StarCraft: Brain Damage

StarCraft: Brain Damage

Chapter 55: Across the Sector

In the down time created by a warp jump, the Dogs of War had found interesting and varied ways to kill the time. As was now a routine occurrence, the poker game in the medical bay had attracted its usual contestants and produced its usual results: Nanius winning and Jax losing all of his money, placing everyone else involved somewhere in between the two.

"I just don't know how he does it!" Jax ranted as he walked down C deck's aft hall behind Nick to their room.

"Do you think it has anything to do with how he's a Protoss and he can sense your thoughts?" Nick asked.

Jax considered this a minute before shaking his head. "No, I think he's card counting," he said.

"You can't card count in poker, Jax. That's for blackjack," Nick explained slowly, as he would a child.

"Oh," Jax said as they entered the small two-man room.

The crew of the Shogoki had been divided into pairs to sleep in the small cabins that ran up and down C deck. Either by accident or as a sick joke, Jim had paired Nick up with Jax. Now that they had gotten in, Nick promptly collapsed on his bed, falling asleep immediately.

Jax briefly thought about if there was anything he could do besides sleep while he waited for the warp jump to come to its close, then realized that there wasn't and quickly followed Nick's example onto his own bed.

--

Many, many millions of miles away, a totally different ship was housing a totally different conversation between two people who were totally different than those on the Shogoki. A Protoss named Kyrtas sighed as he began to relay his report.

"The deep space scouting parties have reported no activity in the vicinity at all. As far as all of our scans are concerned, there is nothing out there but minute dust particles and the echoing of the solar winds," he explained.

"And no trace of what I've asked for?" the cloaked figure asked, not taking its eyes off of the stars before it out of the observation window.

"There is nothing out there," he repeated.

"Check again. Your instruments were in error," came the response.

"I respectfully point out that our instruments are in perfect working condition and would never have missed something as large as a Terran warp exit portal," he said, controlling his anger carefully.

"You seem agitated Kyrtas," the figure said, "Are you agitated?"

Silence.

"As I thought. Check again, please."

"As you wish," Kyrtas replied and left the observation room to go down and relay the new orders to the Corsair pilots out on patrol.

--

"Traz!"

Traz sat up in shock at the booming female voice banging through his mind so suddenly while he was sleeping.

"Yes my Queen?" he asked in return.

"Report to my inner sanctum at once!" Kerrigan ordered.

"At once my Queen," he replied and crawled out of his sleeping cocoon.

Leaving his own inner sanctum, he walked through the creep-covered tunnels of the Tarsonis primary hive cluster until he found Kerrigan's particular nasty looking slimy door. Upon entering, he saw the Zerg Queen of Blades standing in her normal spot at the center of the chamber.

"We've just intercepted a Dominion communication signal," she explained, "You may find it interesting."

Before Traz could say anything, the walls started conducting the scratchy audio associated with a Terran transmission.

"Korhal Fleet Command transmitting to Dominion heavy Battlecruiser Dark Star. The files you requested on the suspects in question are attached to this message. Good hunting, Fleet Command out."

"Fascinating," Traz said, stifling a yawn.

Kerrigan abruptly grabbed him around the throat and dug her claws into his sickly green flesh. "You ignorant bastard, I ought to kill you right now," she hissed.

"Then do it," Traz said, not really caring anymore.

"I would, but I need you for something," she said, "The attached files were decoded this morning. They contained information on all those little rats that managed to nuke your transport."

"Oh," Traz managed.

"Use the info. Kill them, and get me that Relay Disrupter," she ordered, "Now get out of my face. I'm in no mood to fool around."

Traz obediently scurried away to get to work on this new development.