...
Act II
A Christmas to remember
Chapter 2
Taking a Trip down Memory Lane
There weren't many places left where Sarah could have gone.
Well, this statement was somewhat incorrect. She could go wherever the hell she wanted to. But her recent "adventure" on Aiur's moon had shown her that the locals might not be too happy to see her again. And to be brutally honest; she wasn't in the mood to deal with people right now, no matter which species they belonged. She could have ignored what the people thought about her. She could walk among them and they wouldn't even realize who she was. But right now she just wanted to be alone. It pained her to admit it, but Artanis had scored more than just one critical hit. He had done the one thing she feared most: He had made her question about herself and her own place in the universe. It wasn't because she was afraid of the answer. It was because she knew the answer to that already.
So where could she go?
At first, she had thought about returning to Char. Even though Zagara had been pretty clear about not wanting Sarah to return to the Swarm. But maybe there was still a way to lay low on Char for a while. She had little doubt that her brightest student would lead the Swarm into a glorious future, a different future. That future would without a doubt lead to conflict, but there were enough things Sarah had to deal with. Zagara possessed the ability to lead the Swarm, Sarah had made sure of that. And Sarah had no place among the Swarm anymore.
All she wanted was a place she could call, well, home.
Sarah didn't want to lie, right now she wished to be back on Char, leading her Swarm like she had used to. Alright, maybe without the whole "Crush everything in your path!"-attitude. She missed her primary hive. Oh, it had been such a magnificent creature! Bigger than the biggest skyscrapers on Korhal. Bigger even than the puny palace Arcturus had called his home back in Augustgrad. Ha, Sarah was betting that he would have been furious to see that her "palace" had been far bigger than his. Hmm, now that she thought about it: Her primary hive kinda had been like a palace. It even had possessed kind of courtyard, fitting for a Queen.
A Queen.
A ruler!
No more.
Sarah shook her head as she walked through the narrow corridors. Nostalgia was such a drag, but recently it had become even worse. She had problems focusing her mind on the tasks at hand. Well, if she would have any tasks to take care of. Oh, she could still answer every question Izsha asked her. However, for some odd reason, it seemed as if her mind wasn't willing to concentrate on the things that were right in front of her.
Where else could she go then? Zerus? It was a Zerg-world. It was the Zerg-world. And it certainly had the nicest beaches around. However, as much as she still cared for the Swarm, as little did she care for Zerus and the Primal Zerg who lived there. Come to think of it...
"Izsha?" Sarah looked over her shoulder as she walked down the corridor. Her trusted advisor followed her closely and tilted her head to the side.
"Yes, my Queen?" the black snake-woman asked.
"I just wondered...did Zagara return to Zerus? Did she have any plans for the Primal Zerg?"
"The Overqueen did not share her plans or motivations with me, your Majesty." Izsha explained. It sounded strange, but Sarah could feel Izsha's frustration when she said that. "I do not know if she had any plans for the Primal Zerg, or if she wanted to return to Zerus anytime soon."
"Well, she never was fond of them." Sarah mumbled. "What do you think?"
"Think, my Queen?" Izsha asked and tilted her head to the side.
"Yeah, what do you think would Zagara do? You think she will venture to Zerus?" Instead of answering the question right away, Izsha took some time to gather her thoughts. Now that she was no longer part of the Swarm, she had to use her own brain to come up with an analysis of the situation.
"While I do believe that Zagara might return to Zerus at one point, I do not think that she wants to utilize the Primal Zerg for the Swarm. However, I do believe that she might want to secure the world in order to make sure that no one else finds it. A conflict between the Swarm and the Primal Zerg is likely, yet I do not know if the Overqueen has already planned for this. My insight into her leadership was...limited." The way Izsha pronounced the left no doubts that she hadn't been happy about the fact that Zagara had treated her like a useless asset.
"Well, I guess I should stop worrying about that." Sarah mumbled and pulled her shoulders up. "It's not as if we can change anything about that, right? If the Swarm decides to go to war against the Primal Zerg, then that's their decision." Seriously, she had to stop thinking about the past.
"Speaking of Primal Zerg; what about Dehaka? Where did he go?"
"The Overqueen spaced him." Izsha just replied and Sarah blinked her eyes when she heard that.
"Wait, what? When did she do that?"
"Roughly half a day after you left us, my Queen."
"Wow..." Sarah whispered. "I knew they never liked each other, but...wow." And then she sighed. No, returning to the Zerg was no longer an option. Where else could she go? Oh, she could spend the next couple of centuries drifting through space, but it just didn't feel right. And since Zagara had thrown her off Char and Artanis had made it very clear that he didn't want to see her on any world inhabited by Protoss, it only left her with one option left...
She had visited countless of worlds during her time as a human. But usually only because her superiors had ordered the death of someone. So she had no real connection to most places. There were a few though, some places that hadn't been just a job. Like TarKossia...
TarKossia, her birth-world. Her human birth-world. She didn't remember much of her childhood. Too much had been wiped out by the thorough mind-cleansing the Ghost-program had done to her. And she didn't feel like digging for those memories in her own mind right now. The few things she remembered were more than enough. What she could remember wasn't much; running through fields of corn, rain on her skin, her father scolding her...and the brain of her mother, splattered all over the place. It had been the first time she had used her powers. Sarah had been nothing but a small child, yet that memory was enough for her to leave her childhood buried under all those traumas. No, there was nothing on TarKossia that had any value to her.
Tarsonis? No. NO! Absolutely not! She would never set foot on that dead husk of a world again. If there was one thing that was absolutely certain, then it was that she would never go there. It was the place that had changed everything...
Korhal had come to her mind. It was the place of her biggest triumph, the place where she had finally not only defeated Arcturus Mengsk but where she had purged him from existence. She remembered that one final moment of his life, the moment when she had poured enough psionic energies into his mind to even kill a goddamn Archon. As her energies had started to tear his molecules apart, she had felt his anger, his confusion, and his hatred. Some might say that it his death had been too quick. However, Sarah knew the truth. She had made him feel every damn second of it. She had slowed time down for him, so he felt how every part of his mind started to dissolve. And then...BANG!
Yet when she thought about that moment, she didn't feel any kind of pride or happiness, just exhaustion. For so many years, Arcturus Mengsk had been on her mind. He had controlled her when she had worked for him. However, he had also controlled her when she had become the Queen of Blades. Because her anger towards him had bound her to him. What had the Queen of Blades been without the Emperor of the Dominion? It had been her one goal in life; to destroy this man. Now that he was gone, there was no point to become the Queen of Blades again.
Her thirst for vengeance...it was gone.
All that remained was exhaustion.
Korhal. No. Not now. Maybe some other time. Maybe once the scars of Amon's attacks had finally healed, although she was really close to Korhal anyway. Seriously, all she had to do was to flush herself out of the next airlock and hold her breath for a few hours and she would be there. Okay, maybe it would take a bit longer without using her powers, but she could even see the world from here. The battlecruiser she was on was inside a drydock in high orbit over the moon of Korhal. It was an old battlecruiser, one that had seen countless battles. To her, ships had never been something special. They were all replaceable anyway and unlike Leviathans, they weren't truly alive. However, this battlecruiser was different. She could feel it. It was as if the metallic walls were talking to her. And she could still feel the faint presence of its former commander. She knew this ship well.
The Hyperion.
Once it had been Mengsk's flagship, but after Tarsonis Jim had decided to take her with him. The Hyperion was a fine ship. Well, had been a fine ship. Now she was resting inside a dry dock, waiting to be salvaged for parts. None of that was of any importance to Sarah. She didn't care for the ship itself. Though she had to admit; the Hyperion had caused her more headaches as the Queen of Blades than any other vessel. That ship had managed to ruin her plans more than one time. However, she hadn't come here because of the Hyperion. She was here because there was no one around. And because she needed to go somewhere where she would be at peace, at least for a short amount of time.
Oh, you certainly are the Champ of Self-Delusions! she thought bitterly. She wasn't here because she needed a time-out. She was here because of him.
Jim.
She could sense his presence on every screw, inside every corridor. It was as if the whole ship smelled like Jim. It was a good kind of smell. The kind of scent that makes you miss someone. As she passed through yet another corridor, she saw a dented plate on the wall and stopped. She remembered that plate.
"They haven't fixed that one...?" she whispered to herself.
"My Queen?" Izsha asked, not realizing that Sarah had just talked to herself. Sarah walked over to the plate and put her hand on it. And then, for a short moment...she could see it all again...
The same place...
Several years earlier...
Sarah was on the way to the CIC. She wasn't actually in a hurry, but she wanted to get there as fast as possible. The corridors between her cabin and the bridge were pretty much terra incognita to her. All she knew was that they were filled with people.
Sarah wasn't a people-person.
Usually, it wasn't much of an issue. She tried to stay inside her cabin most of the time when she was off duty. When she was hungry, she went to the canteen, grabbed something to eat and returned to her quarters. If she wanted to work out, she went to the gym. If she wanted to be alone, she hid in one of the escape pods on Deck 19, right below the secondary hangars. She tried to avoid other people as much as possible. The only person she could tolerate for more than a few minutes was Arcturus Mengsk. And perhaps that Magistrate they had picked up a few weeks ago. Every time she spoke to him, she felt a form of genuine interest inside his mind towards everything she told him.
She didn't know why, but somehow, she enjoyed his company. He possessed a natural kind of authority, one that you can't learn, but one you have to be born with it. However, there was even more. There weren't many memories of her parents left inside her brain. But somehow, she couldn't help but think of the Magistrate as a father-figure. He certainly had shown her more sympathies than anyone else she had ever met. Well, except maybe that Raynor-guy. However, it was brutally clear that he wasn't interested in Sarah, he was just interested in her body.
She had met many men like him. She had called him a pig, and for a good reason. But much to her own surprise, he had apologized to her during a calm moment. And then there had been the one time where he had made her a cake for her
Sarah couldn't remember the last time when someone had apologized to her. Or apologized to her and meant it. Or made a cake for her.
She shook her head, trying to clear it. Forget about this Raynor-guy! He would be gone soon anyway. Arcturus had decided to pick him and his bunch of misfits up on Mar Sara, just before the Zerg had overrun the place. There was little doubt that this ex-Marshall and his Magistrate-friend weren't interested in a permanent alliance. Too bad, the Sons of Korhal sure could have used their assets. But the thought of staying close to this Raynor-guy...brrrrr...no thanks.
Everything's fine, Darlin'!
Oh, just thinking about this guy caused her blood boil!
As she was heading towards the CIC, she encountered almost no people. And those she met, tried to stay away from her as far as possible. Some even came around a corner, spotted her and turned around immediately. It was almost funny. Almost. Sarah didn't mind though. She still wore her Ghost-suit and her goggles covered her eyes. Many people told her that she had a piercing gaze, one that made people shiver when she looked at them. So she wore her goggles. Of course, then people said that they were scared because they couldn't tell where she was looking. No matter what she did; The people were never happy when she was around.
And so, Sarah wasn't happy when other people were around.
Luckily most people were aware of that fact.
Oh man, it's that Ghost-lady! she could hear the thoughts of those who passed her.
Dear Lord, I always thought they were nothing but a myth...
Shit, she's looking in my direction.
What's a killer like her doing on this ship anyway?
A devil with a face of an angel.
I wonder if it's true what they're saying...if she killed hundreds of innocents just with by thinking about it.
Freaks. All of them. They should all be killed!
Nothing they thought was new to Sarah. By now she was used to it. Funny thing; once people realize that there's a telepath around, they act like their thoughts and memories are the most precious thing in this universe. However, the cruel truth was that someone's memories and thoughts were by no means more important than the ones of the next guy. No matter how much you love your mother, the other guy loves his mum just as much. And to Sarah, it didn't matter which guy thought about his mother, because it was always the same picture.
Dirty bitch. Can still smell the blood all over her. Should do the world a favor and snuff that worthless piece of trash. Heh...gonna ask Rhalm if he still has some of his candy, maybe we can drug that bitch and show her her proper place before we throw her out of the airlock, have some fun with her. Nice body, I bet the boys will enjoy a ride...no one will ever know...
There was a limit to how much Sarah was willing to tolerate. And thinking something like this when you're close to someone who can read minds? Sarah believed in natural selection and there were people who were simply too stupid to be allowed to live. Seriously, she was about to do humanity a favor by removing this guy from the gene-pool.
The images in her head were more than enough to make her blood boil. It came from a technician, who was working on some valves. He had removed the panel that covered the wall and he wasn't alone; three other guys were with him. They all were nothing but big brutes with biceps bigger than Sarah's head. Their faces were covered in scars and their noses looked like they were all bar-brawl-champions. They all seemed busy, but Sarah knew the truth; neither one of them was actually working, they were just acting like they were busy so no officer would slap them. The moment she passed them, she could hear his dark and sinister thoughts and see what he had planned for her. She was already a few meters away when she suddenly stopped, turned around and walked straight back towards them. Like said; there was a limit to Sarah's patience. The guy closest to her saw how she approached them. He grunted and walked towards her, probably aware of the fact that she had heard his thoughts.
"Hey, listen...I and the boys don't want any-"
CRACK!
"AAAAGHHH!" he screamed in pain when Sarah's hand shot up and broke his nose. Blood shot out of his nostrils and his eyes turned glassy. He stumbled backward and fell into the arms of one of his pals.
"You bitch! You gonna pay for this!" another technician screamed and threw himself forward. Sarah could see how his huge fist shot forward, aiming for her head. She could even make out all the small scars on his knuckles. There was little doubt that he had used those fists on other people many times. And he possessed enough strength to hurt, maim and even kill a normal person. However, that was his biggest problem; Sarah wasn't a normal person. He was far too slow to pose a threat. She pulled her head down and could hear how his fist flew over her. She then grabbed his arm and...
CRACK!
"GHAHAA! BITCH BROKE MY ARYWEEAAA!"
CRACK!
Before he could even finish his sentence, Sarah broke his right arm and his right leg. The big brute yelled in pain and fell to the ground while the professional assassin looked for the next victim. Oh, she wasn't going to kill them. Just teach them a lesson.
"You ain't gonna get away with this, you stupid-" the next thug said, but instead of rushing towards her, he kept his distance. Clever kid. Too bad that it wouldn't change a thing. With reflexes faster than a snake Sarah threw herself forward. Her opponent could see how she closed in and raised his fists as if he could defend himself against her. But he completely ignored his own lower body. Now Sarah could have punched him in the balls and be done with it. But right now, she was out for blood. She dropped to her knees, slung her legs around his ankles, and rolled over. He screamed in surprise and confusion, but only for a moment. Because after a few seconds he started to scream in pain and terror.
CRACK!
Sarah used the strength in her thighs to break both his legs, just to release him from her grip and roll back on her feet. Within less than five seconds she had taken out three men double her size and weight...
...she was getting sloppy.
"No!" the last one shouted and stumbled backward. "No, stay away from me you damn freak!" Freak. Even though Sarah had heard that word so many times, it caused her to feel nothing but anger and rage. So, she was a freak? Why, because she had been born like this? She had never asked for any of this, yet people always came to her when they needed something. Something only she could provide. He had called her a freak? Oh, she would give him a freak! The man tripped over his own feet and landed on his butt. He tried to crawl away from her, but it was pointless.
"Don't worry..." she finally said something. "...it will only hurt like hell." Right before her eyes, she could see how the guy pissed his own pants. Pathetic. Utterly pathetic. As she stood above him, she raised her foot, ready to crush his knee with a quick kick.
"So who is going to show me my rightful place now, huh?" she wanted to know. "Who is gonna snuff me and throw me out of the airlock, hmm?" The man's eyes widened in terror when he realized that she had heard his thoughts from before. Compared to his buddies, he was a weakling. However, it were always the weaklings who thought they could get away with stuff like that...
Sarah was too focused on the guy in front of her her to realize that the one with the broken nose was back on his feet again. He grabbed a huge wrench and stumbled towards her. He raised the wrench high above his own head, ready to smash it against the back of Sarah's head. She hadn't paid attention for one second. One damn second. Like said; she was getting sloppy.
"Take that, bitchUUNFG!" The fist that hit the man's face from the side had enough force to send him flying. That punch lacked any technique, but its raw strength was more than enough to break that guy's jaw. He smashed into the wall of the corridor and his head left a nice dent in the plating. He howled in pain and pressed his hands against his disfigured face before he slumped down on his knees. Sarah's eyes widened in shock and surprise when she saw the man who had decided to help her.
"That ain't no way to talk to a Lady!" James Raynor said with a grumpy look on his face. He rubbed over his knuckles and looked over to Sarah.
"'S everything okay?" he wanted to know. Sarah, whose goggles still covered her eyes, frowned.
"I have to admit..." another voice suddenly reached Sarah's ears. "...you always manage to find the most interesting places and people, my dear James." the Magistrate said as he joined both Jim and Sarah on the corridor.
"Seriously!" Jim groaned. "Will you stop calling me James? It's just Jim."
"I will, once you're gonna stop calling me "Magistrate" all the time. In case you haven't noticed it; the place I used to administrate is gone." Sarah listened to how these two were starting to bicker about the most idiotic things. Seriously, those two guys possessed the unique ability to cause her brain to melt.
"...uckin...itch..." the one with the broken nose and broken jaw gurgled while blood was flowing out of his nose and his mouth. "...idn't...o...any...ing...ong ye sh...ju...kickd u..." The Magistrate looked up to Jim and pulled his browns up.
"Do you understand any of this?" he wanted to know and Jim shrugged his shoulders.
"I think he wanted to apologize to the Lady over here. Either that or he said: "Please punch me in the face, I was born with too many teeth anyway!" Jim mused.
"Sounds about right." the Magistrate agreed and looked down on the four thugs. "You take care of Mrs. Kerrigan, I deal with these jokers." he said with a menacing tone in his voice. Even though the Magistrate looked like your everyday guy, he possessed some kind of natural aura. One that could inspire people to accomplish many things. But he also possessed the ability to scare the living hell out of people if things didn't go his way. And right now, those thugs were at the center of his undiluted attention and scorn. Sarah, on the other hand, didn't care about any of this. She still had to head for the CIC for the debriefing. She didn't want to make Arcturus wait.
"Where you think you're goin'?" the Magistrate asked when he saw how she walked away.
"I have to go to the CIC in order to be debriefed." she just replied while looking over her shoulder.
"Not with that hand you ain't!" Jim said and pointed at her left hand. Sarah stopped and looked down on her knuckles. She blinked in surprise when she saw the red liquid dripping from her fingers. Blood. It was her blood. She had actually managed to injure herself during that fight. There was no doubt about it; she was getting sloppy.
"It's nothing." Sarah barked, clenched her injured hand into a fist and tried to rub the blood away with her other one. There was no pain at all.
"Doesn't look like nothing. Come on, let's check it out." Jim offered. Sarah froze when she heard those words.
"No, thanks. I ca-" she started.
"Can't show up like that in the CIC." the Magistrate said. "Okay, listen; I'm supposed to be at the debriefing as well. I just deal with these jokers here and then I tell those guys that you'll be a few minutes late. James, your bunk is right around the corner, right?"
"Yeeeaaaah?" Jim asked with a suspicious tone in his voice.
"Why won't you take Mrs. Kerrigan with you and treat that wound of hers." the Magistrate suggested. Sarah could already imagine Jim's idiotic smile and groaned on the inside. She was about to refuse this offer, but then she felt the hand of the Magistrate on her shoulder and looked up into his eyes. Even though she wore her goggles, she had the feeling like he was looking right into her eyes.
"Please. Let James treat your hand, then go to the debriefing. Do me the favor." the Magistrate said. Sarah opened the mouth to reply something. Without either of the men noticing it, she probed Jim's mind, looking for some dirty thoughts because he was about to lure her into his cabin. But the only thing she heard was...
...man, I sure hope I flushed the toilet...
"Fine, lead the way." Sarah groaned and shuddered, unable to tolerate the insides of Jim's mind for too long. And so she decided to just give in. When Jim led her to his cabin, the Magistrate turned his attention towards the four technicians, who were still groaning in pain.
"Now, what am I gonna do with you?" he wondered before a cruel smile appeared on his face. "There's an airlock one deck below..."
Sarah's fingers brushed over the dent in the plate and a smile appeared on her face. She remembered how Jim had tried not to think about anything naughty. Most telepaths learned at young age how to control their emotions and their thoughts, but for someone without any psionic abilities, it was almost impossible to do something like that. Sarah had only met one non-psionic who had ever been able to shield his thoughts and emotions, and that man had been Arcturus Mengsk. Jim's emotions on the other hand? She had never met someone with a mind more cluttered with memories, emotions, and whatnot. But what he had lacked in control, he had made up for with heart. That was something Sarah hadn't realized at first; James Raynor was all heart...
She continued to walk down the corridor, reminiscing about the past. In case someone wondered; No, the Magistrate hadn't killed those four idiots. He had dragged them into the next airlock and left them there until someone else had found them hours later. It had been a great mystery, but no one of them ever told anyone else who beat them to a bloody pulp...
He never hesitated when it came to protecting you. To him, it was the only thing that mattered; to keep you safe. She could hear her own voice echoing through her mind…
"Yeah, he was a fool. He should have known better." she whispered.
He knew better. That's why he loved you. That's why he still loves you. A warm smile appeared on her face when she thought about that. Behind her, Izsha blinked in confusion when she felt how something was going on.
"My Queen?" But Sarah didn't answer. Instead, she suddenly stopped and turned her head to the side. She was standing right in front of a door. The door to Jim's old cabin. Her eyes widened in shock. How...when...why?
"My Queen, you seem distressed. Maybe we should leave?" Izsha said with real concern in both her voice and her mind. She would never say it out loud, but she knew that Sarah wasn't in best shape. And after that little stunt on Aiur's moon, Sarah's aid didn't want to risk anything. However, Sarah wasn't even listening. She suddenly raised her hand and pressed it against the cold metal of the cabin's door. She closed her eyes and she could feel how a shiver was running down her spine. Jim's old cabin. Why had she come here in the first place? Oh, she should have listened to Izsha, she should just turn around and leave now. He wasn't inside that room, she knew that. She had dimmed her powers down to the absolute minimum, making sure that no one would sense her presence. But she could still feel that the room on the other side was empty. She should go. Go somewhere else. Zerus. Yes, she should go to Zerus. At least she would be able to enjoy those beaches...
She knew that she shouldn't have come here. She knew that deep in her heart that this was a mistake. She knew all of that...
...yet she still decided to press the open-button and step into the room.
"Sorry 'bout the mess, I was just-" Jim started when they stepped into his cabin.
"...drinking like a sailor and passing out on the floor?" Sarah offered to him. Jim, who walked in front of her, immediately froze and looked over his shoulder.
"You were watching me?" he asked with a shocked voice. Even though he was an open book to her, she still needed a moment to realize that he was making fun of her.
"Where's the med-kit, I'm in a hurry." Sarah just growled. Jim sighed and turned back towards the mess he called his private bunk.
"Right, med-kit. I think I left it in the bathroom. Just take a seat, I'll get it." Sarah opened her mouth and wanted to reply something very rude, but then he was already gone, searching his bathroom for that damn med-kit. Sarah gritted her teeth and looked at her hand. It had finally started to hurt. She was used to pain, but right now she felt horrible. She didn't even know why, she just felt the urge to sit down.
"Have you found the med-kit yet?" she snarled both in anger and frustration. Jim's voice reached her from the bathroom.
"Uhm...I know I put it somewhere here. Just sit down and wait a sec, I will bring it to you immediately!" This was simply unacceptable, but instead of leaving, she sighed and decided to sit down. The only empty place that wasn't littered with clothes, equipment or bottles, was the edge of Jim's bed. She looked at the sheets and shivered in disgust. She would not ever touch that bed, that she could promise herself!
Sarah smiled when she sat down on Jim's old bed. Heh, he had lived like a true caveman back then. She remembered how embarrassed he had been when she had entered his cabin for the first time. It still smelled like Jim. It felt like Jim. It was as if the walls around her were talking to her, telling her Jim's story.
The light went out, but she didn't care. To her, it didn't matter if there was light or not, she didn't need her eyes to see things.
Like said, Jim had been so embarrassed by the sorry state his cabin had been in. So embarrassed in fact that the next time she had visited him, he had completely cleaned it from top to bottom. That night they had talked about many things. They had laughed, they had shared a drink or two. And then...
...he had escorted her back to her own cabin and told her that he hadn't had so much fun in ages.
And the worst thing?
He hadn't lied to her.
The lights in the room went back on, but she ignored that.
It had been a totally new thing for her to experience; someone was enjoying her company. Just her company, no second thoughts, no nothing.
The lights went out again and Sarah frowned, but she didn't say anything.
Of course, others noticed that Jim was spending more and more time with Sarah. His people and the Magistrate guys had been reserved at first, but when they saw how their beloved leader talked to Sarah like she was "just one of the gals", they had started to accept her as a member of their little bunch of misfits.
The third night she had kissed him on the cheek.
The fourth night...
When the lights went on again, she turned her head to the third person in the room.
"Karax, just what the hell are you doing?" she wanted to know when the Protoss switched the lights off again. The Phasesmith turned the lights back on and blinked both in surprise and gleeful joy.
"This is truly fascinating, Lady Kerrigan!" he said and switched the lights off again.
Karax, who looked at Sarah, seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that he was annoying the hell out of her. It was probably some sort of divine justice; she was the reason for him to be here anyway. Sarah sighed, knowing that she would regret her next words.
"It's a light switch, what could possibly be fascinating about it, Karax?" she wanted to know. Suddenly his eyes started to sparkle and Sarah immediately regretted asking him this question.
"This device turns the lights in this room on and off!" Karax told her like it was the most amazing thing in the world.
"Yes, I know. That is why we call them "light switches". Because we use them to switch lights on." she said to him like she was talking to a little child. Sometimes these Protoss were simply so...
"But it is not linked to a central computer system!" Karax interrupted her. "On a Protoss-vessel, all functions of the ship are linked to the central computer and can be controlled from afar. The thought of using a system that is not linked to the central computer is unheard of. Just think about the possibilities! If we would..." But Sarah stopped listening to Karax. Instead, she just lowered her gaze and her hand brushed over the old sheets of Jim's bed.
He always cared about you. He just wanted to make you feel loved. the voice that almost sounded like her own said.
"Yeah..." she whispered and closed her eyes.
When Sarah opened her eyes, she saw how Jim finally returned from the bathroom, in his hands the medkit.
"Sorry about that, I had to pull it from-" he started, but she could already see the image inside his mind.
"Don't finish that sentence, please!" she urged him. "Just give me the medkit, I can patch myself up just fine." Jim sighed and sat down next to her. For a short moment she thought that he was about to hit on her, but then he just opened the med-kit and grabbed her hand. They didn't talk when he started to clean the cut. He was very thorough and made sure that no scar would remain. Sarah then finally started to relax and she allowed her eyes to wander through Jim's cabin. It was messy, yes. But at the same time, it practically screamed his name. Sarah's room wasn't filled with anything except her equipment. She didn't possess a single piece of personal stuff that could remind her of a past that she couldn't remember anyway. They had taken it away from her long time ago.
Jim was humming a tune while treating her knuckles. She was surprised at how gentle he was. It felt like he had done this many times before. Since she didn't want to probe his mind, all she sensed was some form of happiness. And sadness.
"You look like you know what you're doing" she finally said. She didn't even know why she decided to talk to him, it just happened. Jim opened his mouth and laughed before he gave her an answer.
"Oh, my boy Johnny managed to injure himself all the time. And he always wanted Daddy to patch him up. Heh, Liddy wasn't too happy about that." Sarah squinted her eyes when she heard that. She knew that he had lost his family, yet she didn't know how that happened. It wasn't her business, and even though she was considered a cold bitch by pretty much anyone, she knew better than to pry.
She didn't know herself why she asked the next question.
"Your family...what happened to them?" she wanted to know. However, when she felt his sadness, she immediately regretted her words. Jim stopped for a moment and looked at the only true personal piece of equipment he had left. It was a photo next to his bed. It showed a younger version of Jim, a fragile-looking woman, and a small boy. Jim sighed before he continued treating Sarah's knuckles.
"It's a long story..." was the only thing he said. However, it was clear that he didn't want to talk about it.
Suddenly Sarah felt something she had never felt before; she felt sympathy. She lowered her gaze and took a deep breath when the line between her memories and her imagination finally started to fade away.
"You know, at first I thought you were like all the others." she suddenly said. She had never done that back then. This was new. "And then, when you proved me wrong, I desperately tried to find some reason why I could hate you. I even..." She stopped for a moment and looked over at the photo of Johnny and Liddy. "...I even thought that you were just looking for someone to replace your family. One that would share your bed and help you forget about them." Instead of getting angry, all Jim did was to laugh.
"Yeah, well...I guess I didn't know what I was actually doing back then. Truth to be told; I hadn't thought that far ahead when I met you."
"When did you ever do that anyway?" Sarah snickered.
"Oh, look who's talking, Darlin'!" Jim shot back with a grin on his face before he sighed. "I don't know. I just don't know. But every time I saw you, I felt this...this...sadness. And I wondered if there was no one you could talk to. Sure, you had Arcturus..." Both of them shuddered at the same time when he mentioned that man's name. "...but it was brutally clear that he wasn't a friend." Sarah blinked in surprise when she heard that.
"You mean you kept stalking me because you thought that I was alone?" she wanted to know and Jim pulled his shoulders up.
"I guess. I don't know. You just looked like you could use a friend. And here's a shocking truth about me, Sarah; even though I always had a lot of comrades, I never had many true friends. Even during my time with the Heaven's Devils, I had a lot of buddies. But my only real friend back then was Tychus." He sighed again and Sarah could feel the regret in his heart. "May his rotten soul rest in peace. Tychus, you were a crook, a thief, and a liar. And the best pal a man could ask for." Sarah's chest started to hurt when she heard those words. She knew that she was the reason why Tychus was gone. Jim had done it for her. He had saved her life and killed his oldest friend to protect her. And what had she done? Left him behind.
Sarah opened her mouth. She wanted to apologize, tell him that she was sorry for all the pain she had caused to him. Even though this was just a memory, it still felt so very real. Her guilt demanded that she would say how sorry she was, but her shame kept her tongue in check. In the end, it was Jim who made the first step. He looked at her and offered her a warm smile. One that made Sarah almost choke.
"No matter what happened, Sarah, I want you to know; I ain't regrettin' a thing. You were the best friend I ever had." When Sarah heard those words, she couldn't hold back her tears anymore. What was this? Did her own memories want to drive her insane as well? Killing-me-softly-edition? Her head hung down in shame and her lip started to tremble.
"Wow...golden tears. This dream is truly amazing." she could hear Jim say. She shook her head and opened her eyes while tears of gold streamed down her cheeks.
"Dream? What do you mean?" she wanted to know. Jim laughed when he heard that.
"Ha, I always heard about it from others, but I never thought that it was actually possible. I know that I'm asleep and I know that this is a dream. I am actually aware that this is a dream. I have to admit; This is so much better than the nightmares I usually have." He looked her straight in the eyes and when their mind connected, she could finally see the truth.
This was no memory...
"JIM?!" Sarah screamed and jumped to her feet. Jim looked up at her with a confused look on his face.
"Darlin'? What's the ma-" He stopped when she severed the connection and jumped back to her feet.
"NO!" Sarah yelled both in shock and disbelief. Next to her, Izsha backed down. Her huge black tail waved around from one side to the other and caused utter chaos when it hit the surrounding furniture.
"My Queen, are you alright?" she wanted to know with a distressed expression on her otherwise calm and controlled face. But Sarah wasn't even listening. Instead, she looked at her hands. Had it been a dream? No, that wasn't right. And it hadn't been a memory either. When she had come to the Hyperion, she had decided to dim down her powers to the absolute minimum in order to fly under the radar. So that no one would notice that she was so close to Korhal. Hey, it had almost worked with the Protoss, it should work with the Terrans. Hopefully.
Well, it hadn't worked. Again.
On Aiur, it had been Artanis who had figured her little trick out. But now...
She could sense him. He was close. She had tried to hide when she had arrived on the Hyperion, so she hadn't checked Korhal for any person she might remember. Now she felt utterly stupid. Because he was down there. Suddenly she could feel his presence all around her. How could she have been so stupid, so careless...
It was Jim. He was practically around the corner. All she had to do was to reach out and tell him that she was still alive. She could sense how he awoke from his dream, she could feel his confusion and his relief.
No nightmare...she could hear his thoughts. Oh, Sarah. It was too much. She could feel how her chest started to hurt. She fell back on the bed and took a few deep breaths, but it didn't help.
"My Queen? You don't look so good. Is there anything you-" Izsha wanted to know.
"Water!" Sarah suddenly said. "I need some water." Even though a godlike entity should be above such things, her throat craved for some cold and clean water. Izsha didn't know how to help her Queen right now, but she recognized a command when she heard one. She looked around and found an empty cup, but there was no water around.
"The bathroom." Sarah said and pointed at the door at the other end of the room. "Please, Izsha, fetch me some water." she said while gasping for air. Izsha didn't waste any time and slithered into the bathroom. While she did that, the lights went out again. Karax had removed part of the wall in order to study the light switch.
"So all it receives from the ship is power. No computer controls this. Fascinating." the Phasesmith mumbled to himself. Under normal circumstances, Sarah would have told him to stop whatever he was doing right now, but she was too busy not going nuclear.
As Izsha entered the bathroom, she looked around. She saw a lot of strange things, things that she didn't understand. She didn't possess any memories of her time before she had become part of the Swarm, and Zergs didn't really need to know how Terran bathrooms worked. She found some kind of bowl with a piece of metal attached to it. She tilted her head to the side and looked at it, but she had no idea of what a sink was. Or how a faucet worked. So she turned around and looked for something else. There was a strange object hanging on the wall. It had many tiny holes on its underside, but Izsha had never seen a shower head before, so she had no idea how that thing worked either. She was about to turn around and ask her Queen for instructions when she spotted a strange object attached to the wall. It was in a rather low position and reminded Izsha of a chair. But there was a lid on top. She slithered over to the strange seat and tipped the lid up. Her eyes widened in joy when she saw what was inside.
She had found water!
Sarah was too freaked out to notice how long Izsha was gone. When the former Zerg returned, she offered her Queen a cup of water. Sarah took it into her shaking hands and mumbled a "Thanks" before she took a gulp. As the cold water flowed down her throat, she could feel how she started to relax. The cold water felt good. Sometimes she wished she could turn into water, become part of an ocean and lose herself in it. However, she knew that this was no longer an option for her.
"Ah..." she sighed and lowered the cup. After a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes and exhaled one more time. Jim's mind...she could still sense him. He was restless. And in pain. Sarah couldn't bear it anymore, so she decided to finally pull back, leaving him alone. She had caused him enough pain.
"Is the water satisfactory?" Izsha wanted to know. Sarah looked at the liquid inside her cup and nodded.
"Yes, Izsha. It is. Thank you very much, it is just what I needed." she whispered and took another deep gulp. A relieved smile appeared on Izsha's face.
"I am glad to hear that, my Queen. I am just happy that there was enough water to fill the cup. I had to flush several times in order to fill it." Good old reliable Izsha. She would never...
Wait, flush?
"Light!" a new but familiar voice suddenly reached her ears, but she didn't pay attention to that. She was too busy probing Izsha's mind, and when she saw where that water had come from...
"I said; light!" the familiar voice barked. It was Karax who answered. He turned around to the man who had entered the room and answered: "Oh, of course!" And when the light went on again...
"PFFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRR...!" The water inside Sarah's throat exited her mouth with the speed of light. Izsha tilted her head to the side and seemed somewhat confused at her Queen's reaction. She could hear Karax saying something again, but she was too occupied coughing her lungs out to care.
"Greetings, my name is Karax, I am pleased to meet you!" the Phasesmith said with a happy attitude. The newcomer mumbled something that Sarah didn't understand. Until he said her name.
"Sarah?" Matt Horner asked. Sarah froze immediately and a cold shiver ran down her spine. She turned her head towards the door and when she saw him standing in the door, she knew that she was in trouble.
"Aw crap..." was the only thing she managed to say.