Disclaimer: I own the plot and most of the characters in this story, though there are references to events in the games and in the books.

A/N: Udestae (OO deh stay)

Kylpirsva (kill PERS vah)

Zentras (ZEEN traws)

Helfun (hell FOON)

Jazhael (jazz HAIL)

"Are you all right? Udestae? Can you hear me?"

Udestae awoke to the sound of Kylpirsva's voice. He looked around the room. It was filled with plaques, medals, and the occasional family photo. But the strange thing was, the pictures were all of Terrans, and the medals were all given by an Arcturus Mengsk, President, Sons of Korhal.

"Where are we Kyl?" Udestae asked.

"Udestae," Kylpirsva happily answered,"Welcome to Jazhael, haven for all refugee Protoss and my hometown."

A man walked into the room. He was a tall man, about 6'6" with brown hair and unbelievable good looks.

"Hey, Udestae. Welcome to my house!"

"Who are you?" He asked the man. He then turned to Kylpirsva, "Why is there a Terran in Jazhael?"

"Sorry, Udestae," Kylpirsva said. "I forgot to mention, we are in the house of Warren Raynor, son of the honorable Jim Raynor. This," he pointed at the Terran man."This is Mr. Warren Raynor."

"How d'ya do, Prot ('Prot' is a shortened term for 'Protoss', often used by the Terrans)?

"Please, call me Udestae (he hated that term). I have heard many stories about your father. He was a great man. I am sorry that you lost him."

"I didn't lose him," Warren snapped. "That damn Sarah Kerrigan murdered him!"

"Nevertheless, it is a tragedy. He was quite a hero. To both our peoples."

"You didn't even know him!" Warren yelled. "Don't talk about how great he was when you never even met him!"

"Enough! You people fight too much. We are on the same side."

Everyone turned towards the door and saw a dark templar, obviously female, standing there. It was Zentras, the newly appointed Matriarch. She was tall, skinny, and wore a deep, royal purple cape with a rag that covered her mouth (or where her mouth would be were she human). In other words, she was pretty much your standard dark templar.

"Matriarch, welcome," Udestae and Kylpirsva both said as they bowed (or nodded their head in Udestae's case (he was lying in a bed)).

"What the hell is a marter...ark...er?" Warren asked.

Kylpirsva quickly apologized for Warren's stupidity. "In case you haven't noticed, Mr. Raynor has not been among us for very long."

A/N: The house was originally Jim Raynor's. When Jim was killed, Warren inherited the house. The awards were also Jim's.

"Yes, I did figure that," Udestae admittted. He turned towards Warren to explain. "Mr. Raynor, the Matriarch is the leader of the Dark Templar people. We high templars have the. . . well, had the Conclave. The Dark Templar have the Matriarch. This, Mr. Raynor, is the Dark Templar Matriarch, Zentras."

"Oh," Warren was confused. "Um. . .How d'ya do?"

"How do I do what?" Zentras implied.

"Uh. . ." Warren didn't know how to answer that.

A/N: Zentras hadn't had too much human contact.

"Matriarch," Kylpirsva said, "'How do you do?' is a Terran way of saying 'Hello'."

"I see. Well then, Mr. Raynor, I greet you. But, I am afraid you must leave the room. I have things to discuss with these two templars."

Warren walked out the door, mumbling to himself about the 'Matriarch' thing. Kylpirsva sat on the end of Udestae's bed and Zentras seated herself on a chair next to the door.

"It appears as if this is not as simple as we thought," Zentras began.

"What's so confusing?" Kylpirsva asked. "The Terrans took over Aiur and we need to retake it."

Zentras replied, "Retaking Aiur is the last item on our agenda. As you saw, Udestae, the force that took Aiur was much larger than you would expect from Terrans. Which brings up the question, 'Where do they get an attack force so quickly while they are still defending against the Zerg?'"

Udestae sat up and thought about this for awhile. "Not only did they fight the Zerg," He said. "They fought the UED less than 50 years ago also."

"I sent out scouts as soon as we saw the Terran force approaching the Earth station," Kylpirsva said. "I hoped they would return with news of the Terran launch point, but they didn't come back before we were captured."

"Why would you send out scouts if you knew there was a good chance you would be captured?" Udestae inquired.

"I didn't think we would be. Our radar showed only about 50 vessels, which we could have easily handled. But when they attacked, they had over 1,000 vessels."

The door to the room swung open and in walked an unusually tall Protoss. He wore a long, flowing, red cape and had a large, smooth hood. This particular Protoss went by the name of Helfun, or 'Healer'. He was the Head Judicator, originally from the Ara Tribe, meaning he answered to no one, and had to obey only the Khala.

Kylpirsva and Udestae bowed as he entered, showing their respect (Zentras did not bow because, by dark templar standards, she is of equal rank).

"Rise, brethren," Helfun said with a very deep, startling, yet calming voice. The kind of voice that would have been most suitable to be dubbed in as a god's in a movie. "The answer to your question, Zentras, I have. The Terrans, as you all have noticed, have been advancing in their technological areas. We knew that one day, they would catch up with us, maybe even surpass us. Though we all believed it would not happen for many more millenia, I am afraid that they have indeed caught up to our technology, and even dwarfed it."

Zentras gave Helfun a perplexed look. "But we dark templar have been monitoring all Terran settlements for centuries now. We never noticed any signs of major advancements in technology."

"Perhaps," Udestae said, "there is a Terran colony that we do not know about, and that they are using that outpost for research and developments. Though where this colony would be, I can't figure out."

"We in the Sargas tribe have also been keeping tabs on the Terrans," Kylpirsva pointed out, "fearing something like this was going to happen, though on a much smaller scale. We have been observing all Terran outposts within this galaxy. Though I can't understand why they would travel intergalactically just to unleash war."

"Transporting anything between galaxies, even at extreme speeds, would take decades," Zentras noted. "If their army has come from another galaxy, they must have been traveling for at least 80 years. Which means they had planned this attack before the Confederacy was overthrown. Perhaps Arcturus Mengsk had nothing to do with this and is just as surprised as we are."

"Maybe the Terrans on our side know something," Udestae remarked. "How many Terrans are we presently allied with?"

"The only ones we are sure are on our side are General Raynor and his 100 men," Zentras replied.

Udestae stood up. "Well then, I will go speak with them."

A/N: I have run into a minor case of writer's block. The next chapter may take longer to write than the last 6.