Harbinger/35

Battle of Moria
It was now a month and a half since the fall of Tarsonis, and three and a half months since the Zerg were first spotted live on Air Los Andares. Confederate military communications frequencies had steadily increased, in line with what Ariel said were their growing fleet strengths. The Sons of Korhal had quickly consolidated its control over various space pirate bands operating in the sector and renamed itself the Terran Dominion under Mengsk's banner. Catching the Confederates off guard and proclaiming its goal the eventual unity of all humanity against the Zerg, the Dominion had asserted control over Brontes, Dylar IV, Halcyon, and Proudwater with many of the resident military willingly breaking away from the now clearly decadent and collapsing Confederacy. It had arisen to become the premier human governmental entity in Koprulu, with Mengsk crowned emperor of what he had decreed was a necessary dictatorship in the face of a much greater evil.

In geostationary orbit over Korhal IV, the metallic-gray Harbinger Fleet drifted in sphere formation, ready to depart at a moment's notice. Not far from them, a division of the golden Protoss Expeditionary Force also lay at rest.

"Admiral," reported the adjutant, "we have intercepted a Morian distress call. The Moria's Chain Home has recently picked up slipstream vectors approaching their planet, ETA twenty minutes. An attack by the Dominion seems imminent unless the Morians stand down. They are not expecting anyone to be able to come to their aid in time, however."