8 hours earlier.
BRAXIS: 01:55 UST
Stukov gazed from the bridge of the Aleksander onto the endless night of space. Below was Braxis; in the distance, Kerrigan's leviathan loomed like a small moon above the planet. From it he could hear the singing psionic howl of the zerg working in unison: adapting, evolving, spawning. He let the noise of his brood wash over him, eroding his sense of self. The Aleksander was empty and quiet except for the faint guttural noises of its infestation and the whir of the few electronic systems that still worked. It was almost 0200 hours by the ship's clock, but he was still awake. He never slept now. He didn't need to. There were few human things he needed to do—or even wanted to—breathe (no loss there, he thought), eat (a waste of time; everything tastes like sawdust now anyway), and drink (I only miss drinking because I can't anesthetize myself anymore).
Ironically, it was the zerg that had made him start drinking so heavily in the first place. When the first ghost scouts returned with intel on the zerg and he was assigned to assessing them as a threat, his drinking had devolved into alcoholism, much to the dismay of his wife and family. He became estranged from them. Then he was dragged away to the Koprulu sector by his "friend" DuGalle out of misplaced loyalty. Stukov thought DuGalle knew how powerful the zerg were and how easily they could get out of hand. But now... Maybe it was for the best. I have achieved a clarity of thought I never thought possible. But not, he knew, without losing his family, his humanity, and his home.
The clarity was disfiguring. He recognized that his thoughts were becoming more and more alien. He commanded the infested and his zerg more closely now, using Abathur (after Zagara finally banished him for his ideological differences) to enhance them. His zerg were more connected to him after Abathur's machinations, bred to respond only to his commands. But the more they were connected to him, the more he felt like his thoughts were losing structure. Being Alexei Stukov was harder and harder. To him, it was like mentally treading water to keep his head above a roaring psionic sea. On his worst days, he gave in, but something animal—human and animal—would claw him back out of the tide of the Swarm. He fought against the Swarm now, clearing his thoughts, just to demonstrate to himself he still could.
He thought of his ex-wife and children. Their faces were indistinct. A sadness washed over him. After being killed, raised, infested, de-infested, re-infested, incarcerated, liberated, and then finally exacting his revenge on his former captors, this is how, Stukov realized, his humanity would die—by degrees in a war of attrition with the Swarm. He couldn't remain with the Swarm and stay human; he couldn't go back to humanity and stay ahead of those who would inevitably hunt him. Stukov thought of the scene he had discovered on the Aleksander when he had found and salvaged it: his friend, his message, and his death.
Maybe Gerard had the right idea.
He heard the console beside him spin up before the alert on it even registered-a quirk of his zerg-modified hearing. The comm system registered an "official fleet communique" coming through.
Impossible.
Stukov checked the frequency and encryption. What he saw seemed to confirm what the comm system said: there was a UED ship nearby broadcasting on an official channel. Stukov was too stunned to react. His people were here in the Koprulu sector. The UED had returned.
So, what happens now? He thought. If he had been fully human, he would go back immediately and report. But he wasn't. He of course feared their reaction. They would perhaps accept him if he added his brood to their fleet. But on the other hand, they might betray him, and he'd end up home as an experiment in the labs he once ran. Or worse, they would execute him as a traitor and make a triumphant propaganda vid about it. Even if they did accept him, he couldn't-or rather wouldn't-help them. He had no country now, and he had more allies in the Koprulu sector than he did on Earth. While not helping the UED seemed traitorous, turning his back on his allies in this sector seemed like an equal measure of betrayal. In any case, he needed to find out if it was still their mission to eradicate the zerg. It's better to know now before the noose is around my neck.
With a few taps, he sent out the coded handshake sequence of the Aleksander but set it as an automated distress call. They would come expecting salvage and instead find him waiting. And then, maybe, he could gauge if he should speak with them—or find out if he needed to keep out of their way.
