your attitude. I will not tolerate any political wastes of time. We are not here for diplomacy, we are here to decide how best to fight. This is the second time in the last year that the Brotherhood has been forced to seek outside help, but we do so only because it is absolutely necessary. I will not hesitate to kill you if you insist on coddling us like children."

"I have been briefed on your recent history, Anton, and I fully understand your predicament," Mengsk's voice took on a hard edge, "But as long as you are in my territory, you will treat me with the respect I deserve! I rule here."

"I serve Kane, no other."

"Yes, but as I hear it your precious Kane is dead." At this, Slavik's rose to his side, hands moving for their weapons.

"You know our recent history," the menace in Slavik's voice was practically palpable, "Then you also know that GDI, our last ally, has been all but wiped out. I could order your death and have it carried out so quickly, you would never even hear about the command. We will work together, with the Protoss, for now, but once this is done, we will seek vengeance for our treatment today. I will not forget this."

* * *

The meeting went on for several ours, punctuated by frequent outbursts of built tension between the Brotherhood and the Dominion. The biggest surprise came with the sudden entrance of a group of mutants. Claiming to be the only blood relative of their dead leader Tratos, the head of the group demanded to be included in the discussion. Slavik protested strongly, arguing that the shiners would have nothing to contribute to the overall war effort.

In the end, the representative from the Conclave spoke up and allowed them to stay. The Nod soldiers brooded from then on, angered at the inclusion of an old enemy in addition to their new rivals in the Dominion. Then again, Slavik had to wonder how the mutants had even reached Dominion space. How could they have opened a rift if they did not have the Chronosphere technology? With little progress made, all sides agreed to postpone the talks until a few days later.

At that point, Slavik and his men walked through a recently constructed city on their way to their temporary quarters. He was still a bit surprised to see the residual effects of the nuclear devastation the planet had suffered. Still, he was wary of Mengsk's forces. The man was obviously not entirely stable.

"Hey!" Alex shouted as he ran to catch up to the Nod troops. Slavik stopped and turned, waiting.

"What do you want?" he asked when the psionic man caught up.

"Just to talk. I thought maybe we could reach a better understanding than in there. So what's between you and those mutants, anyway?"

"Some of our forces killed the shiners' leader. Besides, they're expendable. They are merely the beginning of tiberium's true potential."

"Well aren't you nice," Alex deadpanned. His Protoss friends had always said his sense of humor was "intriguing". As if they knew what humor was in the first place, he laughed to himself.

"Unless you have something important to say, I have something important to take care of." Slavik was visibly irritated. Then again, when had he not been since Alex met him?

"What do you have in mind?"

Slavik turned to glare at him briefly. "Something has to be done about Mengsk. He's a fool, and is likely to cost us this war."

"A man doesn't become Emperor of an entire sector by being foolish," Alex pointed out.

"Perhaps, but he has become complacent in his rule, that much is clear. It is obvious your people were never any match for the Protoss or the Zerg, so he focused merely on attaining power over those he knew he could control. When faced with a proper opponent, his power will crumble very rapidly."

With that last statement, Anton Slavik left Alex alone in the streets as he continued off on his business.

* * *

Hesitantly, Etris, the mutant representative on Korhal approached the leader of the Dark Templar faction. Walking up behind the alien on the scarred streets of Korhal's largest city, the mutant entourage tried not to show their anxiety. "Excuse me," Etris started.

"Yes?" the deep voice spoke into his mind.

"I am Etris, current leader of the Forgotten of Earth. Well, the Earth not from your universe, that is."

"I am Arathes. I lead the Dark Templar. How may I assist you, my friend?"

"As we understand it from information we have gathered, the Zerg cerebrates, when killed, can be reincarnated?"

"This is sadly true. Destroying them can be a severely difficult task."

"But they also say that you Dark Templar can kill them permanently, preventing their return."

"This is also true. Why do you mention this?"

"We have learned the location of the cerebrate stationed on our Earth. I just received word that our people in the area have assembled a strike team and are prepared to attack. If you could loan us a few of your warriors, we could kill the thing and greatly weaken the Zerg forces on our world."

The tall, gray-skinned alien paused to think for several moments. Etris was prepared to make an argument to convince him, but held back, not wishing to rush or irritate him. Finally, Arathes nodded and looked directly at him.

"I will go myself, and bring my top warriors. We must free your world."

Etris sighed with relief. "Thank you so much, my friend. We are forever in you debt."

"There is one matter, though," the Protoss continued, "How are we to get to your Earth? The only ones with the technological ability to travel between our dimensions are the Brotherhood of Nod."

"While I did not mention this in the meeting, something odd has happened, which facilitated my decision to request your help. While we were scouting the area where the cerebrate was reported to be, a rift opened in front of us, and Zerg forces came through. We slipped by them and entered. For some reason we found ourselves on this world, and recognized the Nod infantry present, which is how we found out about the meeting. We believe the Zerg may have captured the original Chronosphere the blunts found and adapted it to fit with their abilities."

"If this is true, we are all in grave danger. We must move immediately to defeat the cerebrate. There is no time to waste. Is the rift still open?"

"I believe so."

"Good. Gather your people. We must go now."