2nd chapter up, this one is a little more light-hearted in places, as it involves a lot of hurry up and wait. there is also a reference to Dr. Who, which I do not own.
FtDLulz, thanks.
izwan, I think you'll like this chapter :) I did do a little exposition as to whether she was Raider or Dominion in the last chapter, Ex: when she was talking about her minor Psionic potential she talks about how she discovered it while they, the Raiders, were fighting alongside the Protoss.
as always, I appreciate any comments concerns or criticisms you may have.
I engage the communications system and patch myself into the Raider's network with the passcode I was given when I joined up, soon after its founding. It took a lot of convincing to get the adjutant to do anything for me at all, as when I first got on, the only communication it gave me was "Zerg DNA detected, engaging security protocols." It was a good thirty minutes before I was able to get around those security protocols. I don't pride myself on my hacking abilities, but I think I should be able to get into a relatively unprotected server faster than that. The call was answered, by one of the people who I had hoped would not answer. It was my squad leader, Andrew Cole.
"Julia? You're alive?" he says before he realizes what he sees, when the realization hits, his face turns from elation at one of his oldest friends survival, to despair.
"Wait!" I cry as he reaches to turn off the communication. He pauses for a moment, and looks up.
"Why should i? So that you can gloat? So that you can tell me how "good" this new form feels, offer me a place in your "ascension?" why should I listen to anything you have to say?" his deep sadness turning to anger as he barrages me. "You didn't deserve what happened to you, but now that I know it has, the only thing I can do is make sure you are put to rest."
"Wait! I'm still me!" I blurt out desperately as he reaches again for the button that would sever my lifeline to Terran civilization. His finger pauses, and he looks up distrustfully. "at least, I think I am. I woke up a few hours ago in the Char system inside a cocoon, once I knew what had happened to me, I was disgusted, not elated. I don't know how it happened, but you have to believe me when I say that I am still myself" I speak quickly so that he doesn't lose patience and end the call anyway. I'm still unsure that I am myself, but if I let him know that, he will not hesitate to drop the call and leave me on the off-chance that I'm faking it. That's just the way he works. If I am to have a chance of determining what had happened to me, I have to display supreme confidence in the fact that it is still me inside this body, and not some image of the Zerg. One missed step, and I would be doomed.
"what reason do I have to believe you?" he snarls, unwilling to give any hope to himself, believing it would only end in betrayal, like what had happened to Raynor in the brood war.
"because if you don't, and I turn out to be genuine, you will hate yourself for the rest of your life. If I am telling a lie, and you don't believe me, you have gained nothing. Now, if you believe me, you will either gain a powerful ally, if I am telling the truth, or you may lose a few guards putting me down if I am telling a lie. Please, take a chance." I attempt to appeal to his better nature,
"I… don't know" he says, doubt playing across his face, he is tempted by the hope of getting me back, even if only in mind. I have been there from the beginning with him, and he trusts, or at least trusted, me implicitly I don't want to push much farther, knowing that if I seem to desperate now, he may believe that it's a trick. "I won't promise anything, but… I will do what I can for you, I owe you that much at least. I'll talk to my superiors, probably all the way up to Raynor himself, because if you're telling the truth, then they can be beaten." I nod thankfully, knowing that although it is not a 'yes come in', it's not a no either. "I will wait to hear from you again." I say, and he cuts the communication.
Forty three minutes later, I finally receive a call back. Hope and fear in equal proportions surge through me as I answer the call from the Raiders. When I answer it, I am shocked, although perhaps I should not be. Raynor is on the other end of the communication. I've fought alongside him, and support his cause with all my heart, but I've never gotten to know the man himself. When he sees me, his face falls even further than it already has, as he sees the high resemblance between what happened to me and what Kerrigan is now. The change in expression lasts only an instant, and then he is back to seriousness. He looks me straight in the eyes and says "if this is a trick, you'd best call it off now. Because, if I find out you've been lying in any part of the exchange I heard about, then there ain't a single thing in the universe that'll stop me from putting you down. I've decided, against my better judgment, to allow you onto the Hyperion, and even that much is only because of the immense time and effort put into it by your Squad Leader. He seems to think you're for real. I'll give you coordinates for a shuttle, guarded by my men. They'll then escort you to the Hyperion. After that, you'll go straight into confinement until my scientists can find out what's going on. Luckily for you, we just picked up Dr. Hanson, otherwise I'd let Stettman have a go at you. After that, well. We'll see what the tests show."
I am quiet throughout the whole thing, simply listening and accepting the judgment as it is given. He is being remarkably trusting. If I had met myself in this same situation yesterday, I'd have put a bullet in my own brain on the off chance that I was being controlled; of course, Raynor is a slightly different story. I don't know all that happened between him and Kerrigan, but if half the rumors on the ship were true, then they had something before she got captured, and, I believe, he's never stopped blaming himself for her capture. If I was in that position, with someone I love captured and turned against me, I would be looking for any way I could to free them. After he finishes, I nodd and say "yes sir" respectfully. "Here are the codes for the system, the planet's name is Redstone, and we were headed there anyway. Be ready for pickup in two hours." I nod again, and he cuts off the communication.
I sit back in my pilot's chair, exhaling a breath that I had apparently been holding. Two hours, I have two hours of free time. I punch in the coordinates of the system he gave me, and I begin looking around for something I can fill the time with. I eventually settle on one of the classics, and pop up a virtual chess interface. I set the computer to easy and began playing, letting my mind wander as I outwit the preprogrammed computer with the same strategy I use almost every time. I think back to the times I had spent with the Raiders. I had joined after the UED Invasion of korhal in the brood war. During that time, I learned more about how the dominion truly operated, and what Mengsk had done to secure power. I was, and still am sickened by it and, after the two forces separated, I stayed on with the Raiders.
After that, I joined a specialized team which dealt with "hearts and minds" missions, as Matt Horner called them. We would rescue civilians who were under attack, and then offer them the chance to join us, if they said no, they were returned to the dominion secretly. If they said yes, then they stayed on, either as spies within the dominion, or as forces and resources for the Raiders. That was how I encountered the Zerg facility involving infested Terrans. It was a nightmare, I was only very recently able to get over the trauma of what had happened in that facility, and my mind still shies away from that set of memories. After that incident, my team and I were put on shore leave, individually on worlds controlled by the Umojan Protectorate. We could have stayed together, but we decided to have some time away from each other. When the shore leave was over, I was heading back to the fight when my transport was intercepted by the Zerg.
I feel a small sense of victory as I capture the enemy king with my queen and a rook along the back edge of the chessboard, and the game ends. Chess is not my favorite game, but the other strategy games that I really enjoy aren't downloaded onto this console, which only has the standard set, and besides, they're all MMOs.
An hour into the waiting time, I've arrived on the asteroid orbiting the same system Raynor sent me, and I've beaten every difficulty of chess, as well as hearts, minesweeper, and regular and spider Solitaire at least once. After that, I log into my account for a pay-to-watch movie registry and began looking at my options there. I start an episode of some British time traveler show from the 21st century on earth. Apparently it's only still around because some diehard fans went with the supercarriers, and brought Every, Single, Season With them.
I turn off the screen as the timer I had set goes off. The two hours have finally gone by. Now, to see if they are really going to keep their word about me, not that I truly doubt it or anything. I set up the scanners to detect incoming ships, and sure enough, one with the IFF Insurgent, as if that isn't a tipoff as to the organization it belongs to, is heading towards my location. It lands on the asteroid beside me, and I put on the EVA gear stored in the shuttle, which thankfully consists of a helmet and separate pieces of clothing. I patch up the rips my wings have made in my current clothing as well as I can, trying to get it as airtight as possible, put on the gloves, which were able to connect to the sleeves of my shirt, and then simply make my pants seal up at the ankles, not seeing any way to fit the high heels into the shoe they provided, and assuming the carapace would keep me safe there. Upon reviewing, I figured that I could probably survive without even the gloves, but I decided that for my own sanity I would still wear them.
I head outside, and walk slowly towards the dropship with my hands raised to keep the marines, whose trigger fingers appear to be growing rather twitchy, from attacking me. As I suspected, the exposed portions of my body, feet and wings, are chilled slightly, but other than that have no ill effects. Once inside the dropship, I am ordered, roughly, to "place your hands behind your back". I comply and am securely cuffed. The journey to Hyperion is completely silent, the marines simply staring at me with their guns in the "two hand ready" position. I spend most of the time trying not to shift too conspicuously. When docked, I am lead to the brig, specifically, to a Neosteel cell with Psionic inhibitors. solitary confinement with the utmost protection they can offer, I am certain that if I was to try, with my new form I can eventually get out of it, but not before I'm killed by the four combat suited marines, and two firebats they have covering the door, as well as the guards that are currently escorting me, six marines and double the firebats on the door. They really aren't taking any chances with me.
I am shoved roughly inside, and my cuffs are removed by an automated machine inside the cell. I stretch my arms, slowly, and making sure that nothing I do can be interpreted as hostile. The guards who were leading me to the cell leave, the "small" contingent of forces that were here originally remaining behind, silent and completely still. I remove the EVA gloves and helmet, as I was not given a chance to before, and leave them in a corner. I don't dare try to make conversation, given the stares I'm receiving, and so sit down on the uncomfortable bed.
After an indeterminable period of time I am released by the same contingent of silent guards as before, I can tell because they all have personalized markings on their equipment, and escorted, hands again bound, through the halls. I try to remember that I am among friends here, but it seems weak against the intimidating presence of the guardsmen. By this time an uncomfortable sensation has begun which, if I were asked to describe it, I would say is hunger. It is different from when I was a Terran, but the more I think about it, the more similar it became, even beginning to centralize as a hollow feeling in my stomach. I have no idea what, or even if, Zerg ate, and I would have to ask once I am allowed.
Eventually we come to a door, the marines open it into a medbay type area, with several machines and instruments. I am motioned forward by my guards, who then leave, sealing the door behind them. A voice over the loudspeaker tells me first to walk over to a machine which appears similar to the one in my cell, which removes my handcuffs, and then to step into a machine on the right. I comply and lights begin to scan me up and down. Once the full body scan is completed, another one is done just for my head. When that is accomplished, I am directed to another table. On this one I am told to place my arm through a cuff to the middle of my upper arm. I comply, and a needle ejects itself from the machine, and into the, relatively, soft surface of my arm. it withdraws a sample of blood, which I note unhappily has changed color slightly.
That accomplished, my guards return, cuff me, and lead me back down the winding hallways to my cell. The whole procedure takes what I estimate to be forty five minutes. Soon after, the ship's "night" cycle begins, and I fall back to sleep, my second in this form.