Disclaimer: I do not own Starcraft or any of its copyrighted material. I do own this fiction however, no touchy.

Chapter 20: Preparation

Their blood boiled at the thought of what would soon happen, the violence they could soon bring down upon the terrans. They didn't actually have any conscious thought toward it, but through their link in the hive mind they could feel their cerebrate's desire to kill as if it was their own.

Yes, the words in Kagi's mind seemed to hiss, we can finally go back to the battlefield. I cannot wait.

Vincent and Kagi had grown much more inseparable after their infestation, the hive mind connection brought them to a level they had never experienced before in their past life. Because of this they could hear each other's thoughts if they chose to.

The cerebrate has nothing for us to do until then though.

Well then, Kagi replied directly into Vincent's mind, we are free to do as we wish.

Freedom. It was a strange idea to them now. They didn't really have freedom, everything they did was governed by the immense and powerful cerebrate, and the cerebrates governed by the overmind. The sense of freedom seemed to spark a long abandoned part of their minds. Something distant and dormant.

Even as the thoughts of their past lives, the wants and needs of their past lives, flooded back the new portion of their brain buried the thoughts all over again. Powerful as it was it couldn't stop everything, the Zerg lobe was in fact much smaller than the rest of the brain, and a little bit of the most solidly ingrained thoughts seeped through its net.

Train. A single word that spoke volumes to the two of them. A need and call that came from that distant life. We shall train, they both spoke into each other's minds this time. The mental voices and consciousnesses blending for just a moment and leaving them both confused as to which body was connected to which mind.

The moment passed as they moved through the command center.

Spawning pool first? Vincent asked to Kagi.

Then the Den.

They went off to find zerglings that hadn't been assigned duties by the overlords which they could issue commands to.

As they approached and felt the slight void of awareness that accompanied a zergling without a telepathic overseer they reached out and filled that void, getting six zerglings to work with. Vincent immediately commanded two to go to the armory that was kept in working condition for them and retrieve paint and rubber training rounds for their gauss rifles. As an after-thought he added a few other items to the list, including medical supplies.

He would basically have to do it himself though, the zerglings had trouble working any of the machinery and didn't really have hands to carry anything. So he'd have to take a much more direct command of them and operate the machines to get everything into packs they could load onto their backs.

In the mean time though they had four zerglings to work with. First they'd work with the rifles in their hands.

Kagi and Vincent set the four of them up for each exercise, having one charge them from the front or sides, a few times they'd have them randomly come from behind and rely on their ability to detect it with their normal senses, shutting out the constant reminder of their exact placement through the hive mind.

They learned what exactly the zerglings would do in their attacks, allowing them to come at first slowly, then as time went on they would allow them to simply charge as they wished.

Back-step grab twist thrust elbow STOP. Kagi stopped himself just before smashing the hinge joint of the zergling's scythe. The other charged, instep inside-guard grab STOP, this time his clawed hand was around its throat, and as a bonus it was off balance and his right leg was blocking its leg.

Vincent was having a very similar experience, out-step sliding-block grip fire, his gauss rifle clicked on empty, lucky for the zergling he had removed all of the rounds and they didn't tear into its head. Even as he pulled the trigger the other was leaping at his side. Drop! inside-blocks catch throw roll stom-STOP. Now he was proud of himself, he sent the thought process to Kagi which was returned by the overwhelming desire to use it.

He had dropped to the ground as the zergling jumped and slid both scythes' attacks away from him by catching the joints, the 'elbows' of the arms, and caught it on his boot. The suit's power was more than enough to send it flying over him and give him enough momentum to come up right by its head as it landed and smash its head. However he managed to pull the stomp before it happened.

Now they brought out the training rounds and proceeded to try target practice on zerglings. Seeing into their minds they could predict their movements easily, but they needed to learn it, so they both eventually shut down that part of their minds and relied only on what they saw and remembered zerglings would do. It didn't always work, but they were getting better. More training was needed. The scrapes on their armor proved they needed more in hand-to-hand as well. Or rather, claw.

Once they had finished with the zerglings they moved on to the hydralisk and saw what they could do there.

To their surprise they found the hydralisk to be very similar opponents, but with a few 'vulnerable' points along their bodies that would have wonderful results. A few close calls and delves into their minds reveled at least four places that if hit would either impale tissues on their own spines, or crush vital organs with their own bones.

With all the experience we're getting fighting these Zerg, I can't help but want to try it out, to see blood caused by my hand. But we'll probably never get the chance to fight our own kind.

Meanwhile Elly was preparing herself as best she could, training her mind and body every day for when she would next put her life on the line. One of the few medics that could boast fighting as well as healing, she took great pride in her natural marksmanship and drilled herself in it daily. The scuttlebutt said something about combat coming soon.

Only it didn't seem to be quite in their favor, another battle group that had been evacuating lost their battlecruiser. Though when the zerg began to get the upper hand the captain of the ship decided he wouldn't let the bastards get away and sent out a broadcast on all bands, even their own group had gotten it. It was simple and kept repeating for as long as was possible, it stated that the zerg were attacking in the ship and that they'd hold for as long as they could, but they wouldn't let the zerg simply take the ship, the ship was going to be set into a reactor over-load cycle and then the expected range of the blast that would ensue. That was common knowledge on the ship, anyone with a receiver device had their signal pirated to hear it.

The rumor was that they were headed off to save the group of military and civilian survivors that had miraculously gotten away in time. The physicists on-board had been questioned by some of the crew and they personally believed that many refugees would need radiation treatment, which could only be found on a battlecruiser or a similarly equipped medical ship.

In Elly's opinion it wasn't a matter of should they rescue them, they couldn't leave behind people who had been through so much grief and trial.

Author's Note: Well okay, I just posted two chapters then. And I really think I should post another... But three is just too many for one day. I'll stick the next one on in a few days, I'm writing every day now and I'm actually a few more ahead than are up on fanfiction. Well I hope you enjoy! Give me some reviews so I know that someone is still reading my drivel.