Two years it had been since the defeat of the United Earth Directorate, led by Admiral DuGalle. Ever since, peace remained, rocked by turmoil and almost broken by many. The Terran Dominion, led by emperor Arcturus Mengsk, a visionary, and the person who brought partial unity to the Koprulu Sector, was hailed a hero by his people. He had backdoor dealings, secrets no one should know of, but he himself. There were those who resisted him, led by an infamous rebel, James Raynor. He had helped him gain power, but too late did he realize his goals weren't for the betterment of the Sector. Terrans, once more succumbing to infighting, readied their weapons, and prepared their fleets.

The Zerg, led by the Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan, herself an infested Terran, had been awfully silent since the end of the Terran-dubbed 'Brood War'. A hive mind, once ruled by the enigmatic Overmind, were a force to be reckoned with. If one was spotted, many more lingered close-by, waiting for an opportune time to leap out and strike. Evolution and adaptation at its finest.

And the Protoss. They were split into three: the Daelaam, led by Artanis, Hierarch of the Daelaam. He had led his people from their ancestral home of Aiur, to the safety of Shakuras. home to the Nerazim, the banished caste of the Protoss, whom were unfairly judged by those who came before Artanis. And the Tal'darim, ruthless and thirsty of battle. They were fanatics, and rarely ventured far from their territory. But war was on the horizon, the three major races would be at war once more, fighting one another, only to be joined by someone else. Someone mysterious and enigmatic, and someone very, very dedicated to their goal.

One of great power, a lost legion of a dead nation, hellbent on restoring it to its original glory. In their mission, they became titans of industry, but not of technology. Their gargantuan capital ships dominate the stars, black and orange, proudly wearing the fiery phoenix of their new nation: whose goal was to restore the Human Domain.

Everyone was unconscious. The entire fleet, very slowly drifting in the abyss of space. Some of those ships are freighters, the bulk of them being Buffalo-class freighters, proudly wearing a fiery phoenix on their hull, a blue and orange colour scheme, mixed in with white, designed like a box, with no obvious modifications to the hull. Every fleet also needed tankers, for without anti-matter fuel, no one could go anywhere. As such, the fleet had a single Prometheus-class Tanker, which was a giant in its own right, accompanied by three Phaeton-class Tankers, smaller yet equally reliable tankers. Then there are some of the frigates, mostly small ships that resemble fast-moving mobile weapons platforms rather than ships, the Monitor-class ships. Destroyers taking the shape of a hammer, the aptly named Hammerhead-class ships, with their small, yet impressive weapons systems, ranging from Heavy Mortars to Sabot Small Range Missiles. Cruisers of varying power, specific specializations and generalized capabilities, the bulk of them being Eagle-class and Falcon-class ships, with only two carriers, the Legion-class Heavy Cruisers. Each equipped with a plethora of ballistic weaponry, alongside four flight decks each, they are invaluable in every good captain's fleet. Lastly, the backbones of the fleet: the venerable Onslaught-class Battleships. Seven of the behemoths lead the fleet, with their armour capable of withstanding punishment that no other ship in the fleet could, their built-in two Thermal Pulse Cannons providing them with artillery, and the massive amounts of ballistic and kinetic weaponry strewn about the hull, alongside some torpedo launchers, for when it really needs to end a ship. And of course, what was captured from a perfidious Megacorporation. Sleek, elegant designs of dark-blue, outfitted with not one, not two, not three, but four Phase Generators, allowing it to enter a pocket dimension, invisible to normal scanners. They were the Megacorporation's most prized possessions, next to their closely-guarded 'Glass Cannon' as pirates called it, and their formidable capital ship. This, was the Doom-class Phase Cruiser.

Out of the seven Onslaughts, only three stand out the most. These three venerable Onslaughts are not only command ships of the fleet, but are also donned in the colours of orange and black, the colours of the Hegemony, the successor to the Human Domain, and of the Domain XIV Battlegroup that founded the Hegemony. Ships that were part of the XIV Battlegroup were considered to be the best of the best, capable of competing with even the toughest of ships the Persean Sector could've thrown at them. Survivors of a mighty armada, only the XIV Battlegroup Legion-class ships remain hidden, none surviving into the 215th Cycle since the collapse of the Gate system, for the last one in service to the Hegemony, even if indirectly, the HSS Graf Spe, was destroyed in the Penelope's Star system by the vengeful Sindrian Diktat, aided by the Tri-Tachyon Megacorporation.

All in all, there were about 20 Buffalo-class Freighters, 1 Prometheus-class Tanker, 3 Phaeton-class Tankers, 13 Monitor-class Frigates, 12 Hammerhead-class Destroyers, 15 Eagle-class and Falcon-class Cruisers, alongside 2 Legion-class Heavy Cruisers/Carriers, alongside 4 Onslaught-class Battleships and 3 XIV Battlegroup Onslaught-class Battleships with 3 Doom-class Phase Cruisers that were mothballed to reduce the stress on the Hegemony 5th Armada. But the crew of the armada was slowly awakening from their unconsciousness, wondering just how long they've been unconscious. One of the crew members who woke up later than the others was none other that Captain Lee Eckley, Hegemony Naval Officer, sent to hunt down an extremely notorious pirate: Kanta herself. Sadly, the last he remembers is definitely not finding her. Getting off the floor and dusting off his standard naval uniform, a officer's coat of sand-green with streaks of orange on it, Eckley could see that some of the crew has already awakened, and were too busy maintaining the ship and checking for malfunctions to move any of the bodies. Groaning, he heard the clicking of boots behind him, instinctively performing a 180 degree turn on his heels.

"Captain Eckley, sir!"

It was a relatively young woman, wearing the COMSEC officers uniform, which was similar to his, but only black and orange as opposed to his. She had a scar running down from the bridge of her nose to her left cheek, oddly complementing her perfectly. Lieutenant Alexandra Moore was a fairly recent addition to his ship, yet an addition he did not question. Her knowledge of what lay beyond the Core Worlds was invaluable, as was her DELTA-5 clearance in the Hegemony, granting his armada intel it normaly wouldn't have. Besides, she was recommended by his old friend, Colonel Olympian Erickson, who was a fairly known officer of the Hegemony's ground forces, and having previously been a Quartermaster, he knew logistics like the back of his hand. Exactly why the troops liked him: he provided them a realistic chance to see the next day, free of life-threathening injuries.

"At ease, lieutenant. How long was I out cold?"

"At the least? Probably three hours."

He chuckled. "Of course. Lieutenant, I need a SITREP immediately, get myself up to speed."

"As you say, sir." She sighed. "So far, we have lost no ships, and the crews of the other ships are waking up from their unconsciousness. No malfunctions reported, no nothing. Combat Readiness is less than optimal, but it will improve as more of the crews start waking up. We have also been performing some surveys of the planets in this system, but nothing concrete as of yet."

"I see." Eckley paused, pondering. "What was the last thing you remember before we went unconscious?"

"Sadly, nothing. However, one of the crew members remembers us passing through an inactive Gate, a commemoration of the Domain, like we always do. Except this time apparently, the Gate was active."

Eckley tensed, surprise seen on his face. "Can you confirm this?" He asked, receiving a nod from the young officer. "In that case, can we go back, alert the High Hegemon of this discovery?"

"Sadly sir, we are nowhere near the Gate. It appears that the Gate threw us far into this new Sector, but thankfully, it threw us into a system with its fair share of habitable planets. From what preliminary scans could gleam, most of these worlds are either Class-IV or Class-V worlds, with some minor Class-III planets strewn about."

"That's good, lieutenant. Is there any chance we can begin colonization of those planets?" Eckley asked, as he moved towards a console on the bridge, to access the navigational map. He was a little frustrated to see that the Sector remained largely undiscovered and unsurveyed, but at least they had gotten into a good system.

Moore moved to the same console as well, switching to the system map for convenience sake. "We can only colonize one planet so far, but in about three to four months, we should be able to colonize a second planet with the start of Heavy Industry, which will be prioritized right after fertile lands are claimed."

"Excellent. Do we still have one of those Corrupted Nanoforges with us?" Eckley asked, to which Moore replied positively. "Make sure the engineers are ready to transport it to our future colony once its established."

"As you say, sir." Moore gave her superior a salute, before exiting the bridge. Eckley looked around, sighing. This would be one of those days, except now, he'd be dealing with far more than what he bargained for. The voice of a comms officer drew his attention, as the man was leaning down to see the screen of the navigator's in-system map. "Sir, unidentified contacts near the edge of the system, they just dropped in."

It was a rather simple mission: track down some refugees running from god-knows-what, disable their ships, board their ships and take anything of value. Sure, prisoners are a must, but this freelance pirate captain cares less about such trivial things. He'd rather just airlock them all and be done with it. He didn't have access to any proper shipyards, so his ship, a Terran Battlecruiser, a Behemoth-class, the 'Broken God' was an amalgamation of ship parts scavenged from other ships, with the hull being able to support a multitude of guns, including some energy weapons. The Yamato Cannon that should've been on the front was replaced with a massive missile launching system, built into the ship's very spine, due to the Yamato Cannon's inability to operate properly on such a changed ship.

Dropping out of warp, the pirate captain found the ships he was looking for: some Hercules-class Transports, with a very light Wraith escort, with the ships totalling to 10, 2 of which are the transports. Against the Battlecruiser and whatever fighter complements it may have had, this was child's play. But.. some of the crew had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, but they dismissed it as just another attempt by their consciousness to lead them astray from the life of piracy. A very lucrative life, too.

On one of the fleeing transports, the leader of the refugees, Jeffrey Sticks, an engineer at heart, was growing worried. Their supplies were dwindling and their escorts were non-existant, and it was only a matter of time before that Battlecruiser caught up with them. Jeffrey was a 46 year old man, with signs of his short black hair graying. He wore a Dominion engineer jumpsuit, which was his only one, and was about as innocent as one could get in the Koprulu Sector. Jeffrey slowly made his way past the refugees and to the pilot's cabin, enveloped entirely by a dim red light, to see the pilot removing some sweat from his forehead.

"How're you holding up?"

"Honestly? Not too great, lad. Ship's engines were nicked in the previous confrontation. Me an' the boys are doing whatever we can to keep them alive, but it won't last much longer. With any luck-" The pilot was interrupted by a long beep coming from the control console. It repeated itself after two seconds, with the pilot turning his head to meet his boss' brown eyes. "Who the hell could this be? That damn skallywag Florence?"

Upon answering the hail, the two men were met with a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one, if it can be a welcome one.

"Unidentified ships, this is the HSS Pride of Eventide. You are approaching Hegemony-controlled space, identify yourselves or we will open fire." The rough sound of a man spoke, although it spoke calmly. Something sparked hope within Jeffrey, now scrambling to answer the hail, slowed down by the pilot who calmly gave him the chance.

"Uh, hello? Thi-this is Jeffrey Sticks, former Dominion engineer, we're uh... we're refugees from Pontis, we're being chased by pirates. Any chance you could help us out, please?"

The men could barely hear the other man speak something under his breath, most likely a curse. There was a slight pause, followed once more by voice.

"Transmit your IFF Codes so we can identify you as friendlies. Move to the back of the ships and await confirmation for the battle's end. Captain Lee Eckley out."

He couldn't believe his ears! For once, someone wasn't trying to shoot them down, threathen them or eat them! The refugee ships changed course, the escort quickly following them, constantly observing the Battlecruiser that was trailing them. It looked like some 20 odd minutes have passed, and the Battlecruiser was getting ever closer. And then, it came with its massive engines, awe-inspiring looks and impressive size, speeding past the refugees for all to see. This, was the Pride of Eventide, lead ship of the Hegemony 5th Armada, containing elements of the Domain XIV Battlegroup, Hegemony Regulars and Hegemony Auxiliaries, with captured Tri-Tachyon Megacorporation Phase Ships.

As the Pride of Eventide came closer to the Broken God, the two respective captains could see they were poised to attack. Outranging the Pride of Eventide with its missiles, the Broken God released multiple salvos of devastating missiles. They shot through the black, cold void of space with unrivaled speed, expecting to hit their target head on, only to be met by the merciless barrage of Dual Flak Cannons. This in turn slowed down the Pride of Eventide, if only slightly, due to the Flux build-up going above 1% of the optimal levels. Once the missiles were shot down, none of them managing to hit, the two ships came into range of each other, the Pride of Eventide not maneuvering at all, maintaining course, whilst the Broken God positioned itself to unleash its broadside weaponry. Weapons Batteries fired from the broadside like high-powered machineguns with deadly accuracy, some minor energy projectiles being shot at the Pride of Eventide. All of which, while effective, were stopped by the opposing ship's shields being raised moments prior, generating small amounts of Hard Flux in the ship's capacitors. While the pirate captain was ordering his men to scramble all Vikings, his ship was being torn asunder by a steady barrage of Thermal Pulse Cannons, ripping through the broadside of the Battlecruiser.

Not a moment too soon, as some crew that tried to save their skins launched out of the Broken God via escape pods, the Battlecruiser was torn apart, sending debris flying where ever it could. The crew of the Pride of Eventide cheered in celebration, for this was the Hegemony's first victory in this brand new sector of space. Even if it was a minor one, it made a good first impression with whoever was running from the pirates, which was seen as a godsend by them.

Eventually, as several Buffalo-class Freighters moved over the now destroyed pirate ship to salvage anything that would be useful, a meeting was organized between the leader of the refugees and the 5th Armada's captain. The shuttle that the captain provided for Jeffrey was graciously accepted. Upon the shuttle's landing, Jeffrey, and some other people he took as escort got out of the shuttle, being met with nothing too special: a man in his late fifties with gray hair in an olive green uniform, and a woman next to him, perhaps in her early thirties with a black uniform with orange and white linings on it, holding a datapad, likely browsing through some information on it. As soon as Jeffrey and his men got off the ramp, the grey haired man gave them a crisp military salute, eventually extending his right arm.

"Captain Lee Eckley of the Hegemony 5th Armada. You must be Jeffrey Sticks, am I correct?"

Jeffrey, although used to talking with government officials, was always nervous when it came to the military, which showed on his face. "Y-Yeah, nice to meet you, sir." He answered, shaking the man's hand, before retracting it. "I guess you're the one we should thank for protecting us."

"That would be correct. Now, you said something about being a former Domain engineer...?" Eckley asked, not quite catching what the man had said in their previous conversation.

"Uh, no, no, not Domain. Dominion. Former Dominion engineer."

"I see... sorry for the confusion, your rambling earlier on the comms made it sound like you said Domain." Jeffrey nodded to his answer, noting a tinge of... disappointment from the man. "But, it is good that you arrived, albeit unintentionally. Come, lieutenant Moore will show you to the meeting room, I have a few things to see to. Lieutenant?"

The captain turned around, leaving the five of them in the hangar bay, as the lieutenant gave her superior a salute, once more turning to the refugees. "Greetings, gentlemen. I am Lieutenant Alexandra Moore of the Hegemony 5th Armada, COMSEC Security Level Delta-5, and I guess your de-facto go-to woman for as long as you're staying on this ship. I guess introductions would be in order." Moore stated, moving some of her hair behind her ear, letting out a sigh of annoyance at the hair constantly obscuring her vision.

"Former Dominion medic, Melissa Moriarty. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Melissa said joyfully, offering her hand for a handshake, which was shaken.

"Freelance mercenary, Edward Snowden, ma'am." Said Edward sharply, giving her a salute. This man she could respect.

"Former Confederate magistrate, Artemisia Sun." The elderly woman said, offering a handshake. She noted that Moore hesitated for a moment, before taking her up on the offer.

"Well, now that we have all been introduced, I believe it is time for us to get to the meeting room. I have to debrief an officer while we wait for the captain."