Legend:

xx place, xx time : setting

'hello' : telepathic

"Hello" : normal speech

*: to be explained ( i.e see Author's note )

...

and before I forget: I don't own anything. The Starcraft franchise is the property of Blizzard Entertainment.

Chapter 2

FLASHBACK …

We were so close ! So close ! All it took was to lure the Queen of Blades into the caverns, and then that would have been the end of her. The ambush that I had prepared would make sure of that.

Yet something had gone wrong. I noticed it the moment she approached one of the underlings I had positioned at the perimeter, and its psychic presence vanished. Very soon I was galloping* ( as fast as my terribly inefficient legs could allow ) with all my might, trying to flee from the psionic storms now raging throughout the tunnel systems, the very tunnel systems I had chosen to entrap my enemy, and now the potential place of my doom.

The storms subsided, and I slowed to a crawl as well. Eventually I stopped as I entered into one of the caverns. There was no more use in running. She was right in front of me.

In the total subterranean darkness, I could not see her, but my psionic sense gave me a detailed enough impression of the scene around me. She stood there, in her characteristically Terran display of haughtiness, her left wing-claw wrapped around the charred carcass of one of my heavily modified Hydralisks. In this manner she held it away from the ground, like a … mantid holding its prey. Quite an amazing feat, considering that the dead underling was several times her mass. How could a creature that small possess so much strength ? Did all Terrans have such potential, or had the Overmind truly imbued her with a power that even we Cerebrates did not understand ? Why bestow such a gift to a creature not born of Zeurus ? ( granted, she was half-Zerg now. )

"Well, this was interesting. How did you come up with such things ?" She was genuinely curious, but I could tell she was mostly just toying with me now. I knew she could sense my intense fear, and she enjoyed inflicting more of it on me. The moment she got bored of it, she would pounce and rip me to shreds. I must increase her interest. I must stay alive.

'The Overmind placed a significant limit on how many underlings I could control. I've always had to improvise. Many of the elite strains in the Swarm were the indirect result of my tinkering.'

"So you're some kind of scientist, huh." A tone of amusement in her voice.

That last name was unfamiliar to me. I searched through my memories for clues from my past interactions with Terrans. Ah yes, "scientists" are a breed of Terrans who investigate the way things work, and apply that knowledge. They are responsible for the Terrans' evolution. And most importantly, they are valuable to the Terran community. I decided to try my luck.

'If you let me live, I will share my latest strains with you. The Lurkers will be yours, and much much more ! Surely you were impressed by this last … demonstration of their capabilities.'

"Hmm …" She regarded the dead Lurker in her grip for a while.

A short silence ensued. The only sounds, barely audible, were the nervous clicking of my mandibles.

And then she spun round, and hurled the Lurker's corpse towards me.

Instinctively, I curled into a protective ball, with my rear end at the centre of the resulting spiral, and my back facing outwards. The dead lurker crashing into me did little physical harm, but the suddenness of the action shocked me motionless for a few seconds, as if my essence had been forced out of my body, like one of those times the Overmind tried to reincarnate me into another form. Only, this time, the Overmind was no longer around. If I was slain now, I would not be revived.

When I finally overcame my paralysis, and I regained my senses again, Kerrigan was standing atop the lurker's corpse, looking down at me with disgust. Had I assumed wrongly ? Were "scientists" not as valuable as I expected ?

"Pathetic. Without the Overmind you are nothing but overgrown worms." Vocally she was comparing us Cerebrates to lowly animals, as she had always done, but the psychic signal that accompanied the last word was even more painful to receive. Parasites.

'Without the Overmind, you'd be nothing but an overgrown rat.' I sent back. 'Pest.'

In response, her psychic presence intensified to an overwhelming level. Her eyes flashed phosphor white, and then dimmed, taking on the orange glow of burning ash. The first and only points of light in this deep dark cavern.

I curled my feelers and folded in my limbs, preparing myself for the lethal bolt of psionic energy that would finally put an end to my existence.

It never came.

"Why did the Overmind need to limit your army ?" The twin crescents of orange narrowed.

It took me a second to realize that she was curious again. Such an unpredictable temper. Nevertheless, my hopes of surviving returned. Surviving was the most important. Other contemplation of human behaviour could wait.

'I could not disobey Its will, but I tried to be … creative … whenever I had the opportunity. It was deemed too dangerous for me to lead a full-sized brood.' A pause, then I added, 'but the Old One was still precious to the Swarm, so my essence was not erased.' Of course, I did not completely believe in that, but anything that could convince her to spare my life was worth trying.

To my surprise, she looked up and let out a series of loud vocal sounds which involved such strong exhalations that her own upper body shook with it. The psychic signal she was emanating was one of joy and amusement. She was … laughing.

"We are sooo alike. It's as if the Overmind actually planned it this way. Yes, it's obvious now, we're fated !"

Again, it took a while for me to interprete that last word. And again, comprehension of it required a full understanding of the interaction between humans, which unfortunately, I did not have. Regardless, her cheerful mood was a good sign.

'Yes, even in death the Overmind's designs continue to unfold.'

"Hmm …" She placed her normal human hands on her hips and then looked up and sideways. It appeared to be a relaxed posture, but she emanated a sense of trouble. What was the full meaning of such a gesture ? Ah, yet another mysterious aspect of human behaviour. The subject of her worry, was, however, no mystery to me.

'The new Overmind that Daggoth's group is creating, I wonder if that was part of Its designs…'

Her reply affirmed my suspicion. "I don't care what the Overmind wanted. I will not let anything take over my mind again !"

In my own mind I went through several possible responses to this, selecting the one that would produce the most favourable results for me.

'You seek a way to resist mental domination.'

She did not reply vocally, but my psionic senses told me that her emotions were flowing precisely as I wanted them to.

I slowly uncurled myself back to my normal sprawling posture as I sent the crucial statement:

'You need my powers.'

END FLASHBACK

- back to the present, on my way to the Terran base on Char …

Kerrigan was alive !

As we approached the base I felt her psychic presence, shining like a star amongst the faint hazy aurora that made up the psychic presence of the other Terrans around her.

Yes, she was alive, and among fellow humans. The Terrans had decided not to kill her, despite her having slaughtered countless humans during her reign of terror as the supreme ruler of the Swarm.

As a member of a sentient species myself, I do understand the concept of compassion. Before the creation of the Swarm, it was as vital to our ancestors, as it is now to any Terran or Protoss. One could even argue that the Overmind was formed partly from ( an admittedly warped expression of ) the "compassion" that the inhabitants of Zeurus had for each other.

However, unlike us, the Terrans have preserved a much more primal, unordered form of compassion. Each individual human expresses this emotion at varying degrees, for widely differing rationales ( sometimes for no good reason at all ). It is both fickle, but true at the same time. A weird state of mind, one which the Zerg have mostly abandoned while acquiring the Purity of Essence. ( For us, everything has to do with survival and evolution. )

Was it this eldritch mental quality that caused the Terrans to spare Kerrigan's life ? Of course that cannot be the only reason. The Terrans likely needed something important from the former Queen of Blades, and could not afford to kill her yet, despite the potential threat she posed to their survival. Whatever their motives, I was relieved, for I now had a connection within their base, one which I could use to gain access to their transports, among other things.

We were several Hives' distance from the base now. I hid behind a massive natural stone pillar, away from the line of sight of the bases' guard towers, while scanning the entire field of structures with my psychic senses to get a general impression of the activity going on within it.

The humans were oblivious to the invisible psychic tendrils drifting over them, but when the latter brushed over Kerrigan's psychic presence, our minds touched, and a plan was formed in my mind.

"It's here…"

Jim Raynor, Commander of the Raiders, and the hero of humanity ( even though most of humanity did not recognize that ), was about to succumb to fatigue and collapse onto the bench, when he heard that familiar voice.

"It's here…"

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, before forcing them open and staring at the source of the voice, the woman who now sat huddled beside him on the same bench, a blanket wrapped all around her body.

He would have found this occasion rather romantic, were it not for the fact that the need to keep her safe had nothing to do with his personal feelings for her, and that he did not trust the Dominion troops ( and even some of his own marines ) to keep their hands ( and guns ) off her, thus forcing him to stay with her throughout the cease-fire* process. Not that he minded. The interior of the truck provided some measure of privacy, and it would be some time before he was required elsewhere so perhaps he could -

"It wants to come in…"

"Say what ?" Raynor jerked his head back in surprise. He heard Kerrigan muttering something softly.

"Sarah, what's wrong ? tell me !"

Before Kerrigan could reply, Raynor heard a knock on the rear door of the truck.

"Come in !"

The door slid open, and a Raider marine peered inside, and gave a quick slanted salute. "Sir, there's something you should see."

"What is it ?" Raynor turned to look at the marine. The latter wore an excited expression. There was no panic, just disbelief and wonder. He had seen something incredible.

"Sir, it's … there's some kind of big animal outside the South entrance …"

"Is it Zerg ?"

"No idea, sir. Stetman's scanning its biosignature." And then the marine recalled the main point of his report. "It was following behind two of our people who were just returning to base and …" he fumbled for the right words. "I think it wants to come in too, sir."

Raynor sighed and looked back at Kerrigan. "Sarah, can you walk ?"

"Yes." She whispered, and slowly stood up.

"Alright." Raynor grabbed his rifle from under the bench. "Let's get this over with."

"General, I am confident that the containment facilities on the Hyperion are able to –"

"You'd seriously consider letting a live Zerg aboard your vessel ?"

"We don't know what its connection to the Zerg is."

"You just said there's Zerg DNA in there."

"Yeah but … a) it's docile and b) it didn't get killed by the Artifact. Sir, I appreciate your concern for everyone's safety but a super rare specimen like this, if we kill it now –"

"We've already got the Queen of Blades."

"But she's … uh … you know …"

For some time now, I've listened to the quarrel going on between the human with a loose white body covering which covered his entire body except for the head ( which was engulfed by another structure which reminded me of the face of a Protoss * ) and feet, and another taller one with in pale brown metallic armour, the same exoskeleton sported by marines. Even as he engaged in his vocal battle with the white one, the brown marine had his weapon pointed in my direction, as did the marines beside him, standing in a semicircle around me. These latter warriors also had armour of different colours, some blue, some red. These indicated that there was more than one brood occupying this base.

Certainly the white one was from a different brood than the brown marine. From what I could understand of their argument, the white one was a "scientist" and he wanted to keep me alive, so that he could use me to further the evolution of his brood. In contrast, the brown marine wanted to destroy me immediately. Such violent mentality was not surprising given that he was from a warrior strain. What really amazed me was that a warrior was given enough authority to challenge a "scientist". Ah, I had almost forgotten the full implications of the fact that humans are a multi-individuated species.

I felt Kerrigan's psychic presence approaching, and saw the "scientist" and his warrior rival halt their argument to move aside and allow Kerrigan to step through the wall of marines, accompanied by another warrior in grey marine armour. This one had a slightly different weapon than normal marines, and he radiated a sense of confidence and experience. He was an Elite, like the brown one.

Had the Queen of Blades managed to take control of these two groups of Terrans ? Probably not, for I saw no sign of mental domination among them.

Kerrigan now appeared completely human, except for the nerve-cords sprouting from her head, and bending gently down and backwards. The transformation must have been the Artifact's doing. If my calculations are correct, then the Queen of Blades we knew was no more.

The Elite beside her stared at me for a moment, and then turned to the white one while pointing his weapon towards me. "Alright, what is that ?"

"Sir, my scans indicate Zerg, but it's unlike any Zerg we've encountered before." The white one held up a strange metal object in his hand. "For example …"

"Is it dangerous ?" The Elite interrupted.

"So far ? no."

"What happened to the two guys it was following ?"

"Well, they said they were tired, and went back to their bunks. Our friend there," the white one pointed at me," was about to follow, but stopped immediately when the guards pointed their guns at it. Sir, normal Zerg don't act like that."

"Considering what we've been through these months, 'normal' means very little to me now. Sarah, have you se - … Sarah ? Sarah, come back here !"

Kerrigan was walking towards me now.

'I remember you.'

Presently, she placed a hand upon my head.

'What do you want ?'

In reply, I sent her the outline of my plan. 'Safe passage, to my Homeworld.'

She understood, and sent me some instructions as well.

Behind her, the Elite was aiming his weapon at both of us. "Sarah ? What's going on ? You were talking to it right ?"

Laughing, Kerrigan turned to face the humans. "It's not what you think, really." She looked back at me and snapped a finger. "Stand"

I reared up to form an 'S' shape with my body, and emitted the best imitation of a purr as I could with my spiracles.

"Play dead."

I rolled over to my back and waved my limbs about.

After which we did a few more postures, some of which I did not quite grasp, but Kerrigan telepathically assured me I was 'doing fine'. Whether that was true or not, I definitely needed a new body.

A slack, quiet expression settled on the face of every Terran in the scene ( as far as I could see their faces ). Was that shock ? Confusion ? Wariness ? Relief ?

After a while, the white one did a gesture which I recognized as a "shrug". "Well that explains the docility."

The brown Elite marine shook his head and turned to leave. "You're gonna need a very very big kennel."

The grey Elite approached us and held Kerrigan's left wrist gently in one armoured hand. "Gods, Sarah, next time, tell me before you do something crazy again. You mean the Universe to me, you know, in more ways than one."

Kerrigan simply patted the back of said appendage with her own free hand and nodded, while sending me another telepathic message. 'Be careful on your way in. Don't touch anything without my permission.'

Thank the Ancient Ones for human compassion.

AN:

- If you think it ridiculous that a big fat cerebrate can "gallop", think of the way centipedes move :)

- "Cease-fire" is the process whereby at the end of a military operation, the squads involved pack up, clean up, and prepare to head home.

- Stetman is wearing a gas-mask. When I first wrote this chapter I had forgotten that Char has "an atmosphere that can burn a man alive". As for Kerrigan, well she looked fine laying naked in the WoL ending scene so it should be OK :)

That's all for today.

In the beginning I said I'd only post "hard sci-fi". OK, it's not that hard, but I do apply a lot of real-life scientific/spiritual/whatever-you-call-it concepts to fill in the blanks during the times I get writer's block ( which is practically all the time ).

Please tell me what you think :)

Have a good day/night.

-Star