Chapter 2

Sarah peered down the hallway before quietly pacing down with her newly acquired gear. General Warfield had managed to scrounge up some familiar equipment: a hostile environment suit and a C-20A rifle. Granted, it had been four years since she last handled the rifle, but the muscle memory from years of training made it flow naturally in her hands.

As she reached a door at the end of the hallway, she glanced past both corners to make sure she was alone before studying the map Warfield had given her. The door led to the main confinement cells that held the Hyperion's crew. She psionically shoved the door in and dashed in with her rifle raised.

"What in—"

The marine wasn't even able to raise his rifle before his confusion was cut off by a bullet through his head. The second marine just started to get up from his seat on the floor and grab his rifle before he too was shot down.

Sarah lowered her rifle as she inspected the jail room. It was darkly lit with only a single light casting a pale shadow over the prisoners. Curious faces gawked at her through their prison bars. She didn't need any extra conversation and still had to free Jim so she spoke curtly.

"Who's in charge here?"

A dark haired man stepped forward as the rest of them moved back.

"Captain Matt Horner, at your service." He stared at her, faintly recognizing her. "Sarah... is that you?"

She didn't know this man but judging through his high position with the Hyperion's crew, he was probably well acquainted with Jim. There wouldn't be any reason to keep him in the dark.

"Yes. I'm on my way to break Jim out. The rest of you need to get to the Hyperion. We'll catch up to you soon."

She psionically unlocked the cell door as she walked back outside the room.

"Wait Sarah—"

She cut him off, "You don't have time to waste. Get to the ship, and we'll talk later."

With that, Sarah left and began jogging faster down the corridor. After a few minutes, she turned a corner and silently skidded to a stop, seeing a squad of four oblivious marines down the hall guarding a staircase leading down to Jim's cell. As she crept closer, she realized there was no way to slip by them without killing them. And she would have to do so quickly before they could react and radio in her position.

As soon as she got in range to use her telekinesis, she directed a blast at the group to knock them flying, bashing them into the wall. Bringing up her rifle, she swiftly shot them while they were still disoriented from the sudden impact.

She stepped through the faceless combat suits on the ground and softly descended the winding staircase underground. As she came into view underground, she sensed another relatively powerful psionic being and drew back quickly enough to avoid being shot. A ghost.

Before she ducked behind view, she caught a glimpse of it and observed an additional three marines also hunkered down to defend against her assault. They would cost her precious time. She returned suppressing fire as she retreated back up the staircase to plan her next move.

Since she already lost the element of surprise, she wouldn't be able to close enough to deal with them like she did with the four marines before. The ghost could also be a problem with its powers if it was well trained.

As she looked behind her to check that no one was behind her, she noticed various explosive grenades on the dead marines and smirked ironically. Delivering some of these gifts downstairs would do the trick.

She gripped two of the grenades, pulled off the pins, and lobbed them into the room one after another. Taking cover behind the staircase, she covered her ears and waited as she heard panicked yells before two detonations. After the dust cleared, she peered around the corner to survey the devastation.

One of the marines was completely decimated. Judging from the wreckage of his body suit, he had probably jumped on the grenade to save his comrades. Luckily, the second grenade seemed to have caught them even more off-guard and managed to severely wound the rest of the guards. She smoothly shot them dead and walked to the door at the far side of the room.

This would be the first time she would actually see Jim for over four years. What would be his reaction to her after freeing her from the zerg? How much had changed between them through her years as the Queen of Blades and his years as a rebel leader? She shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking of such things. Get Jim and hightail it out of this prison.

She telekinetically opened the door and stepped inside, looking for the man she did not know how to repay.

"Sarah? What…? How…?" A man she could recognize anywhere started towards her, peering at her face through the dim light through the open doorway.

Jim looked much older than she remembered, far beyond the twenty-nine years when she first met him. His years as a rebel didn't seem to treat him well. Though he was still physically fit, the stress of his leadership and indulgence of alcohol had taken their tolls on his body, adding deep creases to his face and making his body unnaturally gaunt. Right now though, he was wearing a gobsmacked expression that was slowly turning borderline ecstatic.

She smirked at him, relieved at his positive reaction.

"I'll explain on the way, but we got to go before Valerian catches us."
Jim nodded. "Sure darling. Got a weapon for me to use?"

She nodded back outside the door. "Take your pick."

He followed Sarah back out of the cell and whistled at the destruction. He picked up a discarded gauss rifle.

"How are you, Sarah? It has only been a short amount of time since your—"

"I'm fine Jim, really." And it was the truth. Though she didn't feel herself to be at full strength, she was a far cry away from the weakling she had been when Jim carried her out.

He nodded but didn't seem that satisfied. They jogged up the stairs and started towards the ship hangar outside the base at a quick march.

"So what happened? How did you escape out of your cell?"

"General Warfield. Apparently, the feral zerg left on this planet was such a major threat that he and almost the entire Dominion army needed to go on a mission to cull their numbers. Incidentally, that left this base a little conveniently empty for a daring rescue mission by..." At this she hesitated. What was she now? A human ghost? A cross between zerg and terran?

Jim was grinning from the news of Warfield but noticed her apprehension and understood immediately.

"Hey darlin', it's fine. I like you just the way you are right now."

"Pig." Sarah's half-hearted jab only made Jim grin even more.

They had continued down the hallway for only a few minutes when Valerian's voice was suddenly projected from loudspeakers in the corridor.

"You did not think I would allow my two prizes to escape so easily, did you?" He mockingly laughed. "Your crew might have ran away like cowardly rats, but I fear you won't achieve the same result."

"Mengsk Junior. You traitorous bastard. To think I thought you were different from your old man. I should've put that bullet in your face when I had the chance." Raynor's face was full of distaste.

"I do not think you are in a situation to make any credible threats, Raynor. By the way, keep an eye on your Zerg pet there; she might not be as…" Valerian lingered for a moment, "stable as you would like her to be."

Sarah visibly scoffed. "You know nothing. Give my regards to Arcturus and tell him to keep himself alive for my next visit." She raised her rifle and shot down the speakers. Valerian was bluffing and just trying to delay their escape. Besides, there was nothing wrong with her.

"Sarah?" Jim looked at her curiously.

"He said the Hyperion already escaped. We'd better start finding our own way out of this hellhole."

Unexpectedly, a chunk of the wall erupted out from the side of the corridor, flying into Jim and driving him into the opposite wall. Sarah instantly fired into the opening, catching the two attacking marines unprepared as they tried rush through. When no one followed, she ran to Jim and tried to evaluate his injuries.

"Jim, are you ok?" Though she tried to stay calm, she knew there was no way Jim was emerging unscathed.

He grunted as he tried to weakly push the metal off him. "Help me get this off first."

"Stay still."

She raised a hand to the metal and concentrated. Her eyes flashed orange with psionic power as she wedged the metal back to its original position in the wall.

Jim's face tightened with agony as he clenched his teeth to prevent himself from screaming out loud. His eyes fluttered shut as he fought against the pain.

"Jim. Jim!" If she wasn't panicking before, she was definitely now. Her voice slightly cracked as she slapped his cheek to keep him awake.

Jim opened his eyes. "Guess this is it for me." He grinned up at Sarah's worried face. "At least you'll get to be free."

"What's wrong, Jim?"

Her eyes frantically scanned his body looking for injuries until they reached his legs. His legs with the white of bone protruding through the flesh.

"Yup." Jim's grin turned into something more of a grimace. He grabbed her shoulder. "You gotta go, Sarah. Valerian's going to make escape impossible soon."

"I'm not going anywhere without you Jim. I'm sure you already know you can't convince me otherwise." She gently but firmly moved her hands under his body.

"Sarah—" He gasped as he was slightly shifted. "Sarah, leave me. You have a chance to escape. Take it. I saved your ass from the Zerg so you could have your life back. Don't waste it now that you finally have it. I'm happy that I—"

"Shut up. Look at me." He slowly raised his eyes to hers. "Good. This—" Her eyes flashed as she telepathically knocked him out. "is me doing something with my life."

She strapped her rifle to her back and then carefully lifted his body onto her shoulder. Using one hand to steady him, she reached down to grab a spare pistol and started to move down the hallway again, albeit at a much slower pace.

After a few tenuous minutes of walking and waiting for new enemies to pop out at her, she reached the door leading outside to the hanger. She gently set Jim down and pulled out her rifle. Valerian had enough time to prepare his defense. Hopefully, they were still not enough. She closed her eyes for a moment to prepare herself and sent a massive kinetic blast to burst open the doors.

Hot, dry air buffeted her face as she took in the army in front of her. Valerian stood outside on a raised platform a couple hundred meters away with his two ghosts flanking him. A trio of siege tanks positioned themselves underneath aiming their cannons directly at her. In addition, several squads of marines and marauders supported them. The dropship imperative to their escape was on her left, but she would never reach them before being blown to smithereens.

She raised her eyes up to take in the rest of the planet's scenery. Heavy, black clouds covered the sky, blocking the sun and casting a dismal light over the ground. The parched air was dead still and oppressive, blistering against her skin and pushing her down. Fiery hot lava flowed through crevices and canyons in the distance, occasionally shooting up into a blood-red fountain. This was Char. Or hell, depending on how you looked at it.

"Surrender, Kerrigan. It's over."

Valerian's silky voice called out to her, but she ignored him.

So her final stand would be here. Surrender would never again become an option. The mistake she made at New Gettysburg was atoned for by Jim, and she would learn from it. Never give up. Never surrender and become the slave of another. If Valerian captured her again, she knew that she would be back to her cell, experimented on and developed into another tool.

But was there still any chance to escape this? She knew that it would be futile to attempt to overcome everything all by herself. She needed a distraction. Her potential allies, the Hyperion and General Warfield, didn't seem likely to help any time. One probably already escaped to another solar system while the other was off fighting zerg. Zerg. This was Char, the Zerg's homeworld. Perhaps there was one other piece on the chessboard that both Valerian and she had forgotten.

She reached out with her mind and detected feral zerg within a mile of her position. There was a decent clump of roaches and several packs of zerglings. Furthermore, she could sense mutalisks in the clouds not too far away, hidden from view. Prodding at their minds, she felt a burst of elation as she started a familiar connection with them. This connection, this bond was what she had missed.

Nudging their minds even further, she discovered that they were still responsive to her commands. She smiled wickedly. There was hope for Jim and her after all.

She was about to command them to attack the army until she remembered her past four years. Jim had sacrificed so much and had offered his life and his men for a chance to free her from the clutches of the Zerg. Wouldn't this return to control the Zerg abandon his efforts to save her? No, wasting his efforts was if they died right after tasting an ounce of freedom. Controlling the zerg for a bit wasn't the same as being the Queen of Blades anyways.

She gave the command and began to stall for time.

"What do you hope to accomplish, Valerian? Arcturus isn't just going give up his throne for you even if you give him both me and Jim. He's more likely to kill you off as a potential threat to him."

Valerian gave a condescending sneer in response. "Politics were always above your grade. An obedient mislead ghost like you couldn't even begin to understand."

He looked behind her.

"Raynor unconscious and no further help for you. Your available choices are quickly dwindling. Give up now; you will never hope to escape me alive."

Sarah ignored him and lowered her chilling gaze to the soldiers in front of her.

"This is your last chance. Lower your weapons or die."

Valerian scoffed, "Surely this is not your escape plan. Shameless begging does not become you."

She continued to ignore him.

"Very well. You choose death..." He paused and focused on his earpiece as it started excitedly chattering at him. As he looked back down to Sarah, he found a cold smirk waiting for him. "Kill—"

But it was too late. Before he even gave the order, heavily-armored roaches unburrowed from the ground directly beneath the siege tanks, spewing acid and scything through anything within reach. Packs of zerglings started jumping onto the base and charging at the marines. At the same time, mutalisks dropped down from the clouds and began bombarding the base with glaive wurms.

Sarah didn't waste time to gloat at Valerian. She sprinted back to pick up Jim and ran as fast as she could with him in her arms to the nearest dropship.

Suddenly, a blow tipped her forward, and she found herself lying down on her chest. She tried to push herself up but her left arm wasn't cooperating. Tilting her head left to get a better view, she realized that her shoulder was attached to her body by only a few tendons. Someone had shot her with an extremely high-powered rifle.

She laid her head back down against the hard concrete ground, growing weaker with every heartbeat that pumped out her blood through the wound. She tried to push herself upright with her right arm but found herself too weak to do so.

She looked around as much as she could, eventually spotting the pistol she had carried a couple feet away from her and started crawling towards it. The wound might be enough to kill her before Valerian got to her, but she didn't want to take the chance. Hopefully, anyone watching would be too amused by her patheticness before realizing what she wanted to do.

As her hand was just about to reach the pistol, she felt someone pick her up and pull her away from it. She tried to struggle out but could not break free.

The forceful movement taxed her body immensely. Sarah began to blackout in response to the pain and blood loss.

She had failed again. A wave of defeat washed over her as she drifted unconscious.

a/n: Thanks for reading! :D Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated. Feel free to point out any mistakes and I'll do my best to fix them.