A/N When I get reviews, most of the points and ideas people bring up go on the 'Good Ideas for Later' pile. Most of the time I already thought of putting the idea in question into the story but felt like it would be more fitting in another chapter. However, the feedback for this chapter bothered me to no end. When I reread this chapter and the reviews I've been getting, I realized that there were a few things missing. Things that I should have put in and won't really fit anywhere else. Therefore, I decided to re-upload this chapter. I apologize to all of you who came here expecting a new chapter. It's just an update. Please don't hate me. I'll release another chapter soon! Well, Blizzard Soon(tm) anyway.

Bridge, Hyperion

"Just because that artifact seems to do what you want, doesn't make going after it any less crazy. Who knows what tricks Mengsk, or whoever else is involved in this mess, have up their sleeves? These coded messages to the Umoja, the knowledge the Dominion has when they shouldn't; something doesn't add up."

"You have a better idea? Time isn't exactly on our side. If these reports are anything to go by there are dozens of hybrids in stasis throughout the sector. I'd say we hit them sooner rather than later."

"But we don't know if…My lady." Tiberias bowed politely before Kerrigan as she and Raynor walked onto the bridge. The Queen was actually quite relieved to see her underling argue with the good general. As long as they were talking, they at least wouldn't be killing each other. Raynor sat down on his favorite chair and looked at the hologram.

"So, the artifact. How does it work?"

Stetmann stepped forward and nervously presented his preliminary findings. "Well, sir, it's a device best described as an electrical transformer connected to a series of psi-emitters. It turns electrical energy into psionic waveforms that destabilize stress response complexes in…"

"English, Stetmann. It's been a long day." Raynor grunted.

"Right. Well, it allows nerve tissue to form properly in a Protoss-Zerg hybrid without triggering an apoptotic response due to…"

"Stetmann…"

"What the good scientist is trying to say" Tiberias interrupted "is that the artifact gives hybrids enough mental complexity to be of any actual use. Without it, any hybrid you create will either end up brain dead or insane, like that thing you found at the Castanar facility."

Finally, a straight answer. "And how does the artifact do that?"

The scientist and the infested Terran simply looked at each other and shrugged. As much as either of them hated to admit it, they truly had no idea.

"Ever heard of Clarke's Third Law?" Cain asked "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? Well, I've seen quite a lot of weird things over the past few years, but this artifact of yours takes the cake. It's not like Protoss tech where you can still see the circuitry and mechanisms if you look hard enough. As far as I can tell, the damn thing might as well run on fairy dust."

"But we mined a library's worth of data out of the Moebius computers. Surely there was at least something that could tell us how it works?" Kerrigan asked.

"Moebius doesn't seem to know why or how it works either. They know how to use it, or at least they think they do, but it doesn't look like they ever bothered to figure out what makes it work." Matt Horner stood upright as he spoke, even more than usual. He was one of the few among the Raiders who still remembered Kerrigan from the Sons of Korhal. Even for him, it was difficult to see her as anything other than the Queen of Blades.

Kerrigan ignored the questions and fears floating through the captain's mind and went on with more pressing concerns. "So who did make the artifact? It's too old to be human, but I doubt it's Protoss either. If it was, we would have known more about it by now."

"Yes, well, we can only speculate as to who created this thing," said the jittery scientist "but since the artifact is needed to create useable hybrids, I think it is acceptable to assume that it was created by the same people who gave the Dominion the technology to splice Zerg and Protoss DNA. As for who they are, I have only theories. Interesting puzzle, though. There's a lot of data we haven't read through yet, as well as plenty of leads to follow, so I'm sure we'll figure it out sooner or later."

Raynor slowly took a sip from his flask before closing the bottle and putting it back. "It's the Xel'Naga. They, or one of them for that matter, created the hybrids and probably this artifact as well."

Kerrigan knew that name. Xel'Naga…creators…Gods the Overmind usurped in eons past… Another bloody chapter in the Zerg Swarm's genetic memory. But this didn't make any sense. "Jim, the Xel'naga are dead. Have been for ages."

"Her majesty is correct, Commander." Cain elaborated. "The Xel'Naga were destroyed by the Overmind and the oldest of the Zerg Swarm soon after they created us. Every last worldship was hunted down and obliterated. Common knowledge to us Zerg. The possibility of them being back… It's as good an explanation as any, I suppose, but I hope you have some pretty good evidence to back it up."

"Sarah, do you remember Zeratul? Big, high ranking Protoss that can turn himself invisible?"

The mere mention of his name sent shivers up her spine. "I know there is a long list of people that deserve to kill me, and his name is right at the top." She said, dryly. If you make someone kill their own matriarch, not even death would be justice.

"Well, he stopped by the other day to give me a warning and a memory crystal. Apparently he uncovered a prophecy about the end of the world as we know it. He showed me a…vision, I suppose, of the final battle between the last of the Protoss and a seemingly endless army of Zerg and hybrids. It didn't end well for the Protoss, and after the battle, the hybrids destroyed the Zerg as well, along with the rest of the universe. He also thinks you're able to stop it somehow."

Kerrigan wondered if Jim had gone insane. A prophecy about an army of hybrids leading Zerg, her Zerg, into battle against the Protoss, only for the Swarm to be killed off in the end? And she was supposed to stop this…somehow?! She probed his mind, looking for signs of treachery, or insanity, only to find that he was completely honest about this. It wasn't a trick, it wasn't a trap, and it certainly wasn't the delusions of a broken mind. Still, this was too insane for words. She looked at her underling. He probably was two seconds short of saying something snarky or questioning whether Raynor was crazy or not.

"I…suppose that explains a lot…" Tai believed the commander? She sensed a great deal of doubt, but still. Sarah's mind was officially spinning inside her skull. "Zerg instinctively follow the strongest. The Queen of Blades made us like that. If you got yourself killed, there'll be no one left to control the entirety of the Swarm. If an outsider with enough psychic power comes along, he could take control of the solitary broods and eventually put the Swarm back together."

He couldn't be serious. Alien prophecies? Armageddon? Tai always seemed to be a rationalist, if a bit pessimistic at times. It felt almost out of character that he would believe something like this, at least not without a mountain of evidence confirming something like this. Unless…

"We knew this was going to happen, didn't we?" The humans looked at her, confused. They probably didn't know about her partial amnesia yet.

"The Queen of Blades was convinced that there was something out there trying to kill us. Not just the Zerg, but everything else too. I don't know what made her think that, but she was adamant about it and it wasn't my place to question her, at least not on something this big."

"Iszha never said anything about this…"

"Because the late Queen never told her, or anyone else for that matter, exactly what she was afraid of, though I believe they must have been suspicious. I figured out something was wrong when she ordered us to find a way to get into human research and intelligence organizations, even those that wouldn't yield anything useful. Whatever she thought was coming, she genuinely feared it."

"She…I told you all this but no one else?"

Tai lowered his head apologetically. "Well, she didn't exactly tell me. When I asked about it, the Queen slammed me into the closest thing resembling a wall and told me that if I ever brought it up again she'd toss me into a lava pit. I took that as a 'yes' and decided not to press the issue any further. That was generally the healthiest thing to do when the late Queen was feeling upset." Of course, she thought. Fear was a weakness and he was essentially calling her weak. Still, it is rather strange that he would admit that the Queen of Blades possessed any weaknesses at all, especially in front of humans. Then again, these same humans managed to beat her. By Tiberias' twisted Zerg logic, that would probably make them superior to the Queen of Blades.

His train of thought about the prophecy did make some sense though. A hybrid invasion wasn't out of the question any more, judging by the contents of the Dominion lab, and if there was anything that could create a successful Protoss-Zerg hybrid, it would certainly be a Xel'Naga.

Captain Horner finally interrupted the conversation. "Okay, the human is a little confused here. You forgot an end-of-the-world prophecy?"

Kerrigan did not like that tone, but the captain was in his right to ask. "I remember very little from the past four years. The Zerg have helped me catch up to the major events, but other than that, everything just seems like a dream." Truth, clean and simple. She didn't think the captain would buy it, though.

"I don't buy it." Nope. "For all I know you're walking us right into another trap. Just because your friend keep talking about you in third person…"

"Captain Horner," said Tiberias, seemingly annoyed that the captain implied he was a liar, "when we freed her from Elysium, there were three things on her mind: weapons, clothing, and an escape route. Do you really think the Queen of Blades would need any of those?"

"Matt," Raynor interrupted. "let it go. We'll talk about this later." Horner finally backed down after a few seconds. Kerrigan briefly scanned the thoughts of the crewmembers to get a sense of whose side they were on in this argument. Few believed her, of course, but Raynor stood out from all the others. Not just because he was probably the only one who seemed to want to believed her, but mainly because he seemed to be…relieved to hear about her amnesia. He was afraid that knowing the full truth would cost her her mind, or worse, the last shred of her humanity. To be perfectly honest, it nearly did. But why would he care so much about her mental state?

Kerrigan decided to dig a little deeper into the commander's mind. If Izsha was right about what happened during the Brood War, Raynor shouldn't be this caring or forgiving. Unless he…blamed himself?! The Queen cleared her mind and had another go at Jim's memories. She had to be wrong, there was no way… Another mind probe confirmed what she saw the first time. The poor bastard held himself responsible for everything that happened to her. Dammit, why did he do that to himself? He couldn't have saved her at New Gettysburg, no one could. He couldn't have stopped the Queen of Blades from committing atrocity after atrocity. Why, he did more than anyone could have ever asked of him. He stood against the Swarm whenever he could and successfully launched an invasion to stop her. And still, he thought he owed her! Sarah wanted to hug him, tell him to stop beating himself up over things he could not have prevented, but she couldn't do it. Not here. Not in front of everyone. Still, she had to find a way to help him. Jim needed her as much as she needed him. If there was a list of all the stories in the sector that deserved a happy ending, his would be at the top.

"I would like to see that memory crystal, if you'd allow it. Something like this needs to be verified." Tiberias went back to business. Figures. He probably didn't care about human emotional dramas unless it affected him or the Zerg directly. Hopefully, he didn't pick up her previous train of thought. If he did, the commander's emotional issues would probably feature prominently in his next 'Reasons Humans are Idiots' lecture.

"Sorry, pal, crystal is gone, along with most of our other laboratory samples and gadgets we've picked up. Dominion must have stolen them." Stetmann answered. "But I'm certain miss. Kerrigan can use some mindreading trick to replay the vision from the Commander's memories…"

"Psychic powers don't work like that. If I'd try that, your commander's brain will probably resemble a targeting dummy at a marine shooting range when I'm done." The Zerg Queen explained.

"Really? Oh, well, that's bad I guess. Still, am I the only one that thinks that the Dominion could have figured out how to do this on their own? Not the artifact, I mean, that's way beyond any of us, but the hybrids. We still don't know anything about the artifact other than what the Dominion guys have written down. It could have been the alien equivalent of a Christmas Tree for all we know, and splicing DNA is something we have been able to do for five hundred years. I used to work for the Dominion, they're smarter than you think."

Tiberias quickly pressed a few buttons and brought up the schematics of the device and the containment field the Dominion engineers build around it. "Look at the position of the modulators, the shape of the conductors, or heck, the output of the transformer. There's no way they could have figured all this out in a few weeks. Someone is helping them. Someone who somehow knows a great deal about a device that up until last month existed in five different pieces scattered across the stars."

"They could have guessed? Much of the structure could have been inferred from the artifact's circuitry and functioning. Maybe they got lucky with the parameters?"

"It takes weeks for one of these hybrids to grow large enough to see the effect of the artifact. You mean to tell me that they guessed the necessary output of a transformer down to the nano-Volt and got it right on their first try? That would be like me firing my gun in a random direction and somehow hitting Emperor Mengsk in the head. I'm telling you, there's an outsider involved. Which is why, Captain Horner and General Warfield, I think it's a really bad idea to attack Mengsk now. Sure, you've got the advantage against him, but he's just a minor issue compared to the real enemy. Whoever or whatever is behind all this will not be pleased to find out that their baby doomsday devices have gone missing. We should hold back, for the moment at least, hide, rebuild our forces and try to find out who or what it is we're fighting. We can't stop an enemy we don't understand, and I for one have no interest in throwing my life away on a fool's errand."

"I disagree, Tiberias." Kerrigan stated "The Dominion may not be the mastermind, but they are involved nonetheless. I'd say we hit them now, catch them with their pants down. Cutting off the snake's body may not be as good as cutting off the head, but it'll get the job done. Besides, I still have an axe to grind with our 'beloved' emperor."

"And how do you suggest you'll do that, darlin'? Shove your Zerg down the Dominion's throat?" Raynor got out of his seat and leaned against one of the consoles. "Look, your little raid won't go unnoticed. The public may never find out what really happened to us, but the Dominion military will. They are gonna have their guys on high alert throughout the sector. Anything worth hitting will be turned into a fortress. The only way we'll be able to get through to Mengsk is through the entire Dominion army. At best, we'll waste resources we should be spending on the hybrids. At worst, we'll cripple both our forces and leave the sector defenseless against the hybrid armies. Unless you're holding out on us big time, I think you'll wanna lay low for a while. Matt, General, are we anywhere near battle-ready?"

"Well…no, sir. We aren't. We haven't been able to contact any of our other ships yet, assuming any of them survived long enough to escape in the first place. Char was a killing field." Horner stated with an air of resignation. The Dominion had given their ships proper IFF codes to make sure they wouldn't be shot down by their allies. There was a chance that they survived. Even if they did, though, finding them would not be easy. Convincing them to tag along now that the Zerg were in the picture even less so.

Warfield simply sighed. He knew the Dominion combat doctrines better than anyone. As much as he hated to admit it, attacking now would be risky to the extreme. If they did, and Raynor was right about the hybrids, they might unwittingly gamble with the lives of every man, woman, and child in the sector. Assuming the Raiders would succeed in overthrowing Mengsk in the first place.

With no one else questioning him, Raynor started giving orders. "Alright, let's put our fleet back together again. General, I want you to start contacting as many of your former colleagues as you can, try getting us more support or information. Anything that helps us figure out what were up against. Matt, the ship's a bit overcrowded. Get me another one. Or a couple dozen other ones. Keep your eyes and ears open for any of our lost ships. Stetmann, go over all this data and start working on weapons that can kill these things. Now, I don't know when or where the Hybrids will hit us, but when they do, I expect us to be ready for them."

"Maybe the Protoss can help? They're supposed to respect you, and I'm sure they are no more happy to hear about the hybrids than we are. They still have a sizable fleet, if our latest intel reports are right." The general suggested.

"We can ask, but I don't know how much they can help. I saw what the Castanar hybrid did to the Protoss captured there. Chances are, they'll just want to glass our colonies from orbit rather than sending their warriors against something that can beat them to death with their own souls. I don't want to force their hand, at least not until we know how to fight the hybrids."

"I guess you know more about that than I do." Warfield grunted. "What about our other alien 'friends', though? I don't think my boys will appreciate having them running around the ship. Don't think your boys will feel any different."

"He's right, Jim. I've seen the looks people give us. I'll only be a liability if I stick around. Besides, if the Dominion claims we helped you, no one will believe it unless we're seen together." Kerrigan's fears were not unfounded. If it weren't for Raynor, she and Cain would have been thrown out the airlock a long time ago.

"I find it hard to believe myself." Muttered the aging general, mostly to himself.

Raynor was lost in his thoughts for a few moments. He needed all the help he could get, but putting faith in Kerrigan, the former Queen of Blades, would not go well with his people. It seemed like no matter what he did, there would be repercussions. However, if the Fallen One and his armies are as powerful as he thought they were, he really had no choice but to trust the Zerg and pray the Brood War would not repeat itself.

"If we have an invasion on our hands, we're gonna need an army. A big one, bigger than what we can steal or recruit from the Dominion. Sarah, I want you to go to the edge of the sector and rebuild your Swarm. You will stay away from any Protoss or human colony you may come across, take back whatever Zerg the Dominion and the Protoss haven't killed yet and wait for my signal. When the hybrids come, you're gonna jump in and save the day."

"Sir…" Horner tried to protest but Raynor cut him short before he could finish.

"Do you have a better idea, Matt? We can't conjure an army out of thin air. How about you, general? Cade? Kachinsky? I know you all think I've lost it, and you might even be right, but I don't see any of you come up with a better plan. If any of you have an idea that won't get us eaten by hybrids, I'm all ears." The bridge turned silent. Each crew member was looking at the others, hoping one of them would have an epiphany. To be frank, Raynor was among them. He liked his solution no more than his crew did, and with good reason. History had a nasty habit of repeating itself. Even the captain held his tongue. As much as he disliked the idea of letting Kerrigan run off on her own again, he knew that there was no way he could stop someone that could rip his ship in half with her mind.

The silence was broken by tremor caused by the massive leviathan pulling alongside the vessel.

"That sounds like our ride, Jim." Kerrigan said "We should probably get going." Before your crew mutinies and kills us, she added telepathically.

As Sarah turned towards the exit, the rebel commander stopped her. "I'm not going to regret this, Sarah. Do you understand me?"

"You won't" It wasn't much of a reassurance, but it'd have to do.

"Good. I'll let you out." Raynor didn't just come with her to say goodbye. Honestly, he was genuinely worried his crew would turn on him. At least one of them must seriously be considering mutiny by now. He went with her to buy himself a little time. Time he'd need to think of a back-up plan, as well as a proper speech to his men.