This story is now encompassed by how disappointed I am with Blizzard.


Chapter 3

"Get up." Nova's eyes opened, but she was no longer naïve enough to expect sun rays. Everything around her was as devoid of life as possible, except for the two of them. Her body still ached occasionally, but it had gotten substantially better since her first time aboard. There was still nothing pretty about this situation, but humans could adapt to anything. "Do you want me to make you?"

"Right…" She got off the ground rather hesitantly. There was so much on her mind, but now none of it seemed to matter. Perhaps the greatest irony was how she was not as alone now, floating in space in a few thousand tons living vessel without any other human beings, as she was after the Second Great War concluded. "You don't seem to be in a good mood today."

"You haven't learned a thing have you?" As expected, the Queen of Blades was not receptive to the snide remark. Regardless, it had been demonstrated well enough that she was not easily agitated. Her self-control was, in fact, considerable. Unless there was a need to show authority, of course.

"Don't get worked up about it." Despite what she was saying, Nova knew anything thing she was saying was not making much of a difference. After all, she was no masochist, and certainly did not enjoy the torment she was put through during the first couple of days. Being defiant and arrogant can only got one so far with one's back to the walls. "Why did you wake me up?"

"It's morning." Kerrigan spoke as if it was something to be expected. What she said of course made no sense, as they were floating in the vastness of space, and the concept of time of day simply did not apply to the cold, dead air outside. It was something she had frequented in doing for a long time, however, and was not about to stop.

"I never got around to ask." Even though she was now fully awake, Nova was not about to stand up. There was no point, and there simply was nothing for her to do. Ever since she arrived, all she had ever done was being inanimate or get beaten up. Most of it she brought upon herself, but it did not make her lively. "What time?"

"Acid Marsh, Char." Nova turned to her captor, only to see a slight hint of emotion running through the atmosphere. She was unaware of which one, but it was surprising regardless. It had been almost a week since Nova was forced to be kept here, and her treatment had not changed since day three. She herself had gone to numerous states of emotions, but as of right now, she was simply uninterested in much else but small talk. Kerrigan noticed the silence. "You don't have much on your mind, do you?"

"I would ask you to stop reading my mind, but I suppose you don't even need to." The Ghost replied in light tone. It was hard of her clearly focus on much of anything, since there was never going to be a page in the training book telling one how to deal with a positively hopeless situation that did not end in certain death. "As you can probably tell, I didn't actually make plans."

"What was your perceived success rate?" Kerrigan, an ex-Ghost herself, knew at least a little bit of what Nova would have gone through in training. They were of different political affiliation back then, so it was reasonable to believe their programmes were somewhat dissimilar. Any further questions would be to continue this line of investigation. "If it was me, it would be less than five percent, with what you would have gathered by taking a hold of Valerian's research."

"It was point two percent." Nova's remark was surprising. It was far below the minimum success rate needed to get any mission approved. Whoever was in charge of arranging such a confrontation must have been extremely hopeful, and breaking protocol at the same time. "Valerian did not know much, but I got far more intelligence extracted from the Hyperion. I paid them a visit; they just never noticed. Not to mention that percentage was only achievable with my being personally involved."

"Who would send you on this mission then?" Kerrigan pondered the question. It did not make sense to her, as it should not. "I may not have known you previously, but what you showed me so far would have netted you rather high up when it comes to operatives. I find it difficult to think that the Dominion Ghost programme, as headless as they should be, would send you on what essentially was a suicide mission."

"They didn't." Another brief pause. "I sent myself."

"You must really like dying then." The Queen of Blades had a very visible smirk. She was feeling rather cocky, as she had every right to. "Or do you really hate me that much?"

"I have no reason to hate you, before I actually got here anyways." There was nothing else needed to be said about the latter half. "I just did not feel like being a part of the Dominion anymore. On the off chance I would succeed, I would have enough leverage to remove myself from them as I pleased. If I did not, I figured you'd be walking on my skull by now."

"They must have treated you terribly then." Said Kerrigan. "To willingly subject yourself to my wrath rather than staying with them."

It had been quite a while since she had felt such killing intent. That stare Nova was giving her would have been able to tear someone without psionic protection apart, or at least destroy their nervous system entirely. Her own powers were far above this triviality, but to know how indiscriminate such a subject was to the Ghost was certainly interesting.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Nova turned away. She knew fully well that if anything she did could have gotten to the Queen of Blades it would have worked by now. She was not strong enough, and it was a terrible feeling in and of itself.

"I don't think you have a choice." She could feel the jolt across her entire body. She did not want to, but it seemed like Kerrigan had caught enough of an interest that she would never let this matter go away unless Nova explained in great enough details that would not sound like a lie. "It's not like you have anything but time here."

"I…" Nova sighed. She had been here long enough to know that her captor would not push her over the edge so hastily, so she would have time to think. There was so many things that had happened. Her head pounded like a jackhammer trying to remember them all, and the fact that so much of her memory was sealed away against her will did not help. Her youth, her days as a slave, the ghost academy, Tosh, the Nova squadron, everything was flowing back at once. This was exactly what she did not want to be reminded of. "I don't want to."

"I don't think you understand your position here." Kerrigan was certainly not letting go just because of a denial. She was on top of the situation after all, and she was ready to prowl these information out of the Ghost if she had to. She would rather not though, as talking takes a lot more time and would actually be kind of fun. "I can even pry it right out of your mind if I wanted to."

"No!" The squeal was certainly not something the Queen of Blades expected. Only now was it clear that Nova was not being difficult, rather she was approaching some very dark corners in her memories that was too painful to take out of. "Please!"

That was even more unpredictable.

"Nova…" Kerrigan was now thoroughly interested. There was something holding her back from being as antagonising as she could be, however.

"I'm begging you." Hands over her head, Nova was desperate. It was a rare sight, for sure. "Don't make me do this."

"Alright." The tension dropped at the most opportune of times. It was so surprising that Nova did not know how to react. She was still sitting there, all curled up, as if trying to protect something. Her eyes slowly gazed towards her captor's, only to be met with a cold stare. Still, she could see no malice in that stare.

"Is… is it really?" It would be foolish of her not to not assume deception, since that was clearly one of Kerrigan's strong point, but Nova had no other choice. If her tiniest bit of faith here was squandered, it would be even more devastating that the physical pain she had been experiencing thus far.

"Hm…" A slight sigh was all that could be heard from the Queen of Blades. She was silent, not so much disinterested, but instead deep in thoughts. Whatever it might be, Nova was thankful for it. Having finally a moment to recollect herself, it was obvious that she regretted showing her weakness so forcefully. It was a moment of unprecedented weakness, though there was nothing else to be done. "It's still morning."

"…yes." A weak reply. Nova was still lost as to what Kerrigan had planned.

"You're hungry again."

"I…" Nova only realised as her captor mentioned it. Hunger was a luxury aboard this living vessel. It was a miracle that she was actually fed in the first place. The food, whatever it was, was foul, but it kept her alive. Training under extreme conditions had prepared her for constant abuse administered by nature, but nothing quite compare to this. "I am."

"Fine." Kerrigan simply left the chamber, leaving the ex-Ghost by herself. Nova was still generally confused as to what just happened, but decided to take advantage of the situation. She didn't lack rest, as that was the only thing she could actually do up here. However, she was still mightily tired, mostly due to exhaustion. Seeing as Kerrigan was not going to come back in a hurry, Nova drifted to sleep in order to preserve the most energy.

Nova woke up to a smell of something strange. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was Kerrigan, sitting somewhere that was not on the throne. A piece of meat, of dubious source, was held in front of her. Unlike what she usually had for a meal, this one did not smell like dead rat.

"Don't look so surprised." Said Kerrigan. She was clearly trying to act as nonchalantly as she could, but her acting was not nearly as good as her mind control. Nova was in no state to comment on it, though. "I just put a bit of effort into it, that's all."

"You're probably giving me burnt Zerglings." Nova had nothing to give except an awkward smile and a bit more of her tired complexion. "But I do appreciate it."

"Show it then." Nova was baffled, as the food was ushered towards her face, but not handed over. "Here you go."

"Am I supposed to be your pet?" The Ghost grunted. She may be down and desperate, but doing this would be throwing away whatever's the left of her dignity.

"It's only fair game. You did kill my pet, after all." Said Kerrigan, still patiently waving her treat. "Clearly you're not being reasonable."

"Am I supposed to do whatever you say just because you decided to treat me with slightly less horrendous food?" Nova, while still rather tired, was fully up at this point, staring at Kerrigan from eye level. She was hungry though, that was undeniable. Anything better than what she usually had was good enough. "I'm hungry, yeah, but not enough to do this."

"Would you rather starve because you refuse to eat? What a stubborn girl you are." The Queen of Blades was not showing any displeasure in her tone. She, in fact, seemed to enjoy this predicament quite a lot. "Not because of the torture, nor the mental imprisonment, but because of your own arrogance. Do you really want to die knowing that?"

"I know you don't want me dead, because it'll be boring as hell for you up here. I also know that if you wanted to, you could force me however you wanted. So do it if you must." Pride was definitely something Kerrigan could relate to. As much as she hated admitting it, the only reason she's even alive now was that she refused to give up in the face of mortal danger. She was lucky as well, and perhaps she could see a little bit of herself. "If I gave up my dignity for this, what would I have left?"

"Well." A moment of pondering. "You have me."