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Chapter 9
Hearing Impaired
„Marshal? Marshal, is that you?" Professor Allagan panted as he ran towards the three figures approaching the camp. Of course it was Dan, who else should it be? And with him was...
"Janice! Oh, thank God you're okay!" the Professor gasped when he finally reached those two. A few meters behind them was Paula. She looked unhurt, yet for some odd reason, she also seemed to be in a foul mood. However, Allagan had no time to worry about that. First he had to make sure that Janice was alright.
"Janice, how are you?" he asked the young woman. "We were all worried sick! What happened?" Other members of the research-team arrived as well, and they all were glad to see that their colleague was still in one piece. Visibly shaken, yes. But still in one piece.
"Pro-Professor, I...I..." the student stuttered, her eyes still wide open and filled with fear.
"We found her a few decks below." Bowski explained. "I'm gonna take her back to the city. Someone in the hospital should look over her, just to be certain that she's okay and-" That's when he was cut short by Janice, who jumped forward and slung her arms around the professor and started to weep like a newborn baby.
"Professor! I was so cared! Down there...there is something down there! So scared!" she sobbed and the other members of the research-team exchanged worried looks. Partially because they were worried about Janice. But also because "there's something down there!" is pretty much the last thing you want to hear if you're searching the wreckage of an ancient vessel buried deep beneath the soil.
Pretty much ninety percent of all horror-movies start that way.
"Paula!" A certain Protoss approached them and walked past the group of people. Sirella reached her friend and tilted her head to the side. "Are you okay? You look...angry."
"I'm fine." Paula growled. It didn't take a genius to know that she was lying, yet right now she wasn't the center of attention.
"I...I...I..." Janice stuttered, and Bowski spotted a campfire the researchers had managed to make without killing themselves in the process. So he did the only reasonable thing. He led the young woman over to the campfire and helped her to sit down right in front of it.
"Someone get something to drink. Something hot, preferably." the Marshal ordered. The students and researchers looked at each other as if they were unsure of what to do next. Bowski shook his head in disbelief when he noticed the indecisiveness of these people and cursed on the inside. He had almost forgotten how useless these people could be. No matter how annoying Kerrigan was, Dan had a lot more faith in her getting any job done than those men and women.
"Would anyone please get her something to drink? A hot coffee? Anything?" the Marshal snarled.
"Yeah, yeah." Paula muttered and turned away. "I'm on it."
"P-Paula?" Sirella stuttered when she realized that her friend's mood was not just a bit foul, but truly annoyed. "What's the matter?"
"Nothin'. Why? Should there be anything wrong?" the young woman growled. She sure as hell wasn't very subtle. However, right now Paula wasn't the center of attention.
"Here, let's get you warmed up." Dan sighed and knelt down right next to Janice, who was still shaking like crazy. "Janice...you're safe now." She looked at him with big, brown eyes. The look on her face was one of disbelief. It was as if she couldn't really believe the Marshal.
"S-safe?" she whispered.
"Yes, safe." he repeated. "No one will hurt you." Dan's voice was surprisingly gentle and he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Janice, I want you to tell me what happened." Almost no one dared to say anything. All eyes were resting on Janice. The sight of their colleague being in utter shock was something they couldn't just ignore.
"Janice?" Professor Allagan asked and joined Bowski. "What happened?" The young woman shivered and bit on her lip. She closed her eyes and had to muster her whole strength in order to calm herself. Yet even then her hands didn't stop shaking. Whatever had happened down there, it had rocked her to the core.
A group of seasoned soldiers probably would have laughed this whole thing off. But Bowski was surrounded by students and researchers, people that had never done something like an excavation before. And seeing one of their own like this? Well, it didn't exactly inspire confidence. Dan knew when to apply pressure, and when not do. And so he decided to not push Janice any further. No one did, and so everything you could hear was the ragged breath of Janice and her whimpers. And then...
"Hey, we got some cold milk and orange-juice over here!" a certain person yelled. "Yo, Janice! I got just the thing for you!"
Bowski sighed and shook his head, yet he decided to ignore Paula for now. And, if he had anything to say in that matter, forever.
"Janice, you are safe now." Dan repeated himself. "Please, I need to know what happened." Even though he already had a good idea about what had happened. Still, it was better to hear the full story from Janice herself. Even it would be a tall order to get it out of her in the first place.
"I...I...I..." the young woman started to stutter and then new tears started to stream down her face. "I was all alone!" she suddenly sobbed and pressed her hands against her face. Dan felt how a surge of frustration worked its way through his mind. However, he knew better than to force things. Yelling at people that were in a state of shock usually never helped one bit. Neither did shaking them or slapping them in the face. That usually only worked in movies. Bad movies.
So all they could do was to give Janice time in order to-
"Hold her down, I got this!" Paula suddenly explained when she returned. The Marshal was about to ask her what she had planned, but at the same time he was too afraid to ask because he just knew that whatever she would come up with, it would be utter madness. And so Dan was glad when he noticed that she was just holding a field flask in her hand.
"Yeah, some water might be a good idea." Dan agreed. "Just take short sips, Janice, and-" That's when Paula grabbed Janice's head, bent it back and almost forced the flask down the other woman's throat.
"Down the hatch, girl!" Paula explained and didn't leave Janice much of a choice.
"Kerrigan, what the hell are you doing?!" Bowski shouted and looked at her in utter disbelief.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing!" the bane of Dan's existence replied and didn't give Janice any choice but to swallow whatever was inside that flask. The Marshal could only hope that it was water.
"Gha!" Janice gargled and her eyes widened in shock. She turned her head away and spluttered the liquid pretty much everywhere. And when Dan smelled the liquid, he realized the sad truth.
...it wasn't water.
Because water doesn't smell like anything.
However, booze does.
"Agh! It burns!" Janice squealed and grabbed her throat while making gagging sounds. The flask fell on the ground and Dan picked it up and took a sniff, which caused his eyes to water.
"Holy crap! Where did you get that booze?" he asked and looked at the flask. It looked surprisingly old and there was a name inscribed on it. Dan squinted his eyes and tried to make out what was imprinted on this thing. "Property of Rory Swann. Do not drink. Hydraulic fluid...inside?! KERRIGAN!"
"It's a joke, haha." the young woman replied. "I checked, it's booze."
"Where did you get that thing? Did you steal it from the Magistrate?" the Marshal demanded to know.
"Nope, I found it inside the dropship." And then Paula looked over at the Professor with a stupid grin on her face. "I found it first, it's mine!"
"You just gave Janice booze to drink that's over one thousand years old?!" Dan asked in disbelief, only to frown and look at the Professor. "Wait a sec, is that even possible? Shouldn't it be, I don't know, dust by now?"
"Obviously not." the Professor mumbled and pointed his finger at Janice, who was coughing her innards out. Bowski planted his hand on the poor woman's back and waited until she had calmed down a bit. Then he helped her to sit down in front of the campfire again.
"Janice, I know that this is hard." the Marshal asked with a soft tone in his voice. "But please, try to tell us what happened." Janice finally looked him into the eyes, and for the first time, Dan felt as if she was actually recognizing him.
"I...I don't know..." she whispered and Paula grinned when she heard that.
"Sounds like she needs another-" she was about to say when Bowski only glared at her. "...nevermind." the young woman mumbled and turned around. "Come on, Sirella. Let's find some people that actually appreciate what we are doing here."
"Driving them insane?" the Protoss asked but offered no resistance when Paula dragged her away. Honestly, right now Bowski couldn't care less. At least not right now. Then again, he actually never cared about what Paula Kerrigan was thinking or doing. Still, when the unlikely duo was finally gone, Dan could focus his entire attention towards Janice.
"Janice. It's okay. It's over." he told her. "Just tell us what happened. Please." The young woman stared into the fire. For whatever reason, she seemed to calm down. At least a bit. Her hands were still shaking, yet at least she was no longer hysterical. Who knew, maybe the ancient booze had helped to calm her nerves down. However, Bowski would never accept that, because that would mean that Paula had done something right. And he would rather have sex with a kriecher than do that.
"I'm a mindreader!" he could hear Paula's screams from the distance. "You do know that, right? Also, I have a pet-kriecher, so that can be arranged!" That outburst earned him a worried look from the Professor.
"What is she talking about?" Allagan wanted to know.
"Nothin'." Dan growled. Perhaps-
"I was..." Janice suddenly whispered and the Marshal turned his attention back at her.
"Yes?" he encouraged her to proceed. Janice bit on her lip, but then she took a deep breath and started to say something.
"I was...on the bridge. Cataloging relics." she mumbled. "We were about to finish for the day, everyone else was already good to go. I told them that I just had to check one more thing, that they should wait for me..." And then Janice whimpered again. "...but when I was done, everyone was...I was all alone!" She looked up at the Professor. Her gaze was filled with fear, but also something else.
Betrayal...
"You left me behind!" she accused him, something that did cause the Professor to wince.
"Janice, please, I'm so sorry! I didn't know that-" Allagan tried to defend himself. However, that was when Dan intervened.
"This is not the right moment to throw accusations at each other." he explained with a calm but firm tone in his voice. "Janice, what happened?" And so the young woman finally managed to tell her story.
"I...I tried to get back to the others." she mumbled. "But it was dark and I didn't know which way to go. There was a light, and I followed it."
"Light?" Dan asked. "What light?"
"I don't know!" she whimpered. "At first I thought it was someone with a flashlight. So I went after it! My own flashlight suddenly went out, so I had to follow the light! But it led me deeper into the derelict."
"If you knew that it was leading you further down, then why did you follow?" Dan asked.
"Because I was scared of the darkness!" Janice shouted at him. "I thought that the others had found something. I don't know, I just didn't want to be alone in this damn wreckage!"
"I'm sorry." the Marshal replied. "Please, continue." Janice seemed to be hesitating for a second, but then she gulped and lowered her gaze.
"I thought...I thought it were you guys." she told the other members of the research team. "Trying to pull a prank on me. I screamed for you to stop and wait for me so I could catch up. But you didn't. And so...so..." Janice sobbed. "...I panicked!" It was truly a heart-wrenching sight, one that even caused Bowski to not say something insensitive.
"How did you end up in the shuttle?" Dan asked after a while.
"I...I followed the light..." Janice whispered. "...until I reached a hangar. But then it...vanished." She shuddered as if she remembered something very unpleasant. "I was surrounded by darkness. My flashlight was no longer working and I had no idea where I was and I...I..." New tears started to stream down her cheeks and she hid her face behind her hands. Dan didn't ask her to continue, by now he had a pretty good idea on what had happened. He had to admit that the thought of being all alone inside that vessel, with no light-source whatsoever...
...that was the stuff nightmares were made of.
"Oh, Janice. I'm so sorry..." Professor Allagan mumbled and tried to comfort the young woman. At least-
"And then there was that voice!"
"Huh?" Dan looked at Janice when she said those words. "Voice?"
"It was so scary...I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it was calling out to me..." When Bowski heard that, he frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. A voice? That did sound as if someone had tried to pull a prank on the young woman. A very cruel prank. For some odd reason Kerrigan came to his mind.
"A voice?" Allagan mumbled as well and looked around. "Did anyone of you hear it too?" The obvious answer was a "No." from pretty much everyone.
"It called out for her...warned me of her. She's not to be trusted...she's a bringer of death!" Janice whispered.
"Okay...that doesn't sound crazy or creepy at all." Dan mumbled.
"That voice...it wasn't human and-" Janice continued when the Marshal finally decided to pull the plug.
"Okay, show's over!" he suddenly barked so loud that everyone looked at him in surprise. "Enough ghost-stories for one day, Janice needs some rest. It's too late to bring her back to the city, we're gonna do that tomorrow. She has to rest now. Professor, please help me." The last thing Dan needed right now was a bunch of panicking egg-heads running around like headless chickens. And so he helped Janice back on her feet. Allagan did the same and helped Bowski to guide the young woman over to a nearby tent. Dan had actually no idea if it was Janice's tent, but right now he couldn't care less.
Taking the young woman back to the city would probably be the most reasonable course of action. But it was late and with the show Janice had just given them, Dan didn't want to leave the research-team behind. Paranoia was like a contagious disease. Left unchecked, he would most likely return to the base with half the team having slaughtered the other half while wearing their skins as dresses.
And yes, that does sound like the story of a cheap horror movie.
However, Bowski was not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. It was just because he didn't want to draw Magistrate Swann's ire towards himself. Not when he had finally managed to score big time with that lady. Even though he hadn't actually done anything. Nope, Kerrigan had been the one to do that. Dan groaned on the inside when he noticed that whatever he was doing, she was already lurking in the back of his mind.
Was it because she was a psionic?
Truth to be told, Dan had only ever met two psionics in his life, and both times had been forgettable. Even though being psionically gifted wasn't nearly as unusual these days as it had been one thousand years ago, it didn't mean that there were mind-readers crawling all over this place. There had been that one guy, calling himself the galaxy's world-best "pick-up artist", a fancy description for being a sexist pig. Apparently, he had used his skills to sense wherever a lady was interested in someone, and then he would sell that knowledge to the men desperate and foolish enough to pay real money for it.
The very idea was wrong on so many levels, yet apparently there was a market for everything...
The other psionic Bowski once had met had been another guy working for the psi-ops-division of the federal security service, and Dan was glad that he had only met this guy for less than a minute.
So yeah, even though Dan Bowski didn't really like psionics, he couldn't claim that he did so out of a sense of familiarity.
"This looks like a nice and cozy place to get some rest, Janice." Dan mumbled when he helped her into the tent.
"I...I want to go home...back to Korhal..." Janice whined.
"All in due time. Tomorrow we will take you back to the city. Don't worry, everything will be alright." the Marshal replied. Most members of the research team were surprised how gentle and caring Dan could be. What they didn't know was that he wasn't following his manly instincts that told him to protect a poor and weak woman (because he didn't possess those instincts), but because he had been trained to know how to handle people that were under a lot of stress or shock.
"You!" he said and pointed his finger at a female member of the research staff. "What's your name again?"
"Hagland. Victoria Hag-"
"Hags, I get it." Dan cut her short. "Could you help your colleague to get into the sleeping bag?"
"I...sure." the blonde woman muttered. Dan then left the tent and pulled the worried Professor with him. Once they were outside, the Marshal closed the tent and gestured the rest of the team to follow him. When they were a few meters away and out of Janice's earshot, he looked at the young people and noticed their worried expressions. Some of them even seemed to be truly afraid.
"I need four volunteers, preferably women." he explained. "I want you to take shifts and watch Janice while she sleeps."
"Shouldn't we..." someone whined. "...pack our things and leave?"
"Why?" Bowski asked back with a straight face.
"B-because...there's something inside that wreckage! We are not alone, that's what Janice said and-"
"Just listen to yourself!" Dan cut the young man short. "Now you're panicking, just like Janice did. What do you think is the more plausible thing that happened? Someone is hiding inside that wreckage, a wreckage that has been abandoned for centuries? Or that Janice simply panicked so hard that she was imagining things?" He sighed and shook his head. "Listen, I know that this might sound rude. But if you are alone, in the darkness, and scared..." he explained. "...you start to see and hear things. Also, packing things in the middle of the night would only result in chaos. Like said, I need four volunteers to look after Janice. I will walk the perimeter tonight and make sure that no rodent will sneak up upon you guys. Because the only thing that can harm you out here are dust-biters. So relax." Dan could see the insecurity on the faces of the students and researchers, but then one woman raised her hand.
"I...I could look after Janice." the female student offered, followed by three others.
"Good." Dan sighed. "Once Violet-"
"Victoria." someone corrected him.
"Whatever. Once she's done tucking in Janice, someone should take her place. I take it you don't need me to write down a plan for you, yes?" He smirked when he told the people that, hoping that it would ease their minds. Behind them, they could hear how Janice wept and whined "...that voice! That horrible voice..." over and over again.
"This is going to be a long night." Dan groaned.
Paula stared into the flames of her very-own campfire. She hadn't said anything since she had sat down in front of it, which was highly unusual. You might even say that it was against Paula's nature to be silent and serious.
"Uhm...Paula?" the big figure sitting right next to her in the dirt was actually worried. "Is...everything alright?"
"Just how the hell did that thing end up there?" Paula whispered to herself.
"Thing? What are you talking about?" the Protoss wanted to know.
"..."
"...Paula?"
"...did I miss something?"
"Paula, come on. This isn't funny!" Sirella whined. "Every time you act all serious, things explode! Remember the last time? You said that no one would miss that moon!"
"No one did miss that moon." Paula replied.
"It was sacred to the people that lived on the planet below!"
"Details, details." the young woman sighed. There was a long moment of silence and Sirella wondered how she could make her friend spit out the truth. It wouldn't be pretty, she was already aware of it. Secrets that Paula liked to keep usually had the bad habit of causing utter carnage and destruction.
...and cause moons to explode from time to time.
"...it was his dropship." Paula suddenly whispered.
"What?"
"Dad's dropship. It was there. It is there. Down there. Inside the Hyperion." Paula explained.
"And that is...a problem?" Sirella asked.
"It's...unexpected." her friend mumbled.
"Okay, I know I will most likely regret asking this...but why is it unexpected?" Instead of answering that question, Paula merely stared into the flames. You could actually see how her jaw was working while she was grinding her teeth. Sirella was no expert on human emotions, but she was pretty certain that her friend was frustrated.
"I checked every detail before coming here, Sirella..." Paula then said after a while. "...made sure of it. But that thing...it shouldn't be there. It just looked...wrong."
"The dropship looked wrong? Was it broken?" Sirella asked and only then Paula blinked and looked at her friend.
"What? Dropship? No." she replied. "That thing being inside the Hyperion was unexpected. No, there was something else inside that dropship." And the next thing she said caused her to shiver. "Something that's just wrong..."
"Uhm..." Sirella didn't know what to say or do. From time to time Paula would get all mysterious for no apparent reason. It seemed that this was another one of these moments.
"It was her weapon." the young woman suddenly explained.
"Her weapon? Who's weapon? What are you-"
"My mother's rifle." Paula suddenly declared. "It's down there."
"Your mother's rifle?" Sirella asked and Paula nodded with an almost painful expression on her face.
"Yeah...she never told you that, right? Used to be one hell of a sniper. Maybe even the best ever. It's..." However, that's when Paula's voice failed her. It was a strange sight, one that Sirella had rarely seen. Her friend Paula was many things. But brooding and subtle wasn't among them. Seeing her like this was...weird. Just when Sirella wanted to ask if Paula was alright, her friend took a deep breath and started talking.
"It's weird, you know." the young woman whispered. "I saw that part of her life. Of their lives. All that pain, all that loss. I went there in order to see it with my own two eyes. But seeing that rifle..." She closed her eyes and seemed to shudder as if she was experiencing an unpleasant memory. "It's simply hard to comprehend."
"I think I understand." Sirella mused, which earned her a surprised and amused look from her friend.
"Really, now? Do you?" Paula teased her friend.
"Believe it or not." Sirella chirped. "You're not the only one with legendary relatives." And then she looked up at the stars. "Grandfather would always tell stories about the "great betrayer" and how she saved all of us. Oh, how he loved to tell those stories to me when I was little. Honestly? I had nightmares as a child, dreaming of her coming for me. But when I met her for the first time, I couldn't believe that your mother and that person from Grandfather's stories are supposed to be one and the same."
"I guess you're right." Paula mused and both women fell silent for a while. Until...
"You know what's funny?" the young woman asked, not waiting for her friend to actually ask back. "When I looked at that rifle, I didn't even consider taking it with me. You know, as a souvenir. I just knew that she wouldn't appreciate it."
"Maybe your aunt would appreciate it." Sirella mused. "She is always looking for stuff that belonged to your mother."
"Meh, only if it's related to Zerg I'm afraid." Paula replied. That's when a smile appeared on her face. "The Marshal actually wonders if I came here to hunt for some souvenirs. Thehehe..."
"Well, you could say that we are here to get a souvenir." her friend replied.
"No, we are here to set things right. Big difference." the young woman explained and looked at the stars. "Seeing that rifle...it's so weird. It just feels wrong. Like the echo of a scream that haunts you in your dreams."
"What do you mean?" Sirella asked with a confused tone in her voice. Paula licked her lips and it seemed as if she had a hard time finding the right words to describe what she was feeling.
"It's just...I never told my parents, but the things I saw during my trip...they scared me." Paula whispered.
"How your family was back then?" the young Protoss wanted to know. She could relate...somewhat. Being the grandchildren of a living legend had been interesting. Sirella's grandfather was none other than Artanis. It was a name that was revered. The former Hierarch of the Protoss that had led them through their darkest hour was on the same level as the legendary Adun. Maybe even more than that. And while the Protoss didn't put the same importance on names and family as humans did, being the grandchild of Artanis could be considered a burden at times. So yeah, Sirella could relate to Paula, at least a bit.
"No, not my family." Paula replied. "The world they were living in." And then she sucked the air into her lungs before continuing. "When I started my journey, I went to Ulnar. It's where my mother went when she returned from the Void. It was painful to watch, seeing her dealing with her inner demons. I saw all sorts of nasty things. But at the same time, I knew it were just memories. However, the longer I stayed, the more pain I saw. Real pain, inflicted by real people. And for the most ridiculous reasons." She closed her eyes and seemed to think of some more unpleasant memories until she continued.
"There was this guy...a real asshole. His name was...Jupiter? Jispi? Jespa? Dunno anymore." Paula mused. "He hurt a lot of people, simply because he was angry at..." A sad chuckle escaped her lips. "...I don't even know why he was so angry. It was as if he just had to find someone he could blame for all the injustice in the world." There was another awkward moment of silence and then Paula added: "Killing back then seemed so easy. Everybody was doing it. And those who tried to oppose that way of life were called idiots and daydreamer." While Sirella enjoyed listening to this more somber version of her friend...
...she had virtually no idea what Paula was trying to tell her.
"Paula? What is this all about?" the young Protoss asked. She didn't want to listen to yet another monologue without knowing what it was about. Mostly because that was one of her grandfather's favorite things to do.
How the hell was she supposed to know that it was such a great feat of defeating a baneling in unarmed combat without being dissolved by its acid?
Like, just what was a baneling anyway?!
Fortunately, Paule seemed to realize Sirella's predicament and sighed.
"Sorry. I was ranting, wasn't I?" the young woman mumbled and flashed her friend a smile. "The rifle...it reminded me of what I saw when I was on that journey. But more importantly...I can't help but wonder how I would have turned out if I had been born back then. If I would have been forced to walk down a path like my mother was made to." The smile on Paula's face turned sad. "Think about it, Sirella. You probably wouldn't have gotten the choice to become an artist. Someone would have decided what you should do with your life for you. Maybe you would have become a Templar-"
"Oh, me a Templar?" Sirella laughed. "That's a good one. I would have been the worst Templar of all times."
"You don't know that." Paula mused. "You could have been the second Selendis." Mentioning Sirella's grandmother caused the young Protoss to laugh again, only this time there was an almost hysterical tone to her voice.
"Ha! Oh no. Trust me, that wouldn't have worked. I actually once asked my grandfather's opinion wherever I could have been a good Templar."
"And his answer?" Paula asked with a sympathetic tone in her voice.
"Well, after laughing for almost an entire hour..." Sirella mumbled. "...he just said "No" and left the room."
"Ouch." Paula muttered. "Sorry to hear that. Though I have to admit, it's hard to imagine that the great Artanis can laugh."
"It's creepy." her friend confirmed. "It now haunts me in my dreams."
"Hear hear." the young woman sighed. "Still...just think about it, Sirella...if we had been born back then, we probably would have tried to kill each other and-"
"You would probably have succeeded." the Protoss mumbled.
"...then what? What was the point of all that violence, of all that death? What did they achieve? It's just..." However, Paula wouldn't finish that sentence. She didn't have to. While Sirella knew some details about that journey, she hadn't bothered to ask for any details. Her life was complicated enough as it was.
And yet-
"Are you two al-" a new voice suddenly startled them.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHMARSHAL!" both women screamed at the same time and jumped on their feet. Behind them, Bowski just sighed and rubbed his temples.
"You can drop the act now." Dan growled. "You are a psionic." he said and looked at Paula before turning his attention towards Sirella. "And you are a Protoss. You probably noticed me long before I got here." Paula and Sirella exchanged looks and nodded at the same time. They both knew better than to tell him that just because you have psionics, doesn't mean that you know everything in an instant. It's just an additional sense. But even if you have working eyes, you sometimes can't see what's right in front of you.
Or, to put it simply: If you don't pay any attention to your surroundings, then psionics don't help at all.
"Are you two doing alright?" Bowski wanted to know. "Just want you to know that I'm gonna take Janice back to the city tomorrow. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do anything crazy until then."
"Understood." Sirella replied, which caused Dan to shake his head.
"I don't mean you. I mean Kerrigan."
"Meh..." was Paula's only answer.
"Charming as ever I see." the Marshal growled. "I'll be walking the perimeter tonight. If you're done hanging out by your own private campfire, then head back to the basecamp, so everyone is in one place. Oh, and Kerrigan: No late-night-adventures inside abandoned battlecruisers. Am I understood."
"...ot...y...ad..." the young woman whispered.
"What was that?"
"You're not my dad!" she said, which caused the Marshal to shake his head.
"You have no idea how glad I'm to hear that." Dan mused and was about to turn away when suddenly-
"How is she?" Paula suddenly asked.
"What?"
"Julia. How is she?"
"Her name is Janice, not Julia." Dan corrected her. "And she's...not fine. But unhurt. Still, I will take her back to the city tomorrow, just to be certain that there's nothing serious."
"She's fine." Paula simply said.
"Oh, really?" Bowski shot back. "Didn't you just ask me how she is?"
"There's nothing down there that wants to injure her. You can trust me with that. I would have never allowed this to happen if he might have hurt her." she told the Marshal.
"He? Just what the hell are you talking about?" When Paula heard the frustration in Dan's voice, she just sighed.
"Nevermind. Just...walk the perimeter. Whatever. I promise that we will behave." she declared.
"Hmpf...I believe it once I see it." Dan growled and turned around. As he stomped away, Sirella couldn't hide her uneasiness.
"He seems to be in a foul mood." she mumbled.
"He's just angry because he's starting to take his job seriously and care for the others, yet doesn't want to admit it to anyone, including himself." Paula explained. "Also, he feels uneasy because he now knows that I have psionics and doesn't know what to make of it. It's actually really funny. It's like he expects me to grow a second head. For such a bag of non-fun, he sure has a lively imagination."
"It can't be weirder than the reality." Sirella mumbled. "Still, I wonder how he would react if he would meet the mighty Queen of Grapes."
"Hehehe..." Paula chuckled when she heard that. "...too bad it isn't Halloween. Also, my aunt will kill me if I do that again. She hates it if someone makes fun of the Queen of Blades."
"Does the Marshal..." Sirella probed.
"...know why we are here?" Paula guessed. "No. He actually assumes that I'm just a real weirdo-"
"Which you are." her friend mused.
"...and that I might indeed have come here to loot this place." Paula then looked up at the stars again and sighed. "Eh, I guess I should have come here on my own after all. The others just cause so much trouble. Why the heck did that Jojo-"
"Janice." Sirella corrected her.
"...whatever. Why the hell did she have to get lost? Now they're all scared because of that."
"Speaking of which..." the Protoss mumbled. "...I get it why you dragged me out here. But why did you put up with all of that trouble? You know, meeting the Professor, convincing him to put together a research team. You usually don't like to travel with heavy luggage."
"I travel with you, do I not?" Paule teased her friend.
"I'm serious, Paula." Sirella replied. "Just for once, please, give me a straight answer." And when Paula heard the serious tone in her friend's voice, she sighed and relented.
"Okay, okay. It's just...if I hadn't done that, if I had come here alone, or just with you, then Mum and Dad would have gotten suspicious. I once said that I wanted to find remnants of the places that I saw during my journey. Mum and Dad thought that I just wanted to run havoc inside the Imperial Palace on Korhal and flush all the toilets at the same time, which I did...oh, by the way, the result was spectacular! Have you heard about the great flood of-"
"Don't change the subject."
"Egh. Fine. Now you sound like Tesson." Paula growled. "Anyway, I also wanted to see other places. Places that had been important. I once mentioned that I wanted to see Zerus. And Char. My aunt was ecstatic and wanted to know if I needed a new senior advisor. Mum was...less than pleased when she heard that."
"Because...?" Sirella asked, to which Paula only shrugged her shoulders.
"Dunno. Didn't ask. I just assume that they don't want me to do something stupid and end up inside the belly of some beast. Which I can understand. I mean, they are my parents. They are worried. And I love them for that. But..."
"But?"
"...eh..." Paula sighed. "...there are parts of this galaxy they don't want me to see because they are afraid that I might get hurt. But there are also parts of this galaxy that they don't want me to see because..." And then she took a deep breath. "...because they got hurt in those places." When Sirella heard that, her eyes widened.
"Oh...like Tarsonis?" She noticed how Paula clenched her jaw and bit on her lips. The young woman didn't say anything for quite some time until she finally nodded.
"Yeah, like Tarsonis." she whispered. "Mum never forbade me to go somewhere. She never yelled at me. But when I told her that I wanted to go and see Tarsonis, she actually yelled at me that she wouldn't allow it."
"Your mother...yelled?" Sirella wondered. "I don't think I can even imagine that. I never saw her yelling."
"Yeah, well, I never talked with her about that topic again. Even now, even after all those years...Tarsonis is still an open wound. To her and Dad." Paule then sucked in some cold air and shuddered. "That's why I didn't tell them that I wanted to come here and find the Hyperion. There are things they want to remain buried in the past. I can understand why they don't want to deal with that stuff anymore. Really, I do. But this is my life, and I can do whatever I want with it. Including doing the right thing."
"Hmm...I see." Sirella whispered. Both women stared at the night sky for a while until Paula yawned and got back on her feet.
"Well, enough senseless talking and sulking. I guess we should step up our game." When Sirella heard that, she looked up at her friend and blinked in confusion.
"Wait, what?"
"I'm gonna head down into the Hyperion and try to find for what we came for." Paula explained.
"B-but the Marshal...he just told us to stay put! Not even five minutes ago!" the Protoss reminded her friend.
"I know." the young woman simply replied.
"Oh, please no!" Sirella whined. "Paula, can't we just play by the rules for one time?"
"Sorry, big girl, but following rules just ain't my style. Don't worry, once I find that darn thing, we can go back home. But I won't leave without it. Nope! Not a chance." And then she simply snipped with her finger and the campfire went out immediately. "Come on, there's someone down there waiting for us. Two, actually. I think we let them wait for long enough." Sirella sighed when she heard that, but eventually she got back up as well and brushed the dust off her thighs.
"I'm so going to regret this, aren't I?"
"Hey, what's the worst that can happen?" Paula wanted to know.
"You will blow something up." Sirella offered.
"Aw, quit'yer whining!" the young woman shot back. "Remember why we came here. You wanted to do this as much as I did. Your grandfather will be proud of you. Trust me." And as Paula head out, Sirella was left with no real choice but to follow her friend.
"You're going to love it, Sirella!" the young Protoss repeated the words Paula had used to lure her to this place. "It will be a quick one, just grab it and we'll be on our way before you know it!"
"Who said that?" Paula wanted to know and looked over her shoulder.
"You did!" Sirella whined. "When you dragged me out here!"
"Huh...funny. Can't seem to remember that part." the young woman mused. "Anyway, let's get serious! And remember why we came here in the first place." Paula then flashed her friend a cocky smile.
"It's time to bring Zeratul back home."