6 Months Later
Jim was woken by the loud bleeping of the communications device in his quarters. He opened his eyes and the bright light he was met with forced them closed again. He'd survived another night much to his disappointment. There was only one thing to lift his spirits, make his head feel better and to stop that incessant noise and that was getting up and getting another whisky.
He was about to push himself off his bed when he realised he wasn't in his bed at all. At some point he'd fallen off his chair and was now curled up on the floor. To him that just meant getting another drink was closer. He pulled himself up with the help of the chair and hit the communicator on his desk to make it stop.
He poured himself a large whisky and took a long swig. It made his pain go away for a fraction of a microsecond. He had lost everything. Everyone he'd ever loved was dead. He had no job and no place to go. He spent his time on the Hyperion hiding away from the crew whose lives he'd done nothing to help.
He took another swig and hoped it would bring him one step closer to death. One step closer to being reunited with Sarah. And Johnny. And Liddy. And his mother. And his father. And all those friends he'd lost across the years. Well, except the ones that were rotting in hell.
The communicator started again. He answered it just to stop it from beeping at him again. "What?" he asked irritably as Matt Horner's face appeared on the screen.
"Jim," Matt said to greet him. He noted how dreadful Jim looked but pushed it aside to cut to the chase. "There is someone in the sick bay you have to meet," he said seriously.
"I'm not in the mood for meeting and greeting," Jim said and was about to shut off the communication.
Matt saw Jim's hand head towards the off button and quickly spoke. "It's Sarah," he shouted.
Jim froze and was sure he'd misheard Matt. There was no way Sarah could be in the sick bay. He looked at Matt ready to punch the screen for using her name to get his attention.
Matt relaxed as he realised he'd gotten Jim's attention. Unfortunately he saw Jim looked angry now and he wondered if he'd just poked a sleeping bear. "As you know, a brood mother by the name of Zagara has taken over control of the swarm," he began. "She contacted us after they found something on Char."
Jim stared at Matt hoping he was going to get to a point soon.
"It was a type of chrysalis, hidden deep into the planet," Matt continued slowly. "Zagara told us it contained the," he searched for the word she had used for a moment, "'template' for the Queen of Blades."
Jim's eyes narrowed.
"Naturally we sent one of our support vessels teamed with scientists to check it out and they brought it back with them after they found out what was inside," he paused.
Jim was now mildly interested. "What's inside?"
"Who," Matt corrected him.
Jim frowned and wondered who would still be on Char. "Who?"
"Sarah Kerrigan was inside it," Matt said clearly. "She's in the sickbay now."