Years had passed since the Guild Wars occurred in the Korprulu Sector between two human groups: Confederates and the Kel'Morians from the planet, Moria. The two friends, Jim Raynor and Tychus Findlay, were the remaining members of Heaven's Devils that was an elite Confederate marine unit became outlaws pulling off a number of thefts throughout the sector. The money that they got from the robberies and other outlaw activity were spent on bars, brothels, and gambling halls. Wilkes Butler, a marshal leading the Red Mesa County Municipal Enforcement Department, was not the only one hunting the duo; but also Ezekiel Daun, a sadistic bounty hunter who was hired by the duo's former commander Javier Vanderspool.

Raynor took a day off to go back to Shiloh, his home world, to visit his dying mother and received a message that his father recorded before he died.

"I love you, Jim. You're my son, and I always will love you. I used to think I could also say, 'I'll always be proud of you.' But I can't honestly say that anymore. You're walking down a dark path, Jim. A path I never could have forseen for you, and one I simply cannot respect. We love you, but we can't take your money. That's blood money, Son, and that's not how you were raised. Do you remember what I used to tell you, Son? A man is what he chooses to be. It's not how he's born, or how he's raised, that makes the man. It's his choices. Right now, you're choosing to walk down a dark path I can't condone. But a man can turn his life around with a single thought, a single decision. You can always choose to be something new. Never forget that."

The two friends piloted a system runner, a transport ship, and were approaching an untouched planet outside of the Korprulu Sector.