Eyes of a Tragedy

"My Queen, our scouts have just discovered a massive wave of Zerg in high orbit. Hundreds of Zerg have landed upon Tarsonis and are even now approaching our location! A number of our outposts are already under attack by the renegade Swarm!"

Duran's report came quick, in the heavy staccato of his Zerg-modulated voice. Kerrigan's expression scrounged up. Of course. She could not have expected to rest longer than she had.

"So, the UED is testing out their control of their pet Overmind," she said, thoughtfully. "I had hoped to lay low after we razed Korhal, but it seems the UED is intent on forcing my hand." She turned away from the screen, dismissing Duran without as much as a word.

He was a capable field commander, but she was going to need someone more precise for this job. "River," she called, "Report to my Hive at once."

[[ for the river-child, dialogue taken from StarCraft Brood War mission Z06, 'Fury of the Swarm' ]]

"You boys should really learn to play nice with each other."

"Nearly. I still need a substantial cache of resources in order to build up my primary hive clusters. I'm wondering if you gentlemen wouldn't mind going on a fuel raid for me?"

"I'm thinking that we should pay the Kel-Morian Combine a little visit. Moria is one of the largest resource nodes in the sector. If you can bypass their defenses, and steal enough resources from them, we'll be able to afford a full-scale assault on Korhal."

Kerrigan smiled a razor-sharp smile as she shut off the comms.

"Do you think they expect anything, my Queen?" Duran asked, respectful as always.

"Of course," she said, "They aren't stupid. They're simply siding with the evil they know over the evil they don't... they just don't know what it'll cost."

( Down on Moria... )

[[ some dialogue stolen from StarCraft BroodWar Zerg mission 3, 'The Kel-Morian Combine'. NFB, NFI, OOC-okay, the usual ]]

"My Queen."

Duran's voice ran as a niggling interruption of Kerrigan's own thoughts, disconnected as they had been. River had returned safely and in one piece, but she had known better than to expect that the visit hadn't thrown her for a loop. There was also the matter of Adama, of course-- eventually, she was going to have to find him... but not until after the slaughter had completed. And right now, it seemed to run in some danger of ever being completed.

( She blinked once... )

Barely five minutes into his explanation, she was already barking River's name across the mindlink.

Sarah Kerrigan was really getting tired of these motherfucking rebel Zerg in her motherfucking sector.

[ for the infested adopted daughter ]

The UED was going to get winged badly in just a few minutes' time. Kerrigan was proud of her handiwork. She was starting to get the hang of this, of directing a grander and grander swarm, as more Zerg came into her control.

Soon, she'd have to deal with the remaining cerebrates. As it stood, she was perched on the edge of yet another victory. Right now, somewhere down there, in that Science Vessel, UED marines were seeking out the supposed traitor Stukov. The good UED Admiral's former right hand.

Quite possibly the cleverest man the Admiral had had under his employ, and the Admiral was going to get him out of Kerrigan's way himself. It was a pretty bit of strategy. Especially considering her Duran had been chosen to do the job himself - which meant they got a play-by of events as they unfolded.

Nothing left to do but watch the Earthlings tear themselves apart.

"It won't be long now, River," she said, and trailed her hand down one of the Overlord's jagged bones.

[ for river, if she pleases! ]

"Report, Duran."

She was strolling along the hybridization station at a leisurely pace - once a Terran command center, now a home for the armies of the Zerg, it was packed with the living, breathing bodies of men and women yet to be put to the test. So far, all of them had either died or become mindless shadows of themselves, but Kerrigan was intent on perfecting the process.

"The UED has taken the bait, my Queen." The infested Terran's raspy voice - Duran was the second and last of her hybrid successes, barring herself - was rather clear and to-the-point in her mind. "I have now joined their forces as a respected advisor and expert on the territory."

"That was easy," she commented, "The UED is sloppier than I expected. How's the ranks?"

"Admiral DuGalle is close with his right hand man, Stukov," he said, "But they're pompous and arrogant. It may only take some paranoia."

She nodded thoughtfully, leaning her hand against one of the breathing walls that had once been pure steel. "And what of their plans?"

"They want to 'liberate' some of the Terran Dominion's battlecruisers."

"Arcturus will launch a counter-attack almost immediately," she supplied, tilting her head at the Terran inside the cage. "Within sixteen standard hours. They'll reinforce the outlying outposts. Make sure that information gets to our new friend the Admiral."

"Of course," he replied.

"That'll be all, Duran." She took a deep breath.

Inside, the Terran screamed; and Kerrigan felt, as always, another peculiar twinge in her heart: loneliness, maybe.

She was starting to grow weary.

[ 'stablishy, la ]

Kerrigan had heard rumblings for quite some time now. Since before Char, actually, somewhere in transit from Braxis. Still, she was a little surprised to hear that the Protoss had broken up their fledgeling alliance quite this soon.

Sitting on the thick flesh floors of the overlord she'd commandeered for this mission, Kerrigan tilted her head at the communication eye. It might be vital that she act soon...

"...prejudices have driven them to perpetuate the Conclave's sins against us. Even now, Aldaris and his loyalist templar forces are preparing to attack our Citadel." The Matriarch, Raszagal, at work. Nice.

"I can scarcely believe this." That was Artanis's voice once more. The young Protoss had been doing well in the ranks. "As if the Zerg were not enough! Matriarch, are you certain of this?"

"All too certain, young templar." Raszagal's creaky old whisper. "Executor, as Matriarch of the Dark Templar and custodian of this world, I hereby order you to terminate Judicator Aldaris, and quell this untimely uprising without delay! There will be no dissent among us while the Zerg are poised--"

Kerrigan pulled the plug on the comms. She didn't need to hear anything else. Aldaris, the little self-righteous creep, had obviously gone snooping around where he shouldn't have. Oh well.

It was nice while it lasted.

With a single command, the tiny Zerg ship disentangled itself from the Protoss war fleet and drifted, invisibly, to the planet below.

"May Adun forgive us." In New Antioch, Artanis wept.

[ some dialogue taken from StarCraft: Brood War mission 7, 'The Insurgent' ]

The air resounded with the noise of Protoss aircraft slicing through the air, their cannons aimed and firing. The Zerg screamed back a twisted echo, answering ammunition with poison and sharp spines that cleaved the sky in two. They had been fighting for three full hours, and the Protoss's tactics seemed to get bleaker by the minute as more Corsair spacecraft hurtled hard towards the ground below. Three hours, and the once-peaceful Dark Templar homeworld was now spotted with craters, debris, and blood.
( Below, three Dark Protoss waited. )

[ dialogue taken from StarCraft Brood War mission 03, Legacy of the Xel'Naga, OOC-welcome, and so forth ]