on_her_korhal | Battlecruiser Hyperion and Beyond, Friday Morning into the Afternoon

Kerrigan	"We're getting my armor, first." Kerrigan stalked through the corridor, her eyes set firmly forwards while she kept an ear out for potentially dangerous thoughts. "That should be near Deck C, which contains some of the smaller dropships. The surface will be crawling with Zerg, but as long as we keep flying, that won't be a problem." The emotion had gone out of her voice entirely- it was all business now.
Roy	Roy nodded, all too aware that he wasn't getting anywhere without her as he had no clue what half of it meant. He was tempted to ask how she knew for sure that going to the surface would get them back, but refrained from actually saying it out loud.
Kerrigan	"Psionics," she replied, her steps becoming hurried. Something was starting to... hum in the air. "Protoss gate brought us here. It's still a weak spot."
Roy	"Explain it later," Roy decided, picking up on her urgency and his strides matched her, easily keeping up.
Kerrigan	"Good plan." Unfamiliar marine faces passed her by, broadcasting hostility. Oh, this wasn't good. "Goddamn Duke," she muttered, taking a quick turn. There was the elevator-- just a few marines away.
Roy	Between Kerrigan's reaction and the marines alertness, Roy was more than aware of their situation. His hands slipped casually into his pockets, sliding into his gloves. "I'm hungry," he decided, sounding as casual as if they were just taking a stroll. "Hopefully that space... grub isn't as bad as you've been saying."
Marine	"Lieutenant Kerrigan?" A marine approached her, his fingers slightly heavy on the gun. "We have instructions from General D--"
Kerrigan	Automatically, fluidly, without much fanfare, Kerrigan snapped his head against the wall. "Right," she said, kicking the next one in the neck. It was hard to lie to a telepath.
Roy	So much for pretending nothing was going on. He knew it was a long shot. He ducked away from the marine Kerrigan had just kicked backwards, slipping forwards. There was just a stretch of hall and several marines standing between them and the open elevator doors. Time to clear the way. Closed off hallways were easy to contain the fire, but make it big enough to send the marines running... or burn them if they were stupid enough to stay. Their pick. The snap of his fingers resounded in the corridor and there was a flash as tendrils extended forward followed by a small explosion. Snap. Boom. The pattern repeated quickly after each other as he drove the marines back.
Kerrigan	"Don't get too close to the hull." Kerrigan reached for her sidearm, still strapped to her leg-- a force of a habit she would probably never shake. Pulling it from its hold, she stalked quickly down the newly cleared hallway, glaring directly into one of the marines as she went. "Resocs," she observed, "Poor bastards. Let's go."
Roy	Roy filed it away as another thing he needed to ask her about later. Not needing the encouragement, he quickly moved towards the elevator before the marines decided to regroup and come back for more.
Kerrigan	She slammed the 'close doors' button the moment she was inside. The wildness had returned to her eyes, courtesy of that short short battle: readiness. Next thing, Kerrigan was smacking the button for deck C. She leaned back against the wall, checking the ammo on her gun.
Roy	Killer eyes. "They'll know you're heading for your armour," Roy guessed, facing the doors and ready to strike the second they opened again.
Kerrigan	And she knew that he thought that-- Well. The usual. "Don't know if it's up there yet," Kerrigan commented. "Duke's just trying to secure his resources."
Roy	If it wasn't there, then he probably would have guessed they were heading that way and they might be walking into a trap. He nodded slowly. "We'll find it."
Kerrigan	"The news," she corrected, "Not the suit. Nobody gets their hands on my suit." She watched the decks glide by with a sense of patient urgency.
Roy	He couldn't help but smirk. "I prefer that scenario."
Kerrigan	"Yeah, yeah." The lift jerked slightly as it came to a stop. The doors slid open-- and Kerrigan was out, stalking across the deck. Familiar faces. Good. She took a quick left. Room. Station. A glance to the right... There it was. She smashed in the button, releasing the suit. "Three minutes until it's all over the comms."
Roy	"I suggest we get moving then," he said, somewhat needlessly. He'd lead the way, but it wasn't like he knew what that was.
Kerrigan	"A moment." With barely even a glance cast at Roy, Kerrigan slid into the suit like it was a second skin, clicking it back into place in the space of a minute. She ripped her canister rifle off the wall, said, "On me, keep an eye out," and stalked back into the hallway. The elevator seemed to be moving again. Faster than she'd anticipated. Dammit. "Two down then to the right is docking bay," she said, speeding up her movements. "Watch the rear."
Roy	Roy nodded and let her move ahead. He quickened his step but there was barely time to get far before he already heard the heavy sound of boots clanking on the metal floors. Any sort of hope that they might not be in a hurry over them got quickly smashed to pieces as he glanced over his shoulder. The marines rounded the corner, weapons raised and were already firing. Roy ducked automatically as he half turned to face back, blowing a small piece of the corridor up with the snap of his fingers.
Kerrigan	Kerrigan turned, lightning quick-- psionics quick-- firing two rounds into two kneecaps. Without ending the movement, she slid into a dash. She hated resocs. Useless, trigger-happy assholes. Wham. Around the corner.
Roy	Roy sent another explosion towards the next wave of marines before he jumped behind the corner. Just in time as a blast impacted where the wall behind him.
Kerrigan	"Don't damage the hull," Kerrigan snapped, mind helpfully feeding her with the fallen marines' terror and anger. Or whatever resocs had that passed for it. She ran through the corridor and into a small docking bay, which was mostly empty, featuring only two airlocks and whatever lay behind them.
Roy	There was a flash of irritation that he didn't need to be reminded and that he wouldn't screw up like that. The last blast must have done enough damage to stop them following for a bit and he turned his back, hurrying into the docking bay after her.
Kerrigan	More irritation to add to the swirling loop of negative emotions in her mind. Great. Something akin to a growl bubbled up. Shoving it all down, Kerrigan pushed a code in the panel by one of the airlocks. It slid open -- hadn't blocked the codes yet, definitely just Duke working on his own - revealing the inside of a small dropship. She practically stormed in, moving past the loading bay into the pilot's chair.
Roy	Roy could hear the voices coming closer again, but he didn't stick around to wait as he moved into the loading bay, staying there to keep watch. How the hell did you close these things? Panel to open, but to lock?
Kerrigan	"Blue-347, panel to your left, brace yourself," Kerrigan called, in rapid succession. She was not the universe's greatest pilot, but it'd have to do.
Roy	Roy moved, punching the keys quickly and the doors slammed shut. There were heavy thuds against them, impacts from the guns no doubt. He didn't pay much attention to it, just grabbed the nearest bar to well... brace himself. "Clear," he shouted. Just in case.
Kerrigan	With a jerk, the dropship pulled itself free from the Hyperion. And then there was no more sound-- not from the outside, at least. The single viewscreen in the loading bay flickered, then showed what seemed to be empty space, the edges of the planet fraying. And then the ship turned, and space all around them was filled with the dark, bulging forms of monsters, some crab-like, some more like spacefaring jellyfish, all pulling down towards the planet below.
Roy	The view distracted him and for a moment he could do nothing but stare at the... things moving through the black. Everything became more real that instant, the red on the map she had described the other day became something living. Something real. "That's them, isn't it?" he murmured, already knowing the answer. He braced himself against the bulkhead as he made his way to the cockpit to join her.
Kerrigan	"They're just following the signal," she responded, matter-of-factly, her eyes drilled on the path ahead. "As long as we don't get in their way, they won't touch us. If we do, they'll rip us to shreds."
Roy	He suppressed a shiver and sat down in the free chair beside her. "I vote for not getting in the way," he murmured, sitting down. "We're going to have to get onto the surface?"
Kerrigan	"I'll manage." She kept her eyes securely locked. "I'm doing this for River," Kerrigan supplied, conversationally. "Not for you or any damn principles or-- I'm going back, when she's graduated. I'm going to stand my ground, because if the Zerg are here, the Protoss are coming." Her eyes flicked to Roy. "Just so you know. I can't wait it out forever. I have to stand eventually, or it's all--"
Roy	It wasn't a surprise, but it didn't mean her words didn't have an effect. "I know," he said simply, eyes trained ahead.
Kerrigan	"I'm a good soldier, Roy," she said, pushing the dropship down into the atmosphere. "Even if no one else'll be."
Roy	"We'll manage," he corrected her earlier statement in favour of replying now, his eyes still fixed on the window as he hadn't gotten this good a view when they left earlier. He wished he had now as he watched the Zerg still streaming down to the surface.
Kerrigan	"I'm not talking about you," she replied. Not so much to what he was saying, no. "You and me, we fight. You understand that. Hold on." And the ship tilted, roaring past the Zerg towards the surface.
Roy	He braced himself on the armrests, deciding that he really liked sailing way better than this. "Sometimes it's all you can do," he murmured.
Kerrigan	"It's not sailing but it's quiet," she gritted, "Out of atmosphere, anyway." And then pulled up, the dropship roaring over broken buildings. One glance at the viewscreen showed Zerglings and Hydralisks milling around like ants. "Zerg," Kerrigan spat. "Five miles."
Roy	Roy couldn't do much more than stare at the movement. Just a day before there hadn't been one of those things and now the place was crawling. Anyone on the surface simply didn't stand a chance. His veins were itching and he had half a mind to turn around and show Mengsk exactly what flame alchemy was.
Kerrigan	The ship dropped further down, brushing across the moving horde. There was a slight thunk noise as several Hydralisk needles struck the hull, but Kerrigan wasn't paying attention to that. Kerrigan was paying attention to the rift. "I'm going to--" Do something she hadn't tried before-- reaching forwards with her powers, feeling the Confederate conditioning tug, pull, push at her braincells. Some blood may have seeped out at the stress. Like throwing a wrench. And then the sky split open in bountiful blue.
Roy	He could almost feel her concentration and for a moment he tried not to think about the noises around them or what she was doing. His attention was mostly on her, worry slipping in despite his efforts and then there was blue around almost like with alchemy but not quite.
Kerrigan	The world faded to burning blue-- --and then clear space and the Earth, lying safely below.