Episode 43- We meet again.

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"So, Kerrigan? What did you want to tell us?" Kerrigan was standing inside a small meeting room, in the shadow council. In front of her was the hologram of the Nerazim Matriarch, the Protoss who was over 1000 years old, something rarely seen among their race. Someone, who remembers their exile from Aiur. Raszagal… In human terms, she would be the ultimate granny. Very old, but still holding herself pretty well, no sickness by it mental or physical, and a leader!

Kerrigan didn't care much, and probably didn't get it or know it. Dobromir, who was standing by the wall, somewhat outside of the conversation, was talking in low voice with his sibling, who was floating beside him. To be a little less noticeable, Wit has lowered himself, so his head was reaching the base of his brother's neck, and not the usual belly. They were exchanging the little bits of information that otherwise would be very hard to get.

"There is a new overmid, growing on the Char." Unseen to most, her bony wings shook a little, despite her best efforts to appear calm and collected.

"What? Impossible! Why should we believe anything you have to say, Kerrigan?" Zeratul, standing to the right, was rightfully cautious. Not so long ago, she tried to hunt the protoss down, the keyword being 'try'.

"Because Zeratul, I am no longer the mindless murderess you met on Char."

"That doesn't mean she is smart, by any stretch of imagination."

Kerrigan whipped her head back, and shouted "Shut up, you idiot!"

Dobromir just stuck out a tongue at her, but didn't say anything more. Most Protoss tried their best to ignore it, chalking it up to typical Terran behaviour. But not all of them. Artanis, the 'young' protoss was watching all of this with rising interest, especially the causal interaction between the two infested, and the infested man with his own weird terran buddy.

"Anyway, the Overmind is dead. Whatever warped control he had over me faded. There is a lot to take in all at once, but you got to believe me! There is more at stake than-"

"She lies! She is infested to the core. I for one, will not listed to any of this-"

"Silence, Judicator! Continue, Kerrigan." His hologram of him quickly disappeared.

Dobromir let out a quiet "uuuuu", after leaning over he whispered, "You could almost hear the 'shut up, bitch'. Respect."

"Apparently, many of the cerebrates, commanded by daggoth, have merged into a new overmind. Fortunately, the creature is still in its infant stages. It can't control the swarm yet, but Daggoth and the others still have control over most of the broods. The cerebrate you killed here was part of Daggoth's forces." Kerrigan let out a sigh. "Look, I don't need to tell you what would happen if that thing reaches its maturity. I can guarantee you that should it awaken, it will take full control over me, just like before. I don't want it to happen, and you surely don't want it either."

"Even if what you say is true", countered Zeratul, leaning forward a little "Our priority is to save this world, not assault the new overmind! We must find the crystals Uraji and Khalis before we are all vanquished."

"Then we will help with your search. If you can defeat the renegade zerg here, it'll weaken the effort of the Daggoth and his ilk."

Extending her hands to the sides and up, Raszagal began, "My children, you must put aside your mistrust and misgivings to accomplish what has to be done. For the time being, Kerrigan, and her companion, will assist in your endeavors. Though they have been your enemies, it is enough that we share the same agenda now. Allow her time enough to prove themselves to you, and you may yet find them to be valuable allies. For now, you have to focus on the task at hand. Search for the Uraj on the planet Braxis, and let nothing stop you from recovering it." After that, her hologram vanished.

Silence fell over the room, interrupted only by the whispers of the two siblings. After a moment, silence reached Dobromir's ears. "Oh? The respected matriarch finished? Kerrigan, would you be so kind and call our transport over?"

At the end of the day, she was thankful for the 'escape the uncomfortable situation' card. Dobromir and Wit followed her footsteps. Artanis and Zeratul looked at each other for a few moments. The dark templar had a few small and unpleasant run-ins with the queen of the blades, but any big battle was fortunately avoided. Additionally, he knew that Raynor knew more about her, but out of respect, he didn't ask. Artnis, on the other hand, only heard about Kerrigan from his mentor Tassadar, and besides her being an infected ghost, he didn't know much else.

"Dylarian shipyards, this will be our next target. I expect you to help out Captain yet again. Personally, I'd love to be pleasantly surprised yet again."

The two looked at each other, silence overcoming them. Mina decided to break it, "Sooo… should I steer us towards our new target or…"

"Weh. What a pain in the ass. We shouldn't anger a force bigger than Dominion, so set sail, I guess."

Mina did just that, and watched as her boss lady opened a part of their storage yet again, and started to take things out. The freshly named Miko was laying down close to the steer wheel, watching with one eye open.

The trio of them wanted to dock at one of the Battlecruisers, but it seems that Jaruga would have to take the matters into her own hands. She stripped the top of her suit and her kontusz yet again, with shield laying close by.

Mina watched as her boss lady took out a box, and opened it. Taking out a needle, some patch of material and scissors, she went to work. "Did you adjust the course? Then come over and help me choose a weapon, my hazard environment suit is too damaged to work properly

Checking the console one last time, Mina walked over. She was familiar only with the contents that already came out, like the shield, or the suit, and let's not forget her handy laser musket, very good for distance precision shooting.

Cracking the lid open, the first thing she saw was a… "Bow?"

"Is it psychical?" Jaruga didn't stop, or turn around.

"Yes…? A compound bow, if I am not mistaken."

"It won't work in space. Additionally, the shipyard will have their own low gravity, so a double no. It's more vs zerg than Terran anyway."

Another one. "A slingshot? No, that's an obvious no." This time, she set her eyes, and hands on a much bigger box. "What's with this tube?"

"How am I supposed to know what tube you are talking about? Details, I need details." Right after saying this, she took more thread, and renewed her sewing.

"The front looks like… weird lion? With some thin tentacles coming from the nose to the back of the head?"

"Oooh, the iron dragon. No, the ammunition needs oxygen to explode, next."

"Another bow, it has two rigid arms connecting to the handle, and no string."

"Ah, Stringless, you charge it up with some energy, then shoot. This one will be useful, I'll show you in a moment. Next."

"Revolver? Nothing special about this one, certainly won't be useful now." With that, Mina put it back into the box, and moved it to the others already checked over. "Dart gun? No, certainly not." Her boss grunted in wordless agreement. "A C-10 sniper rifle? Eee…"

"That's a tricky one. It's mostly used by ghosts who charge the ammunition a little with a bit of their powers. Without it, it's useless against even power armor."

"Hmm… and I see some… wooden parts? What?"

"Gimme a moment." Jaruga finished patching up her Kontusz, and put it on herself again. The suit still had a hole, but it was at last covered now. Add the shield, and she walked over to her pilot. "That, that's exactly it! It's a small ballista, or big crossbow depending on the point of view. Some very useful bolts should be in nearby boxes. Help me assemble that thing."

"My friend, are you really sure that you want to come with them?"

"My Bro, I can't trust Kerrigan, that's a given, but my fellow Po'Midorian? I trust him with my life. And I trust him to keep that wannabe queen away from me." Ziemowit saw some hesitation in Artanis eyes.

"If something bad happens to you because of those two, I will avenge you… bro."

Protoss trying to be more culturally outgoing, adorable.

The first strike force would be minimal. It basically consisted of Kerrigan, Dobromir, Ziemowit, two Reavers and a squad of probes. The rest, would be called in classic protoss fashion, by warping in of course.

"I see… three bunkers. Nothing we can help with. Let's go to the next platform." Just as Mina steered the boat forward, one peculiar thing happened. "Wait! There is only one guy steering the Battlecruiser? How?!"

"All Terran ships can be, well, 'directed' by one person. Those guys will probably fly them out, and fill with skeleton crew." Jaruga looked at her, then back at the three battlecruisers, and the troop of marines and medics that was soon taken away by dropships. Speaking of, the other three were flying the same way as them. They had to catch up.

'Snooooore!' "phe phe phe" 'Snooore!' The two stifled their laughs. Kerrigan was laying at the front of the ship, all six limbs splayed in every direction chaotically.

"Brother, you can put the zerg into sleep? That's your true power?" 'Pft'

"I mean, I put everyone around me at ease, but in the zerg's case… They are always tense, ready to do something so… I guess that's it. All this excitement must have drained my little queenie, making her go on the last dregs of energy." Dobromir turned to his sibling, his expression becoming a little less carefree. "I envy you, you know?"

Ziemowit just levitated a little up, and spinned his little balls faster. "Come one, you still have cosmos, and water."

"It's just not the same. It's like working on different fields of psychics, but you? You defy them all, reaching absolute freedom of movement." 'Sigh'

Putting his hand on Dobromir's shoulder, Wit took off his mask with the other hand. His eyes were bloodshot, but the broken eye veins weren't red but had the colour of well, muddy ground. Intense brown, but not too shiny and not too dark. "I need your help yet again, brother. This dried shroom cap on my head, it's useless. Even if it's bark-like, it doesn't stop the sunlight. And the sun… oh brother, it feels like my energy is sucked away, my eyes burn, and I feel like puking. Those feelings take a backseat when I am in battle, but still…"

"So, sibling of mine, what do you want me to do?"

Wit lowered himself to the ground, still levitating even if barely. Dobromir joined in, legs crossed and fists supporting the chin. "That's the other thing. I am a shroomman, but I certainly ain't a man. I still think of myself as he, even if it really doesn't resonate with me. Brother, please remove this useless cap of mine, and help me find a comfort with my existence. I should also mention that you decided on my, well… race. I am your responsibility, so be accountable for your actions."

"There is nothing that hit's you more than yourself. I'll see what comes out of it. Now sleep, let the beautiful nothingness engulf your senses, and give you the respite you seek."

And Wit did go to sleep, on his back, still levitating. Dobromir went to work, with his axe and the spare knife laying around. Kerrigan still added her own snores to the background music. And the infected who were controlled to steer the boat over to them? It was a she, under all those layers of zerg flesh and tentacles. And even if the Infection ate away at her mind, Dobromir's presence gave her the bare minimum. She stood by the rail, watching the stars. They were so magnificent, that even a very simple mind was captivated.

'Sir, permission to target that target with an optical flare?' 'Granted.'

"And here we… go!" 'Thunk' a few moments of silence, and then 'BZZZT!' A surge of electricity ran all over the Tank. The canon lowered downwards, and some smoke started rising from parts of the machine.

"Go forward! I'll take out the rest before they have the chance to shoot!" Mina did as she was instructed. "Thanks my gal". Jaruga took the bolt from the fox lady's mouth, and put it on the ballista, if you could call it that way.

This bolt thrower wasn't just wood and sting, oh no. The main body, where the bolts were put, had glowing arrows going forward, like the exit sign, just without the human picture. It didn't have two arms, but six! Why? Because why not? The three glowing strings met together, creating an oval perfect for pushing those bolts forward. What's more, it had mechanical support when pulling the string with the spinning wheel, making it a lot easier, especially considering that this thing was at least a half bigger than Jaruga herself. All of it was made from some weird ashed brown wood, and it had glowing lines all over it of course, all in blue.

'Thunk!' 'spin' 'spin' 'spin' 'spin' 'spin' 'Thunk!' "That's it. Let's go to the next platform"

It was going fast. Very fast, and very smoothly, shivers ran down Mina's back. There was a rather high possibility that something would go wrong, and she had the feeling they would be in the middle of it.

"Sir, the nuke silos are secured. We've got four nukes on standby, awaiting your orders."

"What a powerful power nap. Fighting for two… no three days in a row was definitely too much. And my head feels almost weightless…"

"Because it's bald. It should be more smooth after some time."

"I have the perfect remedy." Ziemowit looked around, and found his mask on the ground. It was quietly put on, and the hood, unused until now, was draped over the head. The look created was certainly more ominous than the previous one, but no one said it was a bad thing. But, one naked area still remained. "You don't have any spare boots, do you?"

"I am covered from head to toe in zerg matter, so clothing became somewhat… unimportant to me. And I don't have any replicator on hand either. You'll have to ask your Protoss buddies for support."

"Ohhh bother… I am practically jumping from one battle to another, I worry it won't happen as fast as I want it to. At last I don't need to touch the ground…" Having said that, Wit did some stretches in mid air, with the creaking of bones surprisingly missing.

"About the other thing… For a time, my mind was blank. Then I thought about what mushrooms actually are, and then I supplemented myself with some ideas from games and… Those little balls around your rings, they are balls of spores, right? I would certainly do something like that in your place. So, there isn't something like a single mushroom, but a whole network of mycelia, usually encompassing a whole forest, and at the same time the only thing that allows the trees to really grow. Anyway, I thought, you can create more 'you', not clones, but extension of yourself. You are more in tune with your nature, and from singular you go to plural."

Wit took some time to fully process his brother's ramblings. "But should I infect some corpses, or start from scratch? Hmm…"

"I am afraid that's as far as I can help." Looking at the planet getting closer, Dobromir continued. "But that's for leather. Get ready, we'll be dropping down, blades blazing rather quickly." He walked over to the sleeping form of Kerrigan, and crouched. "Heyyyy, sleeeepy Princesss, waky waky, it's time for school."

Seems that his lighthearted intentions caused a rather unexpected reaction. Instead of groggily waking up, Kerrigan made a mad scramble. With her bladed wings an inch from Dobromir's face, shivers ran all over her. Eyes dilated to small dots, and the orange glow almost faded to nothing. After a minute of absolute silence, Kerrigan gained some awareness and calmed herself down. Turning her back to them, she tried to hold herself together. "Never do that again, NEVER!"

The two siblings looked at each other. The only 'school' that Kerrigan was in was, of course, The Ghost Academy. Dobromir in his earlier days visited one, and glimpsed only a small part of their life. Judging by the Kerrigan then, and the one here and now, some traumas resurfaced, especially after the Infestation process, and the removal of inhibitors not long after.

"Eeee… We'll be landing soon on Braxis, you can prepare yourself."

"I was Re-born ready to kill."

The two looked at each other again, and it seemed any sort of banter could lead to potential disaster. Better to keep quiet. The other infected didn't react at all, and was still watching the stars, mesmerized.

'BUUUM!' 'BUUM!' 'BUM!' Mina watched as the three groups of tanks, vultures and bunkers filled with troops disappeared in the small mushroom clouds. Only one enemy remained, a Science vessel, still in lockdown.

Jaruga decided to take the chance. She went over to the ship controls beside the steering wheel and made a call through comms. "Hey captain person, you want to take over this fat man in the sky, or just destroy it? Because I can make both happen."

"I don't have any men or time to spare." He still didn't know how to deal with a… special agent? Overseer? Ambassador? Many titles and occupations came to head, but he still didn't know her actual position. His only order was: 'Give her occasion to shine. She doesn't fall under your command, so it's her own decision to head your orders or not.' So, the only sensible thing left for him was neutral treatment. So far, it resulted in less casualties in his troops, which was always a good thing.

"I can deal with the crew by myself. Walls or corridors will stand on my way to victory!" She pumped her fist in the air. Mina leaned a little away, two people in the same space weren't very comfortable, space wise.

"We didn't have the chance to catch even one at the Braxis. A little bit of additional information would always help the command. So, I leave it in your very capable hands, miss Jaruga."

"Wooohooo! I was bored with the shooting!"

"That's very nice, could you stop SHOUTING right next to my ear?" On the horizon, a bottle of liquid relief was calling Mina, she would answer right after this mess.

Leaning very close to her subordinate's ear, Jaruga whispered "Let'sss board that sssship". Shiver ran up the poor pilot's spine. One bottle won't be enough.

Their foxy companion walked over to them, eyes glimmering with hope, and tail swishing in anticipation. On the platform below the dropships just arrived to take away the soldiers, and the last Battlecruiser was flying away.

"Hmmm, let's see… A siege tank, a couple of marines and missile turrets. The last one can't target us, so we got a clear deployment. Now, how to deal with-" And at that moment Dobromir was interrupted, because Kerrigan launched herself from the boat, and plummeted towards the ground with great speed.

The flying vessel itself was rocked in the air, throwing both infected to the ground. Wit, on the other hand, was smacked by the deck, making him land almost painfully against the wooden boards. Thankfully, his squishiness saved him from anything sirius.

As the protoss transporters were braving the missiles and preparing to drop their payload, Kerrigan already smashed through the tank, creating a crater and sending the pieces of the machine flying in every direction. Then a quick psi storm, and the thread of marines life was cut short. To vent out more, she charged at the poor SCV's, smashing through the glass and piercing the terrified pilots within.

The reavers arrived just in time. In time to clean out the base, and let the probes summon their own. "Oh man, I don't see her anger subsiding anytime soon. My usual tomfoolery won't help at all. Welp, let's help her out."

Wit floated over to the helm, and began lowering their attitude with the help of rotors. For his part, Dobromir walked over to the tiny ship's hold, and opened it. "Come out guys, it's time for your first real battle."

The two overgrown zergling mounts looked at him with sleepy eyes, and then started clambering up. The other infected lost the sight of beautiful stars… but gained the new one in the shape of pretty explosions!

Just as Dobromir landed with his boat, he realized that the base was empty, sans the probes. "Wait, where is Kerrigan?" Wit just floated up, higher than ever before, and just looked.

"I see some mayhem and destruction in the direction of the Terran base! And the poor reavers are desperately trying to keep up!"

"How many of them are there? Enemies I mean!"

"I see some bunker… wait no, not anymore. Some siege tank… it's destroyed already. Is that… no it isn't." The terran buildings continued to explode, but no living soul remained in sight.

"The Crystal's here boys! Send in a probe to gather it up and our work here is done!" Dobromir visibly cringed. The fake cheer projected in Kerrigan's voice was so… disgustingly sweet. There was trying too hard, and there was this abomination.

"You have done well, Kerrigan. There is more to you than it seems. Perhaps I misjudged you." Was Zeratul deaf and blind? No, he probably just didn't know Terrans that well, especially the unhinged ones.

"Given our history I can't say I blame ya'. Let's just get the Job done."

Wit lowered himself to the ground. "Brother, why did we even bother? It wasn't even a fight, just a merciless speedrun."

"Oh man, and I was itching for a fight!" They just waited around for a while. Just as the probe arrived and took the Uraj everything went to… I mean, it took a wrong turn.

"Protoss commander, I am Admiral Alexei Stukov of the United Earth Directorate!"