*Destroy. Destroy*
The voice echoed as it always did in the vast mind of the creature.
*Destroy. Destroy*
This one thought, this one obsession planted so long ago. The Overmind wished it would go away.
*Destroy. Destroy*
The Overmind was now the most powerful creature in the universe, the controller of the Zerg... hmm, the zerg what? Species? No, there were so many species incorporated in the swarm, calling it a species isn't correct. It's a conglomeration, a warped and twisted monstrosity… violated and twisted by the foul mind of Amon…
Pain beyond pain lashed the mind of the vast creature, as it always did when negative opinions about its master entered its thoughts. It may have free will, so as to make strategic decisions for the Zerg, but it wasn't free.
*Destroy. Destroy*
And still the voice continued.
Amon was its master. Its creator. It had vague memories of a forested planet, where evolution was all important, but evolution of the individual, rather than the species. Consume, absorb, evolve to survive. Stay still and die. This memory was all it had left of its past, before Amon. Before its master. Before it had its all-consuming purpose.
*Destroy. Destroy*
Its master was gone. Dead perhaps? The Xel'naga, Amon, was gone, certainly. Then why didn't the voice stop. No, in the core of its existence, the Overmind knew that its master, the Fallen God, the Xel'Naga, Amon, was still alive. Still striving for that ultimate goal.
*Destroy. Destroy*
Oh, how the Overmind wished the voice would stop, or change, or do something other than that one, all powerful, unstoppable command.
At the very least, it wished that its master had had the kindness to hide the ultimate result from it. But no, the Overmind knew exactly what was going to happen. It had seen it all in a vision. The ultimate victory of the Zerg, with the assistance of the dreaded Hybrid already being created, as the Overmind knew full well. It had felt its Zerg being taken. It had felt their essence being ripped from them, and it could already feel the first shadows of awareness from the monstrosities that ensued. And after this ultimate victory…
Darkness
*Destroy. Destroy*
Yes, yes. Destroy. Its only goal, to be achieved as it wished, as it thought best, but not to be avoided. And nothing the Overmind could do could stop it.
Yes
Nothing IT could do. IT was the most powerful creature in the universe. But what if it wasn't?
A Psionic scream ripped through the universe as pain beyond anything else lacerated its mind, and the entire Zerg race, billions of organisms across the Coprulu sector, the entire swarm, flinched from the agony going through its mind; a flinch that cost the swarm hundreds of thousands of creatures in thousands of battles on hundreds of planets. Not that it mattered. That hardly counted as a loss. This pain was worse than before. This was more than just insubordination. This was downright treason, and it was being punished viciously for it.
It may have free thought, but it wasn't free. It was a slave.
*DESTROY!*
The voice had changed. It had grown more insistent now, reminding the creature of its purpose. For a few seconds, the creature's entire mind was filled with the awesome power of that voice. And for that moment, it had no strategy; it just shouted one command to every organism under its control. A command shouted in desperation to quell that dreadful voice.
"Kill! Kill for the swarm!"
Millions of creatures died that night. Terrans, Zerg and Protoss alike.
*Destroy. Destroy*
Still the voice went on, though at a more manageable level. It was in that moment it realised its salvatio… its problem. SHE had escaped its mental grasp. In that one moment of distraction, SHE had taken the opportunity. Even as it shouted its desperate command to quell that voice, the Overmind had inadvertently loosened its hold on Sarah Kerrigan. And she had Shouted, a shout very nearly as powerful as its own.
She had shouted for the one man who she believed could help her. She had shouted for James Raynor.
He would come here. Here. To Char. To the Zerg Homeworld. To where the Overmind's own body was housed.
Of course, the Overmind had known how powerful she was. That was the very reason why the Overmind had taken her on Tarsonis.
Some time ago, the Terran, Arcturus Mensk, had found the Psi-emitters. A device so powerful they can trick even the Overmind. He had used the Psi-emitters to force the zerg to attack the Terrans' enemies. To fight their civil war for them. This angered the Overmind, but it would prove to be an opportunity for salvation. To save itself.
Pain, again. Another sector-wide flinch of the Swarm.
On Tarsonis, Mensk had used the Psi-emitters again, and the swarm descended on the planet to ravage Mensk's enemies. Then, of course, the Protoss came, and Mensk sent Kerrigan to keep them occupied. And that was when the Overmind had sensed her potential. To be a deadly weapon for the Swarm, and… perhaps…
After the Protoss had been defeated, the Overmind turned its swarm around and attacked Mensk's army. Killing everyone… except Kerrigan. Her potential was too much.
She was given to its 'Evolution Master' Abathur. A grotesque creature, true, but the swarm wasn't about beauty. It was about effectiveness. And Abathur was very effective. It consumed everything in Kerrigan that wasn't perfect for her purpose, and changed it inside him, ignoring her audible screams, while the mental screams was supressed by the Overmind, and then Abathur rewrote her genetic code to make her the most powerful being in the swarm. Changing her hands into powerful appendages, capable of both physical combat, and of channelling massive amounts of pure Psionic energy, complimented by the bladelike protrusions on her back. Changing her legs too to allow her unsurpassed mobility in combat, capable of charging her targets in one massive leap. She was then placed in a chrysalis to heal. The process left some scarring. The Overmind itself implanted its own voice into her mind, to make sure she would obey it, and its master, but also allowing her free will, as its master did before it. Making her a capable second-in-command, and perhaps one day…
*Destroy. Destroy.*
True. Third-in-command. The master was first. The master will always be first.
But even as her body healed from the violent processes of Abathur, her mind was screaming. It would have wasted energy to put her in a coma, so they had left her. And so she screamed. Not moving, no visible signs of awareness, but mentally alert, and very much aware of her situation. Still screaming, with admirable tenacity. But she was blocked. Her screams reached no further than the walls of her chrysalis. But her tenacity may have paid off. There was that moment. That moment of distraction when her scream passed through its defences. When she screamed for her one love, her one hope.
And indeed, the Overmind's scouts reported that the ship of the Terran, Raynor, was already on approach vector to Char, and interestingly, so were a force of Protoss. It seems her power was stronger than even she expected.
*Destroy. Destroy*
That voice would haunt her as well. The voice of their master. The Xel'Naga, Amon.
His vision, though. Its vision showed that she could be its salvation.
Another mental scream. Another flinch. This train of thought was dangerous.
*Destroy. Destroy*
The hour of her awakening is at hand. The Overmind informs its Cerebrate to prepare for the final defence of the Chrysalis.
When she awakens? What then? If the visions are true, then… perhaps… But if they aren't, then it has only sped up the end… of everything.
Mere minutes remain.
Perhaps it has made a mistake. But either way, it felt that its death was approaching. And unless there's an heir, a daughter, the Master will take personal control, and begin the final battle. And perhaps, when it has died, that awful voice will finally go silent.
*Destroy. Destroy.*
The time has come. The Chrysalis opens, and her glory is revealed.
"Arise my daughter. Arise… Kerrigan"
"By your will father, I live to serve… Let all who oppose the Overmind fall the wrath of the Swarm."
Those words, placed not by the Overmind, and not by its master… Hope surged through it… followed swiftly by the pain.
/to those who aren't as well versed in this subject matter… I'd just like to point out that all the physical events described in this story are those that happened in Starcraft 1. I tried to capture the thoughts of the Overmind, with the revelations of Starcraft 2 taken into account. The dialogue at the end is the actual dialogue between the Overmind and Kerrigan at the moment of her awakening. Also, if you want to see a followup chapter focusing on the Queen of Blades please follow this story.