Eyes of a Tragedy

It had been a gruelling three-day battle. Three seperate fleets against what few forces still lingered on this platform. But it had, eventually, ended. Or to put it better: it was currently ending.

There were bodies strewn over the platform. Protoss. Terrans. A few Zerg here and there.

But the victor was obvious.

"Kerrigan, I am prepared to offer terms of surrender." At last, DuGalle looked defeated. No longer patronizing. No longer in control. It had been a long, long time, and a long long road for Kerrigan to get here, but finally. "It is my wish that you allow my men to live--"

She interrupted.

"You're not in a position to offer me anything, Admiral."

It had been a long, long time. Since she'd first wanted to say that to someone. To someone like the Admiral. To someone like Mengsk, to someone like Rumm.

She'd finally gotten to say it.

"And I don't take prisoners. I'll tell you what... Turn your remaining ships around and start heading back towards the Earth."

She enjoyed the shock on his face.

But there was also something that twinged. Something painful. She frowned a little. Forced it to leave her.

"I'll let you have a head start, before I send the Swarms after you. It'll be interesting sport to see how far you get before you die."

She shut off the communicator before she could get a response. This was it. The end. What she had always strived for.

It felt... empty.

An anticlimax.

She stood before the viewscreen and watched.

Space remained quiet.

[[ nfb, nfi, ooc-okay, and taken from the very last StarCraft: Brood War mission ]]

"You have corrupted her! Somehow you have poisoned her thoughts. Restore her to her rightful self, or you will pay dearly for this offense, Kerrigan!"

Zeratul's indignance, his anguish had been delicious, once he'd found what Kerrigan had done to his Matriarch. Had done a long time ago.

"With her as my puppet I was able to eradicate the Renegades on Shakuras, and use you to kill the Overmind. And as you can see, your leader belongs to me now. Not bad, huh?"

So maybe gloating had been a little... much. If she hadn't, then she might not have had to chase Zeratul's hide across Char all these weeks. You could say what you wanted about the Protoss, but they certainly knew how to make things difficult.

Like stealing the Matriarch from Kerrigan even after it had become pathetically obvious that she was beyond redeeming. Honestly, the one thing Kerrigan disliked about being here rather than in a Terran colony or on Fandom was the lack of a decent brand of aspirin.

Anyway, weeks of searching, and that brought Kerrigan to this point: with River at her side, amidst the ruins of a Protoss base, facing Zeratul as he clutched on to the stasis cell that held his wounded Matriarch.

"Damn you, Kerrigan, for what I must do!" the Dark Templar's psionic voice spat.

Great. Theatrics. The Protoss did always know how to make a scene.

Advil, anyone?

[[ for the girl ]]

Stukov had been disposed of with DuGalle's own help. Now, the Earthlings approached Char, and the fledgeling Overmind that had been brought to life there by the other Cerebrates. The new Overmind had been Kerrigan's target all along - even up here, she could feel its mental forces reaching out, trying to claim her.

( But Kerrigan was stronger than that. )

[ some dialogue taken from StarCraft: Brood War Terran Mission 8, 'To Chain The Beast'. and we're done with the terran missions! ooc-okaaay. ]