Chapter 2: Char

The Leviathan traveled to Char, carrying the Kerrigans onboard. The circumstances on Char were examined. It appears that Broodmother Zagara controls the Zerg forces on Char but she is slowly being pushed back by the Terrans.

The Leviathan landed in the vicinity of Zagara's hive. A telepathic message was sent demanded Zagara to submit.

"I will not obey you, false queen. You are weak and now I am the true leader of the swarm", Zagara said.

"Weak? I will show you whose weak", the Kerrigans said.

There were a large amount of baneling eggs in the area. The Kerrigans decided to gather them up to recycle them to biomass. In the meantime, a group of Kerrigans were sent to defeat Zagara.

Zagara's base was well defended with spine crawlers. The Kerrigans leapt into the base and started attacking. The initial strike had torn apart many of the spine crawlers. The remainder of the spine crawlers began spearing their tentacles forward to try to impale the attackers. The Kerrigans were quick and agile so they were able to dodge a vast majority of the attacks. However, there were so many stretching through the battlefield that a few of them were able to hit. The carapace of the Kerrigans were able to help block the blow and thus the Kerrigans that were hit only suffered minor injuries.

Then, the Kerrigans counterattacked with psionic blasts. These blasts tore apart the spine crawlers as well as many of the zerglines close by which were sent by Zagara to reinforce the spine crawlers. The spine crawlers were decimated and the few that remained were quickly torn apart by the claws and wings of the Kerrigans.

Zagara's hydralisks and roaches then arrived to try to beat back the advance of the Kerrigans. The Kerrigans unleashed dozens of psionic storms across the battlefield. The hydralisks and roaches were defenseless against the powerful psionic attack and the bulk of the forces were ripped apart. The few stragglers proved to be no challenge as the Kerrigans pounced on the and ripped them apart.

Soon, the Kerrigans approached the center of the hive cluster. Zagara was there along with what remained of her forces. As the Kerrigans moved in for the kill, Zagara said, "I only did as you asked, my queen."

"I asked you to rebel against me? You must be stupid. Broodmothers are useless to me now. You no longer have any use. Now die." One Kerrigan then jumped atop Zagara and shoved her wing blades into the broodmother. Zagara began gagging and coughing blood as her internal organs were punctured. The Kerrigan then began to pull her wings apart and Zagara's body was ripped open.

With the death of Zagara, the remaining forces were taken over by the Kerrigans and the biomass was recycled.

Now, it was time to eliminate the Terrans and scour them from the surface of Char. The main Terran base was on the Dauntless Plateau which could be reached through the Bone Trench.

Hundreds of Kerrigans began entering the Bone Trench. As the terran forces started being destroyed, Warfield as notified and he saw what was happening.

"My God. What the hell is this." Warfield saw hundreds of Kerrigans tearing through his forces. "One Queen of Blades was bad enough, and now there is a whole swarm of them." Despite being shaken, Warfield ordered that a Gorgon Battlecruiser be launched into the trench. "Hopefully even the Queen of Blades can die to the Gorgons", Warfield thought. "It's our best shot."

The Gorgon entered the Bone Trench and began bombarding the Kerrigans. However, the Kerrigans erected a massive psionic barrier which deflected all of the attacks from the battlecruiser. Then, the psionic might of the Kerrigans latched onto the Gorgon and crushed it. The Gorgon was crumpled up like a tin can and fell out of the sky.

Warfield watched in dismay as his trump card was destroyed. An aide came up and asked, "Should we send in another Gorgon?"

"Send in another Gorgon? Are you mad boy! Did you just see what happened to the last one. I will not throw away our battlecruisers uselessly", Warfield yelled. "Seriously, what idiot would send Gorgons in one by one to be destroyed."

"Sound the retreat", Warfield said. All remaining Dominion forces in the Bone Trench retreated back to the main fortress on the Dauntless Plateau. "And activate our nuclear stockpile. This is our last chance."

Victorious over the Dominion forces in the Bone Trench, the swarm of Kerrigans strode into the Dauntless Plateau as they prepared to destroy the fortress. Victory was practically assured, they thought to themselves. Without much haste at all, they walked toward the fortress.

Suddenly, their powerful psionic senses picked up numerous nuclear missiles heading in their direction. They determined their trajectory and found where they were going to land. The Kerrigans quickly began running away from the landing points of the nuclear missiles. Using their psionic powers to enhance their speed, they were able to evade the nuclear strikes.

Warfield was incensed by this failure, but he refused to give up. "Fire more missiles", he yelled. "I want every inch of ground to be covered so there is nowhere for those bitches to hide. Also, I want those Gorgons launched and firing on them!"

The Kerrigans were met with hundreds of nuclear missiles heading toward them. What's more, six Gorgons were now in the sky bombarding them. The Kerrigans quickly scattered to avoid the bombardment from the Gorgons and started launching psionic bolts into the sky to destroy the nuclear missiles.

One Gorgon was destroyed, but the Kerrigan which did it was distracted with the task and thus was unable to properly defend her area from the missiles. As one of the missiles came down, the Kerrigan tried desperately to run away but she was caught in the outskirts of the blast. She was severely injured, with her body blackened and charred. Her wings were broken into pieces and several rocks had broken through her carapace and lodged themselves within her. She shakily got back up to her feet before escaping the battlefield to recover from her wounds.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the other Kerrigans were also taking a beating. The Gorgons decided to concentrate their fire on one unfortunate Kerrigan who was forced to try to dash around to avoid the bombardment. Despite her best efforts, she was struck multiple times and was greatly injured. Her carapace was blown apart and she had multiple burns. As she tried to escape, still pinned down by the bombardment of the Gorgons, she was struck by a nuclear missile, followed by a second one which was close behind. As the smoke cleared the broken body of the Kerrigan was seen. She was dead, charred to a crisp by the two nuclear explosions.

The other Kerrigans put up psionic shields, but the repeated nuclear bombardments were eventually able to break through. Several more Kerrigans were killed or severely injured by the nuclear missiles and the Gorgon battlecruisers employed their bombardment effectively, corralling the Kerrigans into zones dense in nuclear missiles, making it harder for them to avoid them. Despite this, the Kerrigans were able to destroy two more Gorgons during this time.

As the cloud of nuclear weapons began thinning, the Kerrigans regained the initiative. The last three Gorgons were destroyed and the missiles were being destroyed by the psionic blasts of the gathered Kerrigans. The missiles which made it through the defense did manage to hit a few more Kerrigans, but for the most part they were dodged.

Now, the swarm of enraged Kerrigans began attacking the fortress. The psionic bombardment of the Kerrigans opened up several large holes in the walls of the fortress and the Kerrigans began streaming in. The Dominion forces inside put up a good fight; a large group of tanks and marines even managed to drive back a Kerrigan by injuring her sufficiently. However, the sheer number of powerful beings rampaging through the base was too much, and the Dominion forces were quickly defeated.

Warfield watched as his base was overrun. He tried to evacuate what remained of his men, but the transports were all ripped out of the sky. He waited in the central command post, alone as the Kerrigans approached.

Soon, several Kerrigans entered. Warfield said, "What happened to you girl. We saved you. Now you turned into this - whatever this is. You aren't even remotely human anymore."

"We are the swarm", said the Kerrigans in unison. "We will destroy Mengsk, and his fall starts with you." Warfield was psionically levitated before being crushed inside his own suit. Warfield was thrown to the ground, dead.

"It is done", said the Kerrigans. "Char is ours. The Dominion shall rue the day they opposed the swarm."

When the Kerrigans returned to the Leviathan, they were informed by Izsha that Broodmother Kilysa had contacted them, wishing to return to the swarm. "Kilysa is no longer needed", said the Kerrigans. "But her Leviathans are useful. Have Kilysa come to us. After she does, we can take her Leviathans and dispose of her."

Kilysa arrived, not suspecting anything. She met with a Kerrigan, grateful at the chance to return to the swarm. However, she was killed and her brood was taken over.

Now, a transmission had arrived from a mysterious individual who claimed that Mengsk was developing hybrids as a secret weapon. The lab where these hybrids were being made is Skygeirr Platform. It was decided that this would be their next destination.