StarCraft 1. Chapter 1

Naomi Malchovitch stared out onto the desolate land from a cliff top on the planet Chau Sara, in the Sara System. The planet possessed jungles and dusty wastelands. She scanned horizon for any danger, minding the nearby marines in her peripheral vision. She let her mind wander and thought of her older brother, Evan, a Marine, herself being a Ghost, their father, Jacob, a Vulture pilot, their mother a nurse in the medical bay, before she died. Naomi had been born with ability classified as psionics, more commonly known as; telepathy, or as some call it, a teep and teek, the latter being slang for telekinesis.

She snapped back to reality as the men shouted and fired their rifles relentlessly at the looming silhouette of a Zerg Mutalisk hovering above them. The giant, almost serpentine creature possesses a pair of powerful wings and spawns small, vicious creatures in its body.

The monstrous beast let out a screech as it shot the symbiote from within its body at the group of Marines. She reached out with her mind and blast a wave of telekinetic energy at the symbiote before it could slice through the Marines' armor. Before the beast could strike again, she extended her mind to it. She seized the creature with her mind, physically pulling at the creature, slamming into a nearby boulder, allowing the Marines the opportunity to attack the monstrous creature. The beast immediately fell victim to their ceaseless gunfire.

The Zerg are a terrifying biological alien race that is controlled by a hive mind, known as the Overmind, an extremely powerful psionic entity with an age unknown. Researchers speculate that it is a massive creature embedded in a planet and is unable to move, using its powerful mind to control the Zerg, over the span of light-years in many different sectors of space. The race consists of many different species that have been assimilated from many planets and mutated over what scientists estimate as centuries.

She sighed and looked to the sky as a triad of CF/A-17 Wraith fighters roared overhead toward the east. She looked down at the group of marines and was relieved to see that had all survived. They gave her nods of approval, "Not bad, kid" she heard a few say as they cocked their guns, the empty shells making clinking noises as they hit the dusty ground.

She frowned as she sensed a feral presence nearby, she pressed against the conscience of the lone Zergling. The Zergling is a quadruped creature that stands about a meter tall, armed with a tough carapace of natural armor as well as two scythe-like appendages that protrude from where shoulder blades would be, serving as their main form of attack, as well as an impressive row of large, sharp fangs and corrosive saliva.

The alien crept nearby, behind a boulder. She sent out a telekinetic feeler and was able to pinpoint its location. She reached out to grab ahold of a boulder near it with her mind and the large rock before slammed it into the creature. She gave a little smirk as the boulder collided into the Zergling with a satisfying crunch. The beast let out a guttural screech of pain in heap of broken rock, blood and dust.

She paused and realized it was strange for a Zergling to be by itself. The monstrous aliens have a habit being in large groups. Before heading back to the base, she looked over to the east and thought about her father as she watched a triad of Vulture Hover-Cycles revving off to plant a field of spider mines, leaving dust clouds in their wake.

She promptly reached the base to report to her commanding officer, Lieutenant Carter. She snapped him a salute, "Sir, there has been a Zerg sighting, a Mutalisk and a Zergling in Sector Three." He swore under his breath, "Fine, I'll have someone check it out. At ease, you're dismissed, report to the Psi Opts for your report." She saluted him again, "Yes sir."

After she gave a brief report of the Zerg sighting to the technicians at the Psi Opts, she headed to her living quarters in the barracks and flopped down on her bunk. She looked to the small tabletop where a silver locket lay. She pulled it to her face with her mind and opened it to reveal a picture of her mother, father, herself and her older brother on what appeared to be dusty field with a large house in the background.

Their mother had fiery red hair, striking emerald eyes, fair skin and sprinkling of freckles across her upper cheeks and nose with a pale smile. She quietly sighed as she gazed at the image, thinking of what happened to her nearly four years ago. Her mother was mauled along with the other medical technicians in an attack on a medical bay from in a Zergling rush before reinforcements arrived. Naomi was still in training at the time on Ursa, main base of operations for the Ghost Academy. The facility on Ursa was almost prison-like and was designed to train people from a young age with telepathy to harness their rare abilities.

She focused on her father in the small, oval picture. He was tall with pale skin, sandy brown hair, thin stubble and pale blue eyes as he extended and arm around his wife and children and a small smile hung on his face. He had become cold and easily angered and was never the same when his wife died.

She looked at the grinning image of her older brother Evan, they were about six years apart and he was tall, like his father with brown hair, light blue eyes and fair skin. He shied away from his sister and father, throwing himself into his training and duties to the point of concern for her.

Naomi looked to herself in the portrait, six years younger. She looked the same as she did now with thick, sandy brown hair, blue eyes with a shade of green around the iris, a kind of gift from both of her parents. She also a light sprinkling of freckles across her nose and upper cheeks with a bright smile on her face. She didn't forget about her family, as broken as it was, she loved them dearly and wanted to help them, just as they would for her. She then thought of when they still lived on the sister planet of Chau Sara, Mar Sara, before the advanced alien race, the Protoss, vaporized all life on the surface.

She and Evan had been raised out in the middle of seemingly nowhere, in a house that Naomi's father had inherited. He was raised by his grandparents when he was orphaned as a teen. When she was about ten years old and her brother was around seventeen, the Confederacy, an interstellar Terran military system, had suspicions of a telepath and had sent an agent called a Wrangler. Wranglers are people recruited into the military with a low Psi Index; sensitive to telepathy but no real telepathy skills of their own, trained to find other, more powerful telepaths.

The military saw an opportunity to send a telepath to the Ghost Academy when they tested her psionic energy and were startled to see that her Psi Index was quite high, being a PI11, it was rare for it to be so high, a normal Ghost being a PI5 or so, they also had discovered that Evan was of age and eager to serve in the military, their mother volunteering to join. Her brother and herself were fairly close but, when they came to the military life, their relationship drifted apart.

After they had reached the colony on Chau Sara, where her mother and brother were to be trained, and couldn't see each other for many months, Naomi had been shipped separately to the Ghost Academy on Ursa, a moon orbiting around the planet Korhal IV in the Korhal System. There she was then given special mental training, along with the few techniques the Confederacy knew with telekinesis, martial arts, and weapon training. Evan and herself were also required to have neural implants, a safety precaution should they decide to attack their superior officers. She passed the tests that were given to her, '_It's a miracle I wasn't killed in the process.' _She thought bitterly and remembered the hours of intense training and near torture she endured.

She was also issued a special form fitted suit that covered every inch of her body aside from her head, with circuitry woven throughout the fabric to enhance her psionic powers, a C-20A Canister Rifle as well as genetic augmentations, such as special implants for enhanced senses and growth hormones.


	2. Chapter 2

Naomi directed her attention to the beeping of the nearby Telescreen and stood erect. The gruff face of her commanding officer appeared onscreen, "Agent X54938N, General Fitzgerald wants to see you, ASAP." He told her before the screen bleeped off. '_Must have heard my report.' _She thought as she prepared to meet with the General.

Naomi arrived to his quarters dressed in her fatigues and a psi-screen in her ear, so she was unable to read the his thoughts. She straightened respectfully, looking about the room with her eyes. His quarters were small but luxurious, its walls adorned with medals and certificates. There was a hardwood desk in the center of the room with a picture of a vibrant looking woman and a small girl clutching her hand as they both wore a smile. The man sitting in the black chair at the desk looked prideful and stern as he rose from his seat.

The man wore a Battle Dress Uniform with four gold stars on his collar and cap, as well as a patch on his chest representing a medal. He had a graying buzz cut beneath his BDU cap and wore a serious expression as he addressed her. She saluted him, "At ease." He replied calmly and walked to the window hung with deep red curtains behind his desk. She followed and stood by the General as he spoke, "I have heard your report of the Zerg sighting." He said, looking out on the desolate, desert-like landscape through the window. She listened silently as she waited for him to continue. He turned to her, his stature straight, "I need you to investigate the source of the infestation, relay the information and location for eradication. You will leave at 0600 hours tomorrow, sharp." She saluted him, "Sir." He waved his hand vaguely as he spoke, "You're dismissed." He turned back to the window, lost in thought as she left.

After suiting up, Naomi had been dropped off by a dropship at a reasonably safe distance from where the infestation was suspected to be located. "Damn Zerg. . ." the pilot said under his breath as he gripped the controls, and murmured something else she couldn't hear as she grasped the safety handle in one hand of the dropship interior and her C-20A canister rifle clutched in the other. "Hang on, I'm going to drop you off here", the pilot said as the dropship shook violently as it neared ground level. She hopped out and shielded her eyes as the jets of the ship roared and it flew toward the horizon.

She looked out from the veil of thick shrubbery for enemy activity and eased her mind outward, just enough to faintly sense anything with a conscience nearby. She chose not to wear a psi-screen for better accuracy of her abilities in the field. As she hiked through the rough terrain of Chau Sara's desserts, she sensed the minds of critters who became aware of her presence, skittering about for a hiding place from the strange, biped. She sensed zerg activity nearby but couldn't accurately pinpoint it even with her telekinetic feeler technique.

Suddenly, without warning, a small group of Zerglings sprang from their burrowed hiding place beneath the ground and charged toward her, with guttural growls and chirps. She pulled up her cloaking field and looked to the sky for an overlord, but found none, realizing that the creatures had only perhaps sensed the vibrations from her movement.

She came swiftly and silently, extending her mind, she sliced through the creatures telekinetically, tearing and pulling at their tough natural armor with some difficulty. She stood, their chunks of flesh and blood littering the ground as she looked around, visually scanning the landscape with as well as mentally before hesitantly lowering the cloaking field to regain energy. She hiked on and she came to the conclusion that the Mar Saran soil composite perhaps somehow helped to block the minds of anything beneath it. She pursed her lips thoughtfully and headed in the direction of the Zerg that surfaced.

Naomi sensed a presence nearby and raised her cloaking field, looked about and saw a small shadow race by. She looked up and saw Zerg Scourge. The creature with a body that resembled a bony grub, with webbed appendages protruding from its sides that served as wings, the creature is blind, possessing no eyes, only a sensory organ. It is rather small for a Zerg, its length and diameter only about a foot and a half. She knew the creature's body is filled with catalytic agents, giving them their reputation for being 'battleship destroyers' and they act as suicide bombers for the Swarm.

The flyer darted through the air, probably acting as a scout. She raised her cloaking field and utilized the extra speed enhanced by her psionics and suit to keep up with the swift creature as she ran silently in its wake, her rifle at her side. She sensed another hostile mind nearby and she stopped, skidding to a stop to see a patch of ground a few feet from her quivering before a Hydralisk burst from the ground. The creature's main body is similar like that of a snake from Earth, the resemblance ends where torso of the creature begins, a ribcage-like armor covers where the chest would be, arms sprouting from the sides ending in razor scythes, its head and neck elongated and heavily armored. The face of the monstrous alien possesses a pair of glowing eyes and a fanged dual jaw that drips with corrosive saliva it uses to spit at its enemies.

The terrifying alien clicked and hissed as it looked about, its head carapace opening with a wet crunching noise, ready to launch a volley of bony spears at anything that moves. It turned and set its gaze on her. Naomi froze and swore mentally to herself,_ 'It sees me!'_ She looked up frantically, but found no Overlord to detect and relay her location to its underling. The Hydralisk began slithering noisily in the same direction she had been heading. She narrowed her eyes warily and silently stalked the beast, looking over her shoulder or to the sky above, but saw no overlord.

She heard something loud, growing nearer rapidly, it was something she hadn't heard before, as if something was rapidly unearthing itself from the ground, loudly. She turned to her left to see a row of giant spines rapidly jutting out of the ground in a wave, in her direction and gave a yelp of surprise as she attempted to dive out of the way of the oncoming attacks. Not diving aside in time, one of the spines had come up and 'grazed' her thigh, gashing it deeply. She involuntary screamed in pain and landed roughly on the ground, blood flowing profusely from the wound as she scrambled to her feet and ran out of whatever she assumed the entity's range was.

Then it hit her, hard and clear, _Lurker_, the word rang through her mind in realization, she had only heard of them, the hellish creatures had no primary armament unless they burrowed themselves beneath the ground. They are an evolved form of the Hydralisk, its head and scythes still akin to its less evolved counterpart, the creature has increased girth, and four evolved segmented insect-like legs that nearly replace its serpentine body. She heard the beast noisily unearthing itself to move closer to her and rebury itself to unleash another wave of attack

She looked to the sky and spotted her prey, an Overlord, a flyer that acts as an agent of the Overmind, controlling the lesser creatures of the Zerg as well as being able to detect hidden enemies such as herself. The aerial beast looks much like a giant, swollen crab of Earth with several segmented leg-like appendages hanging uselessly from its underside and two massive claws. The creature's small head possesses multiple glowing eyes and insect-like mandibles, the bulbous, glowing mass atop the main body contains special organs filled helium and weak psionic energy to float. She growled and telekinetically discharged a series of piercing blasts of energy that tore through the creature's gas sacs, sending it tumbling to the ground.

She tapped a button upon her suit on her neck with her mind, injecting the fluid of the Stimulate Pack through a needle in her neck of her suit, releasing blood thinner, and electrolytes into her bloodstream to numb the pain from her injury from the Lurker. Her lithe form shimmered and disappeared from the beast's sight, stopping it in its tracks as it stood above ground, vulnerable. The creature clicked and hissed as it scanned for hostiles, unknowing of what action it should take with no orders from its hovering master. She whipped her canister rifle to the creature and shot at the lurker several times with explosive rounds, simultaneously mentally slashing tearing through its tough carapace before it could rebury itself and try to attack again.

The rank scent of seared flesh filled the air as she stepped over what remained of the beast's body. Limping on her injured leg, she stepped in something slippery and membranous, she looked down at the ground, it glistened and pulsated slightly, as if it was alive. The creep. The thick and slimy substance is secreted through the nearby lesser structures and nurtures the biological building-like constructs of the zerg.

She lifted her gaze up and saw a towering structure pulsating, rise and fall, as if it breathed, she had found what she was looking for. She looked to the holographic projection of her Heads Up Display in her suit that was indicating the energy for her cloaking field was diminishing, causing her to become visible. She bolted and dove behind a large boulder in the opposite direction of the newly discovered hive, and a beeping sounded in her ear as the suit alerted her that the field would soon recoil.She carefully got to her feet and lowered the field, the Stim. Pack still hard at work benumbing the pain as she radioed Command, "Silhouette to Command." There was a crackle of static as the reply soon came, "Command to Silhouette, we read you." Naomi looked around before replying, "I have discovered the zerg infestation, it's location is in the 5th sector, coordinates 63, 96, it is very active." The crunchy reply came momentarily, "All right, we already sent you a ride."

She carefully examined the wound on her thigh, the bleeding wasn't that bad as she expected but the scent of her blood was sure to attract the zerg and she would be virtually helpless against a large enemy encounter. She looked to the sky as the StimPack began to wear off, mentally scanning the area, detecting enemy minds nearby, a lot of them. She sprinted away from the hive cluster, skidding to a stop, determining that the area was somewhat safe.

A group of zerglings suddenly surfaced from the ground a few feet away from her and charged, screeching and howling, on impulse, Naomi whipped her rifle to the zerglings, firing several times, killing two. '_Damn it! They keep coming!'_ She thought angrily as she blast a telekinetic wave at them, only knocking them away momentarily as she continued to fire relentlessly at the oncoming wave of zerglings and telekinetically slicing and ripping at as many as she could as she fired. Before she could inject more Stim, a zergling dove at her, screeching as its primary claw-scythes gouged deeply into her shoulders, impaling her and causing her to yell in pain and stumble back, the monster snarling in her face.

Just when she was becoming overwhelmed, several laser bursts shot from above, hitting the alien latched onto her causing it to screech in pain, the scent of charred flesh filled the air and she felt the weight of the monster drop from her. A metal rollup ladder dangled in her face, "Get in!" a male voice screamed from the sky over the bloodlust screeches of the zerglings and the roaring jets from the dropship.

She telekinetically tapped the button at her neck and injected more Stim into her bloodstream to stave the pain off and grasped the metal ladder and her rifle and blast another slicing telekinetic wave at the beasts, she looked up to see five aerial Wraith fighters firing down at the zerglings, causing them to screech and scatter as the pilot in the cockpit of the dropship barked orders to the passengers inside.

"Pull her up!" The voice screamed again as the dropship ascended and she felt herself being pulled into the dropship. Staggering to her feet and bracing herself against the dropship interior, her voice quavered slightly as she spoke into the comm unit in her suit, "Silhouette to Command." The crackly reply came soon after, "Command to Silhouette, we read you."

Naomi fought to stay conscious as she gripped the safety handle in the dropship and heard the zergling's bloodlust screeches fade and the jets of the dropship roar as it lifted further into the sky. The crackle of static was heard again, "Good job, return to base." She barely heard the reply as her grip loosened and her sight blurred and darkened as she slid down against the interior and lost consciousness, blood pooling around her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Naomi!" She faintly heard the female voice calling her. She found herself in a large, hilly field of golden wheat with the sun setting on the horizon, hues of purple and orange thrown across the terrain. It all seemed so familiar to her. . "Naomi!" The voice called again. "Mama? Mama where are you?" She cried out in a young and frightened voice, recognizing her mother's voice. She looked desperately about the sea of wheat and spotted a figure in the distance, she squinted and widened her eyes, spotting the figure of her mother and ran desperately to her. "Mama! Mama don't leave me again!" The harder she ran, the farther apart she grew from her mother. Tripping on a stone she tumbled downward in to a pit that appeared from nowhere. She tried to scream but no sound escaped her lips as she fell endlessly in the darkness.

Naomi's eyes snapped opened, waking her from sleep. "Mama! Come back!" she tried to call out, only spouting bubbles from her mouth. She gasped, breathing in the green liquid she found herself suspended in. '_Where am I?!_' She thought to herself in a panic. _'Okay, calm down. ._' She reassured herself as she gathered her bearings. She slowly inhaled, feeling the liquid course through her lungs. _'Liquid oxygen?_' Slowly, with only her eyes, she looked through the tube's glass watching the two blurry images of people beyond it. She heard muffled voices through the thick glass, "Good we got em' when we did. That one's 'special order', gotta put a blocker on her." One of the men said as he made a vague gesture to Naomi's tube.

"Yeah, good thing we got em' in time."

The lifeless female voice of the computer sounded, "Cryogenic thawing complete." Naomi looked to see several other tubes with figures suspended in them. '_What happened?_' She thought as she looked down to see herself wearing only the wires attached to various pulse points on her body. The next thing she knew, the tube was drained, which left her exhausted, and she was being walked down a long corridor, escorted by guards clad in marine power armor.

Naomi, being a powerful ghost, even with the neural inhibiters embedded her skull by the Confederacy, had a very strong psi-inhibiter put on her head like a vice, preventing her from using any of her psionic abilities. The device was worn on her head like a halo, its metal cylinders suspending the ring in place, digging into her temples. She had been dressed in the prison uniform consisting of orange pants and long sleeve shirt. Heavy, powered bracers were put on her wrists and she was taken to a special cell, designed for powerful psionics. She stared down at the energy arcing between the bracers as she walked, dazed from the constant, mild sedation from the collar around her neck, its needles in her flesh. The walls of her cell were lined with circuitry that prevented any form of psi energy.

She spent the next four weeks in the prison; having little contact with humans, save from the ones who brought her meals. Over time, Naomi had been gradually building her strength, although the psi-inhibiter delivered an intense pain to her head like a laser being drilled into her skull whenever she tried to use her psionic abilities. She managed to lift the tray from her meals a small amount as well as hear the whisper of the guard's mind before receiving the searing amount of pain to her head.

Naomi had been freed by Raynor's Raiders along with the rest of the people the Dominion had captured.

Naomi found herself in the laboratory of the Hyperion, Raynor's Battle cruiser, still dazed from sedation. The scientist there successfully removed the sedation collar and then tried to remove the psi-inhibiter. After many tries later, he finally managed to succeed in removing the vice-like device from her head.

The moment it was removed, it was like a dam had been breached, she was assaulted with a massive flood of thoughts and reeled in shock and tried to recover, remembering her training on Ursa, where she was trained as a Ghost. She could hear _everything_, the mind of the scientist, the people in the Cantina- _'No! Concentrate!_' She thought to herself heatedly as she pulled away mentally from the minds, slowly dimming their thoughts.

She hadn't noticed the young man nearby, was verbally trying to get her attention, "Miss? ... Ma'am?" Her eyes whipped to the young man, a nearby beaker exploded, spraying glass and liquid everywhere.

'_-Whoa! Is she okay? Aww, that was my good one-' _The thoughts seemed to slap on her mind. _'Damnit, concentrate, pull back . . .'_ She thought to herself as she pulled her mind away again.

She stepped down from the table she was sitting on and drew herself up, the sedative wearing off, "I am Ghost agent X54938N, former agent of the Confederacy." She said to the young man she now knew as Egon Stetmann. His green eyes widened as he wiped his large, yellow-colored glasses on a cloth, seeming to pull himself together before nodding, "The Commander wants to see you, can you walk?" He gestured to an armed marine, "He'll take you up." She nodded before being escorted to the bridge.

Keeping her expression neutral and ignoring the stares and thoughts of crew members as she walked through the corridor, she made her way to the bridge. When they reached the bridge the marine, whose name she knew as (_), "Sir, the Ghost from New Folsom." The three men turned their attention to her, "Thanks (_), I got it from here.", said one of the men. Her eyes flicked to each of the three men standing around a holographic map displaying a planet of some sort. The first man was hard-bitten looking, with brown eyes, dark hair and a sparse beard, dressed in what looked like rugged civilian clothing. He bore tattoos on each arm and she sensed his mind that he seemed rather weary but put up a strong front for those around him. She skimmed his mind to find that he was James Raynor, 34 years old, leader of Raynor's Raiders, formal Marshal and a man the public only knew as a terrorist.

The second man she looked to was young with a clean shaven face, short dark hair, and smartly dressed in a formal military uniform of some kind. Matthew Horner, 25 years old, second in command and captain of the Hyperion.

Looking to the third man, she realized as she narrowed her eyes slightly, that she couldn't read him as with the others, she could only sense vague emotions. The massive man stood six and a half feet tall, with broad shoulders, square features, as well as striking light brown, almost gold eyes, his face marred by various scars. He was encased in scratched and dented cobalt blue marine combat armor and smoking a large cigar. She read from Raynor's mind the two men were good friends and name was Tychus Findlay, 40 years old, ex-convict.

Naomi straightened and clasped her hands behind her back respectfully, "I understand that you wanted to see me."

"Yeah, we found- well busted out of prison on New Folsom, what was someone like you doin' on there?"

"Same as the others, I was in the Confederacy and was captured because of it. I suppose I'm considered a rogue of the Dominion now." She replied, her voice slightly irritated at the idea.

Naomi tried to ignore the glances she received from the crew passing through and the thoughts sailing toward her from them. "Well, we're alike then, the Dominion wants both of us dead now." Raynor told her with a knowing expression. Horner spoke up, "We had to take off that psi-inhibiter, it had a Dominion tracking device on it, and could only be deactivated when we took it off."

"Stetmann also found that your neural inhibiter is malfunctioning, you might be a little more free from the Confederacy and Dominion's grip now." Raynor added. She dipped her head slightly and replied respectfully "Thank you."

"Now, I had our Chief Scientist do some digging, '_Our only scientist. . .'_and he told me that you have a psi-index of around twelve, which makes you about as strong as they come. We also found that you have some family who survived the glassing of Chau Sara, your father and your brother. Now, I'm going to give you the same choice I gave everyone else, you're not being forced to stay her, but. ." He trailed off, his voice solemn. A flicker of shock came over her face, '_Daddy... Evan.._' She thought to herself as the buried images of her remaining family surfaced in a rush. She bit back the sadness before it could surface to her face.

"How long was I frozen?" She asked, changing the subject rather abruptly. Horner turned to her, "The records indicate that you were in cryostasis for three and a half years for the space travel from Chau to New Folsom." Naomi inwardly sighed and turned back to Raynor, "Where did they take them?" She asked, changing the subject again. "They weren't on New Folsom, they were taken to a military prison on Korhal, you were only in New Folsom because of your status as a Ghost." Horner told her, she could feel a pang of sympathy in his words. Another mental sigh rippled in her mind she mulled this over.

She turned back to Raynor, "I. . .I would like to stay." Her eyes flicked back to the man in the combat suit, who had been silently listening and puffing on his cigar, he caught her glance and unexpectedly winked at her, causing her shudder inwardly and avert her eyes and her face to redden, earning a low, quiet chuckle from the man. "I was hoping you'd say that. Glad you have you aboard." Raynor said with a grin, not seeming to notice his friend's actions. "Matt here will show you to your quarters." Horner smiled politely and nodded, gesturing her to follow him, "You can have the spare compartment, number twelve." She nodded politely, rather surprised at being accepted so quickly as she followed him.


	4. Chapter 4

_"Naomi!" She heard the echoing female voice calling her. She found herself in a large, hilly field of golden wheat with the sun setting on the horizon, hues of purple and orange thrown across the __terrain.__ It all seemed so familiar to her. . "Naomi!" The voice called again. "Mama? Mama where are you?" She cried out in a young and frightened voice, recognizing her mother's voice. She looked desperately about the sea of wheat and spotted a figure in the distance, under a dead tree on a hill. She squinted and widened her eyes, spotting the figure of her mother and ran __desperately__ to her. "Mama! Mama! Don't leave me again!" The harder she ran, the farther apart she grew from her mother. She unexpectedly tripped on a stone and tumbled downward in to a pit that appeared from nowhere. She tried to scream but no sound escaped her lips as she fell endlessly in the darkness._

Naomi's eyes snapped opened, waking her from sleep. "Mama! Come back!" she tried to call out, only spouting bubbles from her mouth. She gasped, breathing in the green liquid she found herself suspended in. '_Where am I?!_' She thought to herself in a panic. _'Okay, calm down. ._' She reassured herself as she gathered her bearings. She slowly inhaled, feeling the liquid course through her lungs. _'Liquid oxygen?_' Slowly, with only her eyes, she looked through the tube's glass watching the two blurry images of people beyond it. She heard muffled voices through the thick glass, "Good we got em' when we did. That one's 'special order', gotta put a blocker on her." One of the men said as he made a vague gesture to Naomi's tube. "Yeah, good thing we got em' in time. Zerg were crawlin' all over that base."

The lifeless female voice of the computer sounded, "Cryogenic thawing complete." Naomi looked to see several other tubes with figures suspended in them. '_What happened?_' She thought as she looked down to see herself wearing only the wires attached to various points on her body. The next thing she knew, the tube was drained, leaving her exhausted, and she was being walked down a long corridor, escorted by guards clad in marine power armor.

Because she is a powerful ghost, even with the neural inhibiters embedded her skull by the Confederacy, had a very strong psi-inhibiter put on her head like a vice, preventing her from using any of her psionic abilities. The device was worn on her head like a halo, its metal cylinders suspending the ring in place, digging into her temples. She had been dressed in the prison uniform consisting of orange pants and long sleeve shirt. Heavy, powered bracers were put on her wrists and she was taken to a special cell, designed for powerful psionics. She stared down at the energy arcing between the bracers as she walked, dazed from the constant, mild sedation from the collar around her neck, its needles in her flesh. The walls of her cell were lined with circuitry that prevented any form of psi energy.

She spent the next four weeks in the prison; having little contact with humans, save from the ones who brought her meals. Over time, Naomi had been gradually building her strength, although the psi-inhibiter delivered an intense pain to her head like a white hot laser being drilled into her skull whenever she tried to use her psionic abilities. She managed to lift the tray from her meals a small amount as well as hear the whisper of the guard's mind before receiving the searing amount of pain to her head.

She was in the middle of calisthenics in her cell when she was freed by Raynor's Raiders along with the rest of the people the Dominion had captured. Naomi found herself in the laboratory of the Hyperion, Raynor's battle cruiser, still dazed from sedation. The scientist there successfully removed the sedation collar and then tried to remove the psi-inhibiter. After many tries later, he finally managed to succeed in removing the vice-like device from her head.

The moment it was removed, it was like a dam had been breached, she was assaulted with a massive flood of thoughts and reeled in shock and tried to recover, remembering her training on Ursa, where she was trained as a Ghost. She could hear _everything_, the mind of the scientist, the people in the Cantina- _'No! Concentrate!_' She thought to herself heatedly as she pulled away mentally from the minds, slowly dimming their thoughts.

She hadn't noticed the young man nearby, was verbally trying to get her attention, "Miss? ... Ma'am?" Her eyes whipped to the young man, a nearby beaker exploded, spraying glass and liquid everywhere. _'-Whoa! Is she okay? Aww, that was my good one-' _The thoughts seemed to slap on her mind. _'Damnit, concentrate, pull back . . .'_ She thought to herself as she pulled her mind away again.

She stepped down from the table she was sitting on and drew herself up, the sedative finally wearing off, "I am Ghost agent X54938N, former agent of the Confederacy." She said to the young man she now knew as Egon Stetmann. His green eyes widened as he wiped his large, yellow-colored glasses on a cloth, seeming to pull himself together before nodding, "The Commander wants to see you, can you walk?" He gestured to an armed marine, "He'll take you up." She nodded before being escorted to the bridge.

Keeping her expression neutral and ignoring the stares and thoughts of crew members as she walked through the corridor, she made her way to the bridge. When they reached the bridge the marine, whose name she knew as Trevor Fletcher, twenty-four, terrible at pool, likes to be called 'Arrow' but it is disappointed it hasn't caught on yet, has two younger brothers, a girlfriend of seven years, met her in high school, sad that she is barren and can't have children, he cheats at tennis, almost obviously and has a strict father, military man.

"Sir, the Ghost from New Folsom." The three men turned their attention to her, "Thanks Trevor, I got it from here." One of the three men said as her eyes flicked of them standing around a holographic map displaying a planet of some sort. The first man was hard-bitten looking, with brown eyes, dark hair and a sparse beard, dressed in what looked like rugged civilian clothing. He bore tattoos on each arm and she sensed his mind that he seemed rather weary but put up a strong front for those around him. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she skimmed his mind to find that he was James Raynor, thirty-four years old, leader of Raynor's Raiders, formal Marshal and a man the public only knew as a terrorist.

The second man she looked to was young with a clean shaven face, short dark hair, and smartly dressed in a formal military uniform of some kind. Matthew Horner, twenty-five years old, second in command and captain of the Hyperion. She looked to the third man and realized that she couldn't read him as with the others, she could only sense vague emotions. The massive man stood six and a half feet tall, with broad shoulders, square features, as well as striking blue eyes and his face marred by various scars. He was encased in scratched and dented cobalt blue marine combat armor and smoking a large cigar. She read from Raynor's mind the two men were good friends and name was Tychus Findlay, forty years old, ex-convict.

Naomi straightened and clasped her hands behind her back respectfully, "I understand that you wanted to see me."

"Yeah, we found- well busted out of prison on New Folsom, what was someone like you doin' on there?"

"Same as the others, I was in the Confederacy and was captured because of it. I suppose I'm considered a rogue of the Dominion now." She replied, her voice slightly irritated at the idea.

Naomi tried to ignore the glances she received from the crew passing through and the thoughts sailing toward her from them. "Well, we're alike then, the Dominion wants both of us dead now." Raynor told her with a knowing expression. Horner spoke up, "We had to take off that psi-inhibiter, it had a Dominion tracking device on it, and could only be deactivated when we took it off."

"Stetmann also found that your neural inhibiter is malfunctioning, you might be a little more free from the Confederacy and Dominion's grip now." Raynor added. She dipped her head slightly and replied respectfully "Thank you."

"Now, I had our Chief Scientist do some digging, '_Our only scientist. . .' _and he told me that you have a psi-index of around twelve, which makes you about as strong as they come. We also found that you have some family who survived the glassing of Chau Sara, your father and your brother. Now, I'm going to give you the same choice I gave everyone else, you're not being forced to stay her, but. ." He trailed off, his voice solemn. A flicker of shock came over her face, '_Daddy... Evan.._' She thought to herself as the buried images of her remaining family surfaced in a rush. She bit back the sadness before it could surface to her face. "How long was I frozen?" She asked, changing the subject rather abruptly. Horner turned to her, "The records indicate that you were in cryostasis for three and a half years for the space travel from Chau to New Folsom."

Naomi inwardly sighed and turned back to Raynor, "Where did they take them?" She asked, changing the subject again. "They weren't on New Folsom, they were taken to a military prison on Korhal, you were only in New Folsom because of your status as a Ghost." Horner told her, she could feel a pang of sympathy in his words. Another mental sigh rippled in her mind she mulled this over. She turned back to Raynor, "I. . .I would like to stay."

Her eyes flicked back to the man in the combat suit, who had been silently listening and eyeing her as he puffed on his cigar. He caught her glance and unexpectedly winked at her, causing her shudder inwardly and avert her eyes and her face to redden, earning a low, satisfied chuckle from the man. "I was hoping you'd say that. Glad you have you aboard." Raynor said with a grin, not seeming to notice his friend's actions. "Matt here will show you to your quarters." Horner smiled politely and nodded, gesturing her to follow him, "You can have the spare compartment, number twelve." She nodded politely, rather surprised at being accepted so quickly as she followed him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"We managed to recover your Hostile Environment Suit and rifle from New Folsom when you were freed, we suspect they were keeping suit to reproduce it." Horner told her when she reached the bridge per Raynor's request. "I had Swann take a look at it and make some repairs; it was in pretty bad shape. The rest of the repairs were made by Stetman. He said there was room for a few modifications to it since the damage was so bad." Raynor said as he turned to her, "Can't wait to see a Ghost in action. Stetmann is waiting down in the lab when you're ready. You should probably keep the suit and gun in your quarters for now." He said with a smile. "Thank you sir, I'll head down now." She said respectfully with a slight dip of her head before turning and heading to the lab.

When she reached the lab, she saw several tubes, each containing a specimen of some kind. She also noticed the several terminals around the lab, some even near to the ceiling, the last time she was in the lab, she was too busy being sedated and reeling. '_six-hundred-and-eight-to-the-power-seven-add-sixteen, don't forget the decimal point-'_ She heard the math equations being muttered verbally and mentally from the lone scientist, Egon Stetmann, he had dark hair, and was in his early twenties and wore a lab coat over civilian clothing. She behind him, straightened and cleared her throat to get his attention. He snapped out of his mathematical trance and looked to her, "Ah yes, Miss Malchovitch, the Commander said you would be coming down here." He said as he adjusted his large glasses. '_Oh, she's cute -No! The suit, here for the suit-_' She couldn't help smiling a little at his thoughts as he went to a storage unit and opened it, revealing her combat bodysuit. He began typing into the nearby console, "I made some repairs and managed to make a few modifications your HES suit." He told her as she walked over and fingered the polymer fabric. "I reduced the psionic requirement for the cloaking unit, added a psionic meter and installed a Mobius Reactor. Your suit was one of the older models and needed to be updated." he told her as he straightened and ticked the modifications off his fingers. She gave a small smile to him, "Thank you." He flushed in return and adjusted his glasses again, "Not a problem." He said, nodding, '_Pretty when she smi- No, focus-_' She could hear him mentally argue with himself as he returned to his console.

He turned back to her and cleared his throat, "I wanted to thank you for not letting me die horribly from a projectile table." He told her rather demurely. She had been examining the suit and sensed that he was usually not this reserved, but on the hyperactive side. She looked to him and gave him small chuckle as she replied, flushing at the cheeks, "You're welcome."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you catch it so fast?" A thoughtful look came over her face briefly before she tentatively replied, "When I was trained in the academy, they had trained I, as well as other ghosts with what they knew about telekinesis. In one part of my training they have large, heavy objects launched at us. If we didn't catch them in time, we would either get hit with them, or get punished, usually with a special psi-screen they used to 'keep us in line'." He blinked and nodded, "I see." he said, not meeting her eyes, '_Cruel, but efficient. . . _'

Before an awkward silence could set in, she smiled kindly and dipped her head, "Thank you for your work on the suit, the Commander suggested I should keep it in my quarters for now." She told him, flushing again.

"Oh, yes, of course." He said as she took the suit from the unit and headed out of the lab.

Naomi reached her quarters got into her Hostile Environment Suit and pressed the compression button, sucking all the air from her suit, causing it to cling to her body like a second skin. She closed the latch to the button and inspected the repaired areas and found they done quite well.

She heard Raynor's voice in her ear, he was using the comm unit, being alerted from its activation, "Malchovitch, I need you on the bridge, we got a mission." Redoing her ponytail and pulling her goggles onto the top of her head, "Yes sir, on my way." She replied as she picked up her C-20A Canister rifle and put it to the magnetized panel on her back, holding it firmly in place.

Upon reaching the bridge she was met with James, Matthew and Tychus. She could feel some of the crew member's eyes on her as well as the trio of men as she stood respectfully at the holographic map display. "Good, you're here. We've got a special broadcast that needs to go out." Raynor said with a satisfied smile. "While you were out, we got our hands on some nice Dominion tech, The Odin." By 'out' he meant recovering from the brawl with the ex-convict, who recovered more rapidly than she did, suffering only from a mild concussion.

Horner turned to her after James spoke, "The Odin is a prototype siege walker the Dominion was working on." He explained. James spoke in, "We managed to hijack it on Valhalla. Tychus here is the only one who can pilot it. He's going to walk it down to the unveiling area; they won't even know it's not one of their men piloting it." Raynor gestured to Tychus, who was barely containing a smile, pride emanating from him. "Here's the plan, while Tychus is walking the Odin down the line, you'll be joining him. After the initial ambush, I want you to upload the broadcast in the main buildings while Tychus and our troops hold it from outside. He's going to drop you off on his way through the main bases." She nodded in acknowledgement. "We won't be able to destroy everything at that point; the idea is to do as much damage to distract them so you can upload the broadcast." Tychus grinned and gave a throaty chuckle, "Oh, I'm gonna have me some fun."

As the Odin was being prepped, she looked up at the massive, bipedal machine in the loading bay on the ship. She heard heavy, metallic footsteps behind her and looked over her shoulder to see Tychus standing behind her, "Thing of beauty, ain't it.." She looked back up to the monstrous machine, "It is impressive." She replied as the massive, armored man headed to the docking ramp. He turned back briefly, "We got work to do, let's go." She nodded and followed him up and into the cockpit.


End file.
