Through Thick and Thin
Prologue: The Fall of New Gettysburg
The Zerg hurled themselves into a wall of fire and ordnance. Hundreds died instantly, but thousands more took their place.
Sarah Kerrigan activated the long-range communicator in her combat suit. "This is Kerrigan. We've neutralized the Protoss but there is a huge wave of Zerg advancing on our position. We need immediate evac!"
The Ghost sighted down the barrel of her canister rifle and fired a blast straight into the face of the towering ultralisk storming across the barricades. It seemed to have the effect the last four shots didn't, and the enormous beast crashed to the ground. All around her, machine gun fire filled the air as every available marine fired on the swarms of Zerg that surged down towards them.
Why is nobody picking up? "Uh, boys? How about that evac?"
She couldn't help the slight note of panic that slipped into her voice as her radio signals to the fleet went unanswered. Another shot from her rifle and a zergling exploded in a shower of blood and slime, but no answer from the fleet. Civilians, their faces white with fear, rushed about her, most enclosed in their huge armored SCV suits, shoring up the barricades and trying to keep the bunkers from being overrun. All around her, marines screamed battle cries as they fought and died, so hopped up on stimulants and adrenaline that they felt neither pain nor fear.
She issued a quick command to have her expeditionary force get back to base, stat – they were exhausted and beat up from a pitched battle in the Protoss camp, but she needed those tanks if she was going to hold out until the fleet showed up.
Still no response, not from Arcturus, not from Jim, not from Derre, the new tactical commander. Hell, she would have been glad to see General Duke at this point. Where is our rescue?
Suddenly, there were demonic howls in the air above her. Mutalisks... "Commander? Jim, what the hell is going on up there?" Nothing. Static. A glave worm ripped through the marine next to her, burrowing through his armor and leaving a gaping hole where his heart and lungs had been. It burst through the other side and leapt at her, but she pulled a vibroknife from her thigh scabbard and cut it cleanly in half. She fired another shot from the rifle, and another zergling died – not that it seemed to matter. For every one she and her men killed, two seemed to take its place.
She switched her headset to command frequency, so every human left on the space platform could hear her. "The front lines are about to be overrun. Captains, fall back to the bridge – get all the civilians to the Protoss base we just burned down, it will be the easiest to defend." She covered her ears as a Behemoth-I type Battlecruiser, just laboriously completed days before, plummeted to the steel surface of the space station and detonated with a roar that defied all definition.
"Everyone fall back! Fall back!" she screamed into her headset. All around her marines scrambled out of their positions, herding the civilian workers and engineers away from the monstrous horde. Sarah fired another canister shell over the heads of the fleeing soldiers, and another Zerg perished in a shower of steel and blood.
Sarah... can't leave her behind... She almost jumped to hear Jim Raynor's voice, echoing through her mind. He was shouting himself hoarse, on the bridge of some ship ten thousand miles away, and somehow his mind had reached out to her across the distance.
Jimmy? How... never mind. It's not important. Where are you? What's happening?
Raynor's mind flinched at the contact – fear and anger and a sudden, fierce joy were foremost in his thoughts. Sarah! Can you hold on? Mengsk has abandoned you to the Zerg, like he abandoned the whole planet. He's gone mad, I think, and he's taken most of fleet with him. They are jumping to hyperspace right now!
Though her body still fought and retreated, it was working on pure instinct. Kerrigan's mind reeled – Arcturus couldn't leave her, he had saved her, years before. He was her mentor, her boss... in some ways, almost her father. It was impossible that his ambition was more important than her. But Raynor wouldn't lie to her – Jimmy couldn't lie to her mind to mind, he wouldn't know how.
No... But even her thoughts were no more than a whisper.
Listen, Sarah, you have to hold on. I've still got the Hyperion, and at least some of the fleet didn't want to cut and run, and leave you guys behind. Commander Derre is with me, too. My boys and I will be there in six hours, we'll get you all out. Can you hold for six hours?
Kerrigan fired her rifle again, but a sob rose up in her throat. The Terran retreat was turning into a rout. Though where she was, her elite cadre of ghosts and marines were holding the line and trying to keep everyone together, it was only a matter of time before they were all annihilated. Another ultralisk appeared through the masses of the Zerg, tearing through the rearguard and ripping apart a siege tank as it tried to retreat. The New Gettysburg base was in flames all about her.
Jimmy, I can't hold them for six more minutes! We are running out of places to fall back to, and there seems to be no end of these monsters.
A desperate plan suddenly revealed itself to her. Jim, when you get here, our survivors will be holed up in the ruined Protoss base – you should have the coordinates. I won't be with them. I've got to give myself up.
She could feel Raynor's fear, all the way from orbit, and his desperation. Darlin,' you can't surrender to the Zerg! They're animals, they don't know how to take prisoners! Just hold tight, and we'll be there.
They want me, Jim, not this space station. Don't ask me how I can tell. I just know it. Please... please don't give up on everyone down here – this is the only chance I've got to save their lives.
Sarah... I...
I'm breaking contact, Jim. I have to give myself up to the Zerg.
Don't leave me, Sarah. I love... I love you.
Hot tears escaped from beneath her facemask. Dammit, Raynor, you can't do this to me! Goodbye, Jim. Don't let them win...
"I love you, too..." she whispered. No one could hear her, of course, through the gunfire and the explosions and the screams of the dying. But she said it, and she hoped to whatever God was listening that Jim knew it.
Then she opened her mind to the Zerg. It was icy cold, and utterly revolting and alien thing, so different from the minds of humans. They truly were only well-trained animals, like ants, or bees in a hive, utterly enslaved to the will of their masters. She followed the psychic trail of control back, back, infinitely far until she reached the frigid and hideous mental "persona" of their overseer, the Cerebrate Zasz,
Call off your attack, Zerg, and I will come peaceably!
The cerebrate was utterly shocked. What are you to speak to me thus? You are not of the Firstborn Sons, nor of the Swarm. Yet you can reach beyond to touch me.
I am the one known as Kerrigan.
She could almost feel the monster's gloating pleasure upon hearing her name. So this is the famous Terran so desired by the Overmind? I shall be greatly rewarded for bringing you in.
You will get nothing from me, monster, unless you call off your attack – I will die fighting unless you agree to spare all of my...my... Kerrigan struggled for a word – the Zerg had no word for "soldier," "unit" or even "army." She got the closest word she could. My brood. They are to be spared, and when my broodmate recovers them, he is to be unharmed. Otherwise, I shall die and your Overmind shall have no prize.
Who are you to dictate terms to me, insolent one?
I...am...Kerrigan. She sent the words will all of the mental force she could. It was a psychic thrust born in her fear, nursed in desperation and betrayal, and guided by years of harsh mental training. She could feel the Cerebrate recoil from this psionic "blow."
There was a brief pause, and suddenly, the flood of Zerg fell back. All around her, Marines cheered at the reprieve, and fell back into their units. The civilians streamed past, towards the illusory safety of the destroyed Protoss base.
The monster was in her mind again. I agree to your terms. Seek out the primary hive cluster on this construct, and I will transport you to my physical shell. Your brood shall be unmolested for a period of 1 solar rotation. If you resist, I will kill them all.
She had no choice, and she knew it. It is agreed.
Sarah Kerrigan took one last look around her, at the filthy, bleeding, battered army that had fought and died for a man who betrayed them, who had seen such horrors yet still survived, and she was proud. Proud to be a human, proud to love and be loved. She scribbled a note out to Jim, and told her second-in-command to pass it along. She was going out on a "scouting" mission.
She didn't say that she would never be back. She would never see them again.
She activated her cloaking device and disappeared towards the Zerg army. Goodbye, Jim. I love you.