Kerrigan headed back up to the 'bridge' after deciding that the Vile Roach was going to be their mutation, keeping the Ravager on standby and tossing the Corpser aside for a time as Izsha spoke for them to head to another planet and they left orbit, but they were not alone...
Kerrigan hummed before she paused, something familiar was coming toward her and her Zergling, the one with the broken tusk hissed and growled as she waved a hand to it in looking the same way as her pet, the Zergling leaving her to it. "Zeratul." From the shadows came the Dark Prelate, but Kerrigan was furious, how dare he show his face to her!
It was this same rage that caused her to want to rush right for him and punch him, but she didn't knowing it's not what Jim would have wanted, seeing one friend fighting another. She stomped toward him while her hand was aglow and growled. "What do you want?"
When the Dark Templar didn't reply, she growled with readying the psionic fist and nearly hitting before Zeratul's right hand lashed out and grabbed her face as he spoke
"Believe!" She realized that he just pulled her into a mindmeld and took in the world before her eyes through Zeratul's as he spoke. "Kerrigan … I have been to the beginning. Behold … Zerus! Birthplace of the Zerg. Here, the Zerg evolved, and here, the dark one altered them." She could see the creatures rampaging and attacking each other as Zeratul continued. "Those left behind are the Primal Zerg. They fight. They kill. They evolve." The lesser died to the feast of the titan as it grew new features and emitted a powerful roar before the mindmeld came to an end as Zeratul spoke, removing his hand. "Just as you must … if you survive." She glared at him before she spoke.
"I... can't, Zeratul..." She humbled herself as she sit down away from him. "I only have a portion of the Swarm, I can't just go to the birthworld of the Zerg right now... I need more forces to do that and that means taking Char back from the Dominion..." She didn't know why she was telling this to Zertaul, but she felt it right to do so. "I... I'll see you at Zerus when I am done at Char, I just..."
"Time is needed, I understand..." Zeratul got up and started to meld into the shadows. "Once you have claimed Char again, Sarah Kerrigan, I will see you on the world of Zerus." He disappeared and Kerrigan headed to Char, to take it from the Dominion...
The volcanic world was not how she left it, though that part was on Jim and his Raiders, but still it was fine as Izsha actually acknowledged that Zeratul was on the Leviathan. "I cannot detect the dark templar. Is he hiding on the leviathan, waiting to strike?" Zeratul waiting to strike would make sense, but there was something else to the templar that gave Kerrigan pause, even Jim was wary of something, but it was not her, it was something connected to her though.
"He's gone. Whatever agenda he's pursuing... he's not a threat to me. Not right now, at least."
"Isn't anything not Zerg a threat to us?" Kerrigan lightly glared as she spoke.
"Do not question me, Izsha." She didn't pursue it as Kerrigan was lightly grateful, it was true that anything was a threat to the Zerg, but right now, the only thing dangerous was them and the Terrans' machines of war down below as she peered out to the massive complex across the lava flows, but she knew that whoever was there was not sipping a glass of juice or alcohol.
No, this was a trained and firm mind that she sensed and she had a name to who as the Raiders couldn't have gotten too far into Char without the General beside them, even with their success over the Dominion's own. "The Dominion sure made themselves at home while I was gone. Once I've reclaimed my forces, General Warfield is getting evicted." But first, was the matter of Zagara, one of Kerrigan's first Broodmothers and one who had been forced into adapting to the matters with furious determination and resolve to serve as the unrelenting tide, the rush was not going to work in this fight as she conversed with Abathur about it, her chances confirmed by Abathur that Zagara may have grew much more differently than one would expect.
Still, she needed to rally the Swarm and Zagara was one of those needed and hers was in the homeworld of the Zerg, so there is that as she mobilized her forces for the fight, in the acid marshes of Char itself...
Izsha was direct as always as she explained the setting to her Queen. "Zagara's brood is currently huddled in Char's acid marsh, where you stored millions of eggs for future use. From the location of her hive cluster, it appears Zagara intends to gather as many eggs as she can." Kerrigan hummed the same and found the answer just as swiftly.
"She's trying to build an army, But how will she hatch the eggs?" Izsha had the answer as well.
"She can place them in the birthing pond to quicken, I have located our hive cluster near one such pond." Kerrigan hummed to the light-green of the water-like substance and moved on one plan to see it through.
"Then I'll collect enough eggs to create an army and destroy Zagara." Destroying her was the only way to take her brood, but Kerrigan started to think again, was killing Zagara the only way, she didn't know for sure as the hive-mind kicked in and Zagara harshly exclaimed the state of things.
"You are not the Queen of Blades. You are a weak and pathetic Terran creature." Rude much as Kerrigan readied her forces for the assault to come. "Leave Char while you can. These eggs and the Swarm belong to me!" But it seemed that Zagara's control was not absolute as several Banelings made the point clear.
"Zagara has drawn the attention of some feral Banelings. They are attacking her!" The acidic explosions were enough as Zagara was forced to withdraw from grave wounds as she retreated. "Zagara has deep tunneled back to her base to recover her strength. She will return." Abathur joined in as he spoke.
"Banelings very useful. Morph from Zerglings. Any Zergling can morph into Baneling." Not that she didn't like that, but giving up the Raptor Zerglings for the Banelings seemed a bit foolish to be fair, but she didn't voice them as she now sensed the eggs to collect.
"I can sense the unhatched eggs. Now I just have to get them before Zagara." The cluster grew with Minerals and Vespene being harvested while Kerrigan and her forces moved to collect and find large nests in the marshes. "These eggs are different than the others."
"This Baneling nest is ready to hatch immediately." Free Banelings! Thank you very much as the nest opened and Banelings emerged to Kerrigan's control and they continued on with the larger force in collecting more as Zagara exclaimed to the third Baneling Nest opened.
"Don't think finding those pathetic baneling nests will save you!" Save her was a likely story, but Kerrigan was there to put her down and keep her down as the two forces conflicted again and forced Zagara back to her hive before Izsha spoke of another chance to grow in the Swarm.
"We found several infested Terran structures nearby. They seem to be of interest to the feral Zerg." That was curious as Kerrigan voiced back.
"I'll destroy them if I get a chance." It was... very curious as she could sense a second mind on the planet, someone like her, but not...
She would figure it out once the fight here was done as she moved in to destroy those bases to figure out what was hiding and to stop Zagara from getting her claws on any more eggs as they destroyed the first infested structure and the source was stronger now.
"...My... Queen...?" Kerrigan forced it off for the moment as they destroyed the second infested base and returned to gathering eggs but the voice returned like a lingering pain as it tried to get her attention. "My Queen, you have returned!? How is this possible, the hivemind was shattered for me, how are you back...!?" It also seemed that Zagara was of a different mind as she exclaimed.
"The Queen's Hand dared to intrude!? I am the Queen now, I call the Swarm!"
"You are NOT my Queen, you are not OUR Queen." Kerrigan focused on gathering the eggs and fighting off Zagara's brood and clearing out the feral Zerg before she had collected a hundred eggs and spoke to Abathur.
"I have enough eggs. Abathur, infuse the birthing pond. Get those eggs hatch for me."
"Simple. Catalytic solutions, accelerated quickening. Army ready in a moment." From the eggs emerged Zerglings and Banelings as Kerrigan spoke with the end of Zagara's rule this day.
"And now, Zagara will regret crossing me." It was a massacre in the form of a Zerg Rush, numbers on numbers as Zagara exclaimed.
"Such power! How can you control so many?" The hive was cleared out and she was cornered as Kerrigan growled at her, the Raptor Zerglings closing the gap to do the final blow.
"Kill her!" They started to rip through her as she pleaded.
"I only did as you instructed, my Queen."
"Hold." Kerrigan spoke and the Zerglings ceased the attack, Zagara a little more injured, as Kerrigan folded her arms and inquired. "I told you to rebel against me?"
"You told all your Broodmothers to be strong, to fight, to conquer. You said the Zerg lead by force of will." The large Broodmother bowed to Kerrigan as she spoke. "Your will is strongest, and I shall serve you." Kerrigan huffed a bit at Zagara's honesty and thought to herself.
'At least she admits to something, she could also help in breaking down the defenses before us.' Kerrigan spoke again as she answered. "I will let you live, Zagara. I want to rebuild the swarm, and you are a part of that plan."
"You are my Queen." Now she had to investigate the voice that countered Zagara and figure out why it was rather familiar to her own...
After an hour searching and trying to find the source, Kerrigan returned to the Leviathan to find that Zagara was back in action, her wounds mended from the battle as Izsha spoke. "Zagara is here to serve your will." That was good to know, but now she had to ask for insider details.
"Tell me Zagara, how would you drive the Terrans from this world?"
"I would obliterate their fortress at Dauntless Plateau, but the only way to reach it is through the Bone Trench." Kerrigan was slightly familiar with that section of Char, thousands, millions had died in those trenches and their corpses littered the paths, forming a maze from the ground as Zagara spoke about what the Dominion, or rather the Raiders had done. "Be warned, the Terrans flooded our tunnels with lava and have destroyed out infested platform. We will be exposed on the surface and they control the skies until we reach the plateau. We will be vulnerable."
"That doesn't concern me. Warfield has no idea what he's up against." Indeed, with Zagara's brood and the entirety of the brood from Kaldir, Warfield was in trouble as Zagara inquired about a possible issue.
"But what of the Xel'naga Artifact? Could the Terrans still possess it?"
"They might, but I know it's not here on Char. It's no threat to us." Kerrigan answered as Izsha shared Kerrigan's former versions of doom for the Swarm and made to rally them for that 'end war', but she didn't remember what it was about. As for the complex, Kerrigan mused that taking it out would send a message a clear message that Arcturus was next when Char was fully ready to destroy what he had built for his crimes and attempts against her.
Zagara didn't see the true virtue of strategy as she saw strength or speed the deciding factors and Kerrigan was sure that Abathur could, at least, get her to see thinking and seeing the possible ways to operate against different foes instead of just rushing them with force, numbers, or agility as the Banelings were also able to be further mutated to increased their acidic explosion in either damage or range or even heal close-range Zerg attackers on her side when they explode, STILL didn't solve the lemon allergy for the Zerglings, but the differing acid used for Banelings made it a successful weapon on anything as Kerrigan returned to the 'bridge' and improved her abilities further in either a increased attack and life in her forces for a few seconds or calling forth Banelings to serve her in the fight, also knowing that the increased independence for the Broodmothers made her worthwhile as, if a Broodmother serves willingly, then she is doing a lot better than just being the old Queen of Blades who demanded utter loyalty and using tricks to ensure the tides go in her favor, that MADE all of the difference as she felt the call again and turned to find the source had somehow got aboard and she felt it.
Former Ghost, a class ten psionic, arms trailed with protruding spikes, but she quickly suspected her to be someone of great meaning if she was infested and had come to her of all people, knowing full well that it would have been a match to watch if she came with hostile intentions, but she seemed... devoted for the most part, echoes resounding that she had been learning what had occurred in the four years after the Brood Wars and suspected what had happened to the Queen of Blades in recent days. "Alice... Sloane, at your command, my Queen." A dark-black carapace adorned her with short Zerg tendrils for hair as Kerrigan replied back, putting Sloane's appearance and behavior under 'Abathur Investigations' for later.
"Very well, Alice, you and Zagara will take us into the Bone Trench, it is time to see what we can accomplish in driving the Dominion off our world." She bowed as the Leviathan moved to drop Kerrigan off close by and to see what could be done about the Terrans now in the Trench...