StarCraft: Kerrigan's Child

Chapter 4

ON CHAR

Kerrigan was overseeing last of the damage that Mengsk had inflicted on the day of Lilith's birth finished healing on the Hive Clusters, "Mommy" Kerrigan turned around to see Lilith standing with small tears in her eyes, "What's wrong dear?" she asked "I had a nightmare" Lilith came running into her Mother's arms, "It's ok it was only a dream, nothing could hurt you" she spoke softly trying to sooth Lilith's mind.

"But Mommy this nightmare I see Daddy getting hurt" she said with sadness in her voice "It's ok Daddy is still aright" Kerrigan spoke warmly to try and cheer Lilith up, "No Mommy in this nightmare I see the bad men that you told me about attacking our home, I'm inside here watching as you are trying to help the Zerg, Next thing I see is Daddy inside one of those metal robots help us, the last thing I saw before I woke up was a blue wave, any Zerg it touched it burned them, Daddy puts himself between the wave and us, his robot's legs get cut off and he gets hurt" Lilith finished explaining her nightmare to her mother.

Lilith started to cry again into her Mother's shoulder "It's alright, your Father is a strong man" she told her as she stroked Lilith's dreadlocks calming her down, "Mommy why do the bad men want to hurt us?" she asked "Sweetie the bad men that want to hurt us are being told to, by a man that betrayed me he came to our home when you just about born trying hurt me, the reason why I send Zerg to hurt him is because he hurt me I wanted justice" she explained with a slight hint of anger in her voice as she continued to stroke Lilith's dreadlocks.

DOMINION'S SECRET INSTALLATION ON CASTANAR

"Shit we need to get out of here" Jim ordered his men as they were being chased by a Zerg/Protoss Hybrid that Mengsk had created, "We need to keep moving" he told them as they turned into a hall way leading to their extraction point, the hybrid roared as it was chasing them killing anything in its path.

The hybrid then disappeared from behind them, "Where did it go?" one of the raiders asked, "Don't know we need to keep moving, who's knows when it will come back" Jim answered as his group continued to move to the extraction point.

They walked back into the halls when they heard an explosion behind them followed by familiar roar, "Shit Boys double time" Jim ordered as the Hybrid was back in pursuit of them, "We're almost there" Jim encouraged his boys and the two medic girls, the Hybrid roared again as it saw its prey was escaping "Why don't you give up?" Jim said as he saw a Hercules drop ship on the landing pad.

"Go" he shouted as his group made it into the drop ship as he began activating it and started to take off, the Hybrid roared in defeat as it saw it's prey fly off but was engulfed in flames as the nuclear reactor blew. The Hybrid let out a dying psionic scream Jim could feel as he head would explode but also he could feel Kerrigan and Lilith suffering the same feeling.

"Mengsk you are really the devil for creating something like this" Jim said recovered from the intense head pain and looking at the former base of Castanar, "There is no redemption for you" he thought as he flew the Hercules transport back to the Hyperion.

HYPERION BRIDGE

"Sir that Hybrid that was one of Mengsk's new bio weapons against his enemies" Matt explained to Jim from the downloaded information. "Why would he create something like that?" Jim asked "I don't know Sir" Matt answered. Matt continued to talk but Jim couldn't hear what he was saying, "Jim can you come to Char?" he heard Kerrigan's voice in his head, "Why? What's happened?" he asked worried, "Please I need you to be here" she said before she cut off the link.

"Sir are you Ok?" Matt said bringing Jim back to reality "Matt set a course for Char, I need to speak with Kerrigan" he said urgently, "Are you sure Sir?" he asked confirming what he heard, "Matt just jump to Char, I will take my private dropship down to the planet" Jim stated which Matt obeyed.

IN ORBIT AROUND CHAR

"Sir we are in orbit around Char" Matt said to a communicator to Jim who was inside a the dropship, "Thank you Matt I don't know when I will be back but I will contact you with any developments" Jim said as he started the dropship's engines and took off.

LANDING SITE ON CHAR

Jim powered down the ship and exited it wearing nothing but normal civilian clothes and his sidearm pistol, he stared out to the barren land of Char seeing nothing but wasteland and the occasional lava sea rise into the sky, "Man still hot" he said as could feel the heat from the lava.

He took a step when he heard a growl he turned around to see a Zergling waiting for him, "Now what do I have here" Jim said as could see that the Zergling had the unusual colour of a white hide, the Zergling then came to Jim and nudged it head to his leg, "You want me to get on your back?" he said and watched as it nodded its head.

"Ok" Jim did what he figured out to do and got onto the back of the Zergling "Are you going to take me to the Queen?" he asked as saw the Zergling nodded again, "Well then what are we waiting for" no sooner had he said those words the Zergling took off with more speed than average Zerglings.

KERRIGAN'S CHAMBERS

Kerrigan was staring out to the wasteland of Char when she heard her daughter walk into the chamber, "Mommy when is Daddy going to get here?" Lilith asked as she was excited that her Father was going to be visiting their home, "I don't know Lilith but then again your Father does like to surprise people" Kerrigan said as she came over to Lilith and started to stroke her dreadlock hair, "Now I want you to make sure you don't do anything that might make him feel sick" she said as she then starting touching the un developed blade wings that Lilith had coming out of her back, which made Lilith start laughing, "Mommy stop it tickles when you touch them" she said unable to stop laughing.

Kerrigan continued this when both of them heard a howl from a particular albino Zergling, "He is here" she said which made Lilith jump up and start racing to the entrance of the hive, "Daddy, Daddy" Lilith repeatedly said as she was excited he was here.

Kerrigan smiled at seeing her daughter run off to see her Father "She is so innocent, I hope she never loses that innocence" she said as she then started to make her way to greet the man she loves.

OUTSIDE OF MAIN HIVE CLUSTER

Jim was catching his breath as the Zergling has stopped and then howled "You're a fast one aren't you" he spoke to the albino Zergling who just nodded, Jim then dismounted the Zergling and walked to the entrance of the hive when all of a sudden he got tackled to the ground.

"DADDY!" he looked up to see Lilith on top of his chest happy to see him "You been a good girl Lilith?" he spoke as he stood back up holding Lilith in his arms, "She has" Jim turned around to see Kerrigan walking towards him with a devilish smile on her lips, "So you been well?" he asked a little cautious of the smile she had, they exchanged a kiss "Of course" she said still smiling as she walked with Jim holding Lilith back into the hive.

KERRIGAN'S CHAMBERS

Jim was sitting on a organic mass that passed as a chair inside the Zerg hive he was listening to Lilith about what she had been doing, "Mommy had told me this time to try and throw a rock with my mind, I looked around and saw a Baneling just sleeping around so I decided to use it instead I could see no rocks around", Jim chuckled as he could imagine a Baneling being used for his daughter's psionic throwing practice, "How far did you throw it?" he asked which Kerrigan stepped in, "She nearly threw it onto a Brutalisk" she answered as she was not angry at the memory but more like stressed.

"Mommy it was an accident" Lilith spoke back before continuing "And that's what I've been doing for the last week" she finished speaking which she then held her head with both hands as a feeling of pain came, "You alright sweetie?" both Jim and Kerrigan asked which Lilith then nodded her head as it passed.

"That's the second time today" Kerrigan said concerned which made Jim curious "Second time?" he said worried, "Yes earlier today we both felt a sudden pain in our heads that sounded like a scream, it was painful" she explained what happened to her, "But after that happened Lilith had a after headache and now again" she said.

"I felt that scream as well" he said which made Kerrigan stare at him "Mommy I don't feel well" Lilith spoke as she was feeling dizzy, "Ok let me put you in your room" Kerrigan gathered Lilith up in her arms and began to walk to Lilith's room when Jim stopped her for a second to kiss Lilith on the forehead, she continued and came back after a few minutes.

"You going to tell me?" she asked as she could see that he had something he wanted to tell her, "Early today I had found information that Mengsk had a secret base on Castanar, I led a team of my boys into it to see what Mengsk had up there that he didn't want anyone to know about" he started to tell. "We found he had captured a few Zerglings and Hydralisks but we were stunned he had actually captured a Brutalisk" he said which he instantly saw the reaction of anger and the eyes of murder appear in Kerrigan, "How dare he take my Zerg" she expressed "Hey Darling calm down, let me finish" Jim said which made all the anger in Kerrigan subside.

"As we got farther into the base we saw he begun experimenting on combining Zerg and Protoss DNA, we saw he had growing specimens but we were shocked and in fear as we saw he had a completed Hybrid", he explained as he allow Kerrigan to see the image of it from his memories, he sees the looks of anger coming back but more controlled, "The base was being powered by a Nuclear reactor so we set the self destruct off and we made a break for the extraction point, but we didn't know that setting the self destruct on would released the completed hybrid, nothing could bring it down and it destroyed anything in it's path so we ran for it, we managed to lose it for a short amount of time but it came back pursuing us again" he told every detail.

"We managed to make it to a dominion transport still docked with the base, we commandeer it and escaped, when the nuclear reactor blew the hybrid let out a dying scream it felt like my head would explode" he finished explaining to her, "So that was the source of the scream but for it to reach Char from Castanar must've been powerful" she stated, "During the moments when I felt the scream I could feel that you and Lilith were experiencing it at the same time I was, I was scared that the scream could reach you here" he told her.

"Jim why did you do that?" she asked as she knew he could've died there "Because what if Mengsk started to use those hybrids against you, I've seen that they feed on both Zerg and Protoss DNA, and also I did it so that you and Lilith could be safe" he explained to her, "Besides all the data and the specimens that Mengsk had there were the originals, he made no back-ups because the base was in such a secure location and very few people knew about it, wasn't very smart" he stated.

"And besides that was a big blow to Mengsk" he said with a smile which she copied, "Tosh tells me that we could almost make a move and go for Mengsk himself" Jim stated which Kerrigan returned a curious look, "He was the one I contacted when you crashed on Char so that your Raiders can come and get you" she said remembering who Tosh was, "But he doesn't feel like a ordinary Ghost?" she asked "He isn't he calls himself a Spectre he claims his kind are the next generation Ghost, their powers are enhanced and increased with the properties of Jorium crystals and Terrezine gas" he explained to Kerrigan.

"But the best part about him is that he hates Mengsk as much as you and me, he tells me that his brothers and sisters are behind me ready to take their revenge against Mengsk", Kerrigan smiled at hearing Jim tell her this "That sounds good to hear" she answered but then a memory resurfaced in her mind, it was one about them having a conversation before the day that she was taken and infested.

"You know Jim it feels good for us to be talking like this, even after all I have done" she paused then looked in the direction of Lilith's room, "And with Lilith it's like we are a family" she said, "Yeah it does" he replied with a happy voice, Kerrigan couldn't help but look in his mind and see his Son, "Jim what happened to John?" she asked as even she couldn't break the deepest barrier of Jim's mind where he held his most deepest guilt and inner demons.

"A few years after he was born he started to show Psionic potential so the Confederate military tried to enlist him into their Ghost program, I was against the idea completely but my wife was telling me that I was being too angry at the Confederates during the war so I gave in, a week later the Confederate enlisters came by and told us that the transport that John had been on was destroyed" he stopped as the memory was painful to relive, "My wife died shortly afterwards because of the shock but I think it was of guilt as well that she didn't believe me, I closed myself up in my work after that" he finished telling her.

"That's why I made a vow when I saw Lilith" he paused and looked into Kerrigan's glowing yellow eyes "That I would not let what happened to John happen to Lilith", Kerrigan felt a slight happiness and a little sadness at hearing Jim confess this to her.

"Was his body ever found?" She asked but then Jim looked away "Didn't need to everything was incinerated from the outer hall down to the very last person aboard" he then turned back to face her, "Although they were my family I didn't even shed one tear for them, I started to think I was some monster that I couldn't shed a tear even for the ones I love" he said trying to hold in his tears.

"You are not a monster Jim, it was a terrible a shock for your son but for your wife shortly afterwards, I don't think a man can handle so much so fast so that they can cry for them" she said with a sound mind. "Thank you Sarah" he spoke saying her name which stunned her, "You always knew what to say even if you could read my mind" he said smiling through some tears that managed to get out, "Well there are some things that I don't need to read your mind for" she said remembering their first encounter with each other during their days under Mengsk's command.

Both of them heard a cry coming from Lilith's room which they spent no time in going to it, both of them came to see Lilith tossing and turning in her sleep whimpering and had tears rolling down her face, "No!...Don't hurt Daddy" she said in her sleep "What?" both of them spoke quietly as they looked at her, Kerrigan knelt down to her daughter's organic sleeping pod she placed a hand on the organic shield and saw a hole open, she reached her hand through and began stroking her head "Shh it's ok Mommy is here" she said soothing her which to some extent helped but Lilith continued to toss and turn.

"Can you make another hole?" Jim asked her which in a few seconds one appeared for him, he reached his arm through and placed his hand on Lilith's cheek, "Hey don't be scared I'm right here with your Mother" he spoke just as soothing as Kerrigan did which made Lilith calm down completely, "Has she had Nightmares like this before?" he asked "No this is the first time something like this has happened" Kerrigan responded as she closed the holes that allowed them to place their arms through.

Once Lilith had calmed down both of them walked back into the chamber where Jim sat back on the organic mass of a chair, which Kerrigan took a seat next to him "Kerrigan do you still want to kill Mengsk?" he asked her "Yes, why do you ask?" she answered back wondering what he was thinking, "Is it because of him leaving you on New Gettysburg or is it for Lilith now?" Jim asked wanting to know what the reason was, "Both I'm still going to make him pay for what he did, and he is never going to get a hand on our daughter, I'm pretty sure that you agree with me" she said voicing her thoughts in anger.

"Absolutely, the confederates took my son from me, I will be damned if Mengsk takes Lilith I don't think I will be able handle a repeat of what happened to John" he stared at the floor, "Kerrigan how did you think of the way to conceive Lilith?" he wondered.

Kerrigan took a short few seconds to remember how she had the idea to conceive Lilith, "It was back when you crashed I was staring at your injured body when I had a thought in my head, I remembered that Terran females could get pregnant by have the DNA of the male inserted into the female's egg externally from the body, I knew if I didn't get a sample of your DNA then I don't know when another chance would be, I also remembered that when I was recruited into the Confederate Ghost program they took some of my eggs in hopes that they could give birth to children with Psionic powers, It then went on from there that since Lilith has my DNA that the virus that infested me would work on her and it did" she explained to him.

"You then know the rest" she finished before she looked to the organic window to see the sun setting, "Are you going to be staying the night here or you going to be going back to your ship?" she asked looking into his eyes, "As much as I would like to stay I need to be going" he stood up and looked at Kerrigan "I don't know if this is really true, you being this nice and caring?" he said as he could remember when she would be ruthless and cold.

"What can't it be that I have changed?" she said jokingly and stood up before she walked up to him "You still doubt my intentions?" she said as she got close to him, "You know it" he answered back with a curious tone, she reached an arm around his neck, "I can tell you that you or your raiders will be not be harmed, unless Lilith come to any harm , in that case your raiders better start running for their lives" she spoke with a evil grin on her face, "Ok, Darling" he said before he was surprised with Kerrigan kissing him on the lips which didn't last long, "That was so you would come back when you have time" she said still grinning but on the inside she was smiling.

"Right, Tell Lilith I'm sorry that I couldn't stay" he said as he walked out of the hive to the albino Zergling waiting for him, "I will" she said before the Zergling took off towards his transport.