StarCraft 1. Chapter 1

'Damn it' I thought 'What the hell happened? Where the hell am I?' Sitting up from the hard, cold floor I realized that I was in the school gym, with its two story high walls and slanted metal roof. It was raining, the _pinging_ on the roof confirmed it. My head was throbbing; I had only just realized that there were other people in the gym with me. 'Seriously _what happened!?'_ The other people were all the other towns' people and they looked as frightened and confused as she did. Most were

Maby I should introduce my self; im Lizzy, 17 years old, orphan. Now that that's out of the way I can go back to figuring out why im- Suddenly I could here a blood freezing scream in the distance 'That answers that question' I slowly got to my feet and awkwardly made my way to the corner of the gym sat down and leaned my back angst the cold wall, I needed to keep calm and think of a way to escape. If that was possible.

(Break)

The Overmind was the surpriem concusness that controlled the Zerg. But having been tampered with by the Xel'Naga, a single overriding objective was forced onto them... the destruction of the Protoss. The Overmind was formed with thought and reason but not free will. It screamed and raged in a prison of its own mind. In order to escape this fate the Overmind had captured and altered Sarah Kerrigan by infecting her with the Zerg Hyper evolutionary virus and made her an agent of the swarm. Her subsequent evolution unlocked incredible strength and immeasurably potent psionic abilities. But why would he only stop at one?

Kerrigan was overconfident and excruciatingly brutal and vicious (not that these were bad qualities) but the Overmind couldn't have Kerrigan putting the swarm at risk. He needed another like her to keep her in check; to be her 'conscience'. And of there were two like Kerrigan, the Zerg would be _unstoppable_.

That was when he felt it. A small psionic presence. This is what the Overmind was waiting for...

(Break)

'Argh...' I moaned rubbing my temples, I kept getting headaches over the past few weeks and they kept getting worse and worse. And the worst part I didn't have any painkillers on hand.

It was then that I heard a noise at the doors; it was like claw's scrapping on the floor. To be honest it sounded like a huge wolf walking past the doors. Followed by a 'slithering' sound as the doors opened...

What I saw was horrifying. I had no idea what I was looking at. It was equivalent in size to a large dog, stood a meter tall and had claw like toe's. There eyes were an orange/red color and there were 'tusk' like things protruding out from the side of its head behind its jaws. The jaws in question showed a row of sharp, razor teeth without any lips or covering of any kind. There were a second set of 'arms' protruding from its back ending in claw like scythes. There were two of these 'dog' creatures standing at the side of a snake creature.

The snake creature had a hard shiny carapace and long 'mandibles' that covered there jaws and sharp teeth. In addition to there porcupine like spikes that covered there back's and under there carapace, they had long arms that ended with _huge_ scythes'. Luckily (I think) there was only one of these in between the 'dog' creatures. They entered the hall and began to wade through the people gathered.

Well I say gathered, but I mean everyone moved away from them like they could get from these creatures. I had instinctively taken up a defensive pose, my hands balled into fists at my side.

It seemed like they were searching for something (or in this case _someone_). A child about 12 or so couldn't move away fast enough and stumbled. The snake creature slashed at the child with I, slicing through his flesh. I got incredibly enraged at this and memories of being beaten myself, at the hands of my father. Damn him in his grave, he was killed in an 'insurrection' by rebels...By Arcturus Mengsk _in his bid for power. It was my father that had killed my mother as well, in one of his drunken, angry stupors._

(Break)

And now all the pent up anger that I had was being directed at the snake creature. The creature brought its scythe blades to its head 'gripping' it in a way, all the while it was howling in agony. After a short while its eyes started to bleed and its skull started to crack, blood seeping from the wounds. In that moment I felt a connection with it, like I was in its mind. The strange part was it wasn't only its thought that I could hear, it was part of a hive mind, and so was I for those few seconds. And through the connection the 'Leader' was connected to me.

Time seemed to stop; I was 'pulled' into a dark black world. Not the darkness of night, that couldn't make such utter blackness. And I wasn't alone in this world. I felt more than saw the 'Leader' of these creatures, and I felt its joy, its glee.

"_There you are."_ It said in my mind "_You are the last piece that I need to make the swarm unstoppable"_

At that sentence I started to panic. It seemed to feel it, further proving my 'We are connected' theory. _"Don't worry; I will have my swarm quickly place you inside a Chrysalis. You have so much untapped Psionic potential."_ The link was severed and I was 'dropped' back into reality. The snake creature, 'No, Hydralisk' I thought, in the brief mind connection names for these creatures came into my head...Forced knowledge. The Hydralisk was dead on the floor, its brain had 'exploded' and turned into goo.

I, along with everyone else, started to panic at these turn of events. They had no idea that I was the one that had killed the Hydralisk. I tried to calm my mind, I wouldn't be able to think clearly if I paniced. The doors to the hall opened again, to revile a Zerg hugely different from the others. For one this one was human...ish. It was the body and shape of a human woman, but the skin was wrong, though, a mottled green that looked slick somehow, like the flesh of a dolphin or seal. In many places it was hard and glossy, a protective shell, though I could see no pattern to the protection's placemen.

The armor extended into spikes over some of the shoulders, at the elbows, along the back of her hands and along her legs. Jutting from her hips were what looked like skeletal 'wings', like those of a grate bird or bat, they were no more than pairs of elongated, segmented spikes, grate hooked claws protruding from her lower back. They were wing blades I realized. Her hair was in 'stalks', somewhere between tentacles and spikes, sharp and cylindrical but limp around her face and segmented like an insect's legs...or human bones.

She looked straight at me with glowing yellow eyes. I was panting, close to hyperventilating, my heart going a mile a minute, even though I was thinking clearly. She walked straight toward me, her wing blades twitching as if in anticipation. I tried to walk backward, knowing that I stood no chance in a fight, only to trip on someone's feet and I fell on my ass. By the time I regained my balance and sense of awareness after the short stumble the Zerg women was tight on top of me.

She reached down and pulled me to my feet by the front of my jumper holding my up with ease. Her fingers were as sharp as blades and easily tore through my jumper. At any other time I might just have been angry about it. I grabbed her arm attempting to both hold myself up and dislodge her hand.

"So, you're the one the Overmind wants." It was more a statement than a question. Her voice had a strange echo like quality to it, it echoed in my ears and in my head as if each word carried layers and meaning and emotion, too much for me to catch all at once. The words rolled across and through me, sending shivers down my spine. "Don't worry; you'll soon leave humanity behind as I once did." She was smiling at the last part of her sentence. I brought my hand back in an attempt to fight back, I wasn't going to let her just take me without some kind of retaliation. But I never got the chance. She used her Psionic powers on me to put me to sleep. As I felt a huge pain in my head at her intrusion the last thing that went through my mind was "_No please, this can't be happening!"_

(Kerrigan)

After the human child was asleep Kerrigan dragged her out by the scruff of her jumper. The child's limp arms were just shy of scraping the floor. Kerrigan turned toward a hunter Hydralisk "Prepare the Leviathan and the Chrysalis. Then kill the rest of the humans." As Kerrigan left the sound of screaming could be heard from behind her. And she smiled at the glorious sound. She continued to travel down hallways that were adapted by the Zerg swarm. Creep was growing all over the walls.

Kerrigan was coming up on the exit and closer to the Leviathan. She left the girl in an isolated room and assigned a Hunter Hydrilisk to be sure that she didn't escape 'Like she could escape anyway.' Kerrigan thought.

(Lizzy)

When I woke up my senses came back slowly and one by one. I was aware of a splitting pain in my head and something soft, like a mattress, underneath me. I heard a strange dripping and...Breathing sound and a strong heart beat. Finally I felt something warm, hard and smooth beside me. I opened my eyes and was greeted by a Hydralisk a few inches from my face. It took all of my will power not to scream.

It didn't seem to want to hurt me. I slowly tried moving away from it, takeing up a defensive position ready incase it tried anything. I kept slowly moving backwards but after I was about two feet away from it, it seemed to deem that was 'too far a distance' and moved closer, I immediately stopped my retreat. There was a huge amount of adrenalin coursing through my veins and I waited for it to die down. My 'flight or fight' reflexes were in full effect. As I waited for the adrenalin to leave my body I had the strangest starring competition in my life. The Hydralisk didn't take its eyes off me, and I was too afraid of what it might do while I had my back turned.

I took my eyes away from it to survey the room, but never for more than a few seconds and I always returned my gaze back to it regularly. We were in what I could only describe as a...stomach. The walls were made of flesh and some strange liquid was being secreted from it.

I gathered up my courage and (very slowly) raised a hand and reached out to touch the Hydralik's head. It didn't move as I reached toward it, it only followed my hand in some king of hypnotic trance. It was not as I had expected. I had honestly thought that it was going to be cold, only for it to be the complete opposite. It was warm, very warm and incredibly smooth. As I thought this I mentally scolded myself for not remembering that it was lying next to me keeping me warm.

There was a strange organic sound as a wall of flesh and the Zerg women entered the room as if she was waiting for me to pluck up the courage to pet the Hydralisk. I immediately moved my eyes off the Hydralisk to look at her, more afraid of what she could do rather than the Hydralisk.

'Who was she' I thought, 'Why does she look so human?'

As if hearing my thought she answered "I am Kerrigan, a leader of the swarm"

I gulped. "Where am I?" It was the obvious question that had to be asked. Kerrigan smiled, and it was defiantly not something that was reassuring or meant to be reassuring.

"You are on my Leviathan. A Zerg that was created to withstand the rigors of hyperspace and act as a transport a large fleet to another planet. It is a much more effective way than using countless amounts of overlords... And much faster" She added as an afterthought. She brought her attention back to me. "We'll soon be arriving on Char, the Zerg stronghold, where you will be forced inside a chrysalis where the Zerg hyper evolutionary virus will infest you into a Zerg as well."

Kerrigan tilted her head as if hearing something I couldn't. She smiled smugly at me "We've arrived." She turned to the door of flesh "Come" I stood but didn't move I was never more scared in my life. Kerrigan looked back at me irritably and I felt a pull, like someone had pulled a rope around my waist, and I knew that Kerrigan had used her psionic power as a warning to get me to move.

Not wanting her to drag me with her I took a breath attempting to steady my heart and moved forward. I needed to think of a way to escape, and if I had any hope of succeeding I would need to be walking on my own and not dragged. We walked a long corridor that was filled with the same liquid secretion as in the room. It made a sick 'squelching' sound as we walked. As we finally exited the Leviathan my eyes nearly popped out my skull, I saw it was _Huge_, easily larger than a mothership.

But I had little time to stare at it as I heard noises all around me. We were defiantly on the zerg stronghold. There were hundreds of them, all ranging from the snake like Hydralisk's, the dog like Zergling's to the flying Mutalisk's. I even saw the gigantic Ultralisk's.

The planet that we were on was warm, but not unbearably so. Air a bit sticky and filled with ash. One visable sun, two moons and a red ringed planet nearby. Covered in ash, a pale gray, at least an inch thick. Some hills and small mountains, black rock rather than dirt. Fire and smoke all round. Probably volcanoes everywhere. No vegetation or animal life...If you don't count the Zerg.

In the middle of the Zerg gathering was an oblong 'pod'. That had to be the Chrysalis!

It was now or never for my escape. I elbowed the Hydralisk that was guarding me in the face and sprinted to the right. There was a few second's of pure undiluted freedom before I felt a pain in my chest. I looked down to see that Kerrigans wing blades had pierced me right through. I took the time to notice that they had formed some strange 'X' shape. That was my last thought before darkness enveloped me.

(Kerrigan)

'Stupid child' she thought as she went to pick up the now quickly bleeding and dying child. It was a good attempt Kerrigan admitted, but she was waiting for her to try and run. She picked up the child and held her in her arms as she quickly walked to the Chrysalis. The Overmind's voice broke through Kerrigans thoughts.

"_Kerrigan! What were you thinking!? We need the child alive."_

"I know Father, but it will be much easier to place her in the Chrysalis if she is unconscious. And the Zerg hyper evolutionary virus will heal all her injuries."

The Overmind didn't comment, but Kerrigan could feel his displeasure. She placed the child inside the Chrysalis and watched it slowly close. The Chrysalis was partly full with viscous liquid that acted as a 'cushion' and supplied oxygen directly to the host. As soon as the Chrysalis had closed the liquid had filled it completely and needle like tentacles pierced the child's spinal chord, ready to administer the virus.

"_Begin"_ the overmind commanded.

And as the virus was forced into the child it could be seen faintly writhing in agony...


	2. Chapter 2

The world went dark.

Not just a darkend sky no mere nightfall could produce such utter blackness. No this was the blackness of captivity, confinement, blindness. Nothing visible, no light, only shadow.

I struggle to make sense of my surroundings. 'Where am I?'

Nothing but blackness answers, and an instant later a far larger question looms up, overshadowing the first. '_Who_ am I?'

A wave of panic rises deep within, bile carried along its edge, threatening to drown me as I realize I can't remember. I can't remember who I am!

I attempt to remember how I got to this stage, and only got brief flashes. A large building full of people, feeling scared. Then a pain through my chest, a strange numbing pain, I was dying... and now this blackness.

'So, where am I?' I stretch my senses to there limit and came to one conclusion.

I am being carried.

I feel movement, a gentle rocking motion. Not directly - something cushions me, envelops me, holds me all around. But that cushioning is moveing, and me with it.

I try lashing out, trying to escape my prison, but my linbs will not cooperate. I feel drained – drugged.

My senses came back to me slowly, one by one, at an agenizing pace.

And I feel pain. Like my nerves are on fire! I am burning from within! My flesh crawls, creeps morphs, changes- I have no control over my own form any more. I am changing.

I beg for relief, I wish that I could pass out. At least that way I would no longer be in pain. But I seem to lack that ability- the unconsciousness. Without things like endorphins to numb pain, the circuit breaker of passing out when the pain became too much, I felt _everything! _

It seemed like hours that I burned, until I felt another presence in My dark world.

_"Hello?"_ I called, I felt stupid for calling out when I know that I wouldn't be answered.

_"Yes?"_ a voice answered back. It was deep and many layered. It vibrated through me. _"What is it you want?"_

I felt something 'brush' across my face, like fingers, and the pain left me.

All I felt at that point was pure relief. The pain was gone.

I followed the touch to look behind me (Only now realizing that I could move again) but could still only see blackness.

But I 'sensed' something. It seemed to have no form. No mass. It was just '_there'_.

_"Where am I?"_ I asked "_what's happening?"_

"_Do not fear child, for you are safe with me. I am the Overmind, the eternal will of the swarm. Your body is changing, its genetic makeup being altered. You are becoming one with the swarm."_

_"No. I don't want this. I don't want to be one of you!" _I started thrashing around attempting to escape my prison, my efforts futile. My body was sluggish.

_"Shh, Calm little one." _His voice was strangely soothing

"_I just want to go back-" _I started

_"Home? To what home do you have to return to? You are an orphan, with no friends, no parents. Your mother died giveing birth to you, and your father forever blamed you, and tried to drink his problems away...Before you killed him. Is that a home to go back too?"_

I couldn't rationalize an excuse to myself. It was right, I had no home to go back to. No one that was waiting for me.

No hope.

_"You will soon have the swarm. Now sleep..."_

I felt myself drift off into dream.

* * *

(BREAK)

Kerrigan stood in the middle of the hive cluster. She was ordered to guard the chrysalis. All she wanted to do was hunt and kill the Protoss that escaped her wrath.

She felt a psionic pulse emanate from the chrysalis. The child's powers were being unlocked. Kerrigan felt slight empathy for the girl in the chrysalis, having known exactly how painful the zerg hyper evolutionary virus could be.

Mabie she should show the child just how 'wonderful' life with the zerg could be.

Kerrigan walked to the chrysalis, a smirk on lips, placed her hand on the hard 'pulsating' shell of the chrysalis and reached out with her psionic powers to the child and Kerrigan began showing her memories of her time since her infestation.

* * *

(BREAK)

It was a strangely peaceful dream. I was standing on a small flat arête looking out onto the Char landscape. There were no Zerg here. The one sun was setting and the two moons were high in the sky. There was a volcano erupting in the far distance giving the land a bright glow. While the land was still covered in ash and low hills everything looked 'picturesque'. Perfect. Peaceful.

Then I looked down and saw something horrid that ruined the perfect scenery. The skin on my hands was a sickly green colour and my hands were forming claws.

"What the Hell!" I thought "Whats going on" in my peaceful mind I had forgotten that I was in the chrysalis.

"Ahhhhh!" I screamed clutching my head when I remembered where I was, my new claws were cutting the skin on my head.

Then visions were flashing in front of my eyes. No not visions...Memories. But not _my_ memories. They were in first person; I was looking through the person's eyes. I was walking down a corridor from some terrain hospital. Zerglings and Hydralisk's were flooding past me, crawling over each other trying to get at there prey.

The personnel that worked in the 'hospital' were panicking trying to get away. An unfortunate bystander got too close. I got behind him and rammed my finger-blades through his back, shedding his spine to ribbons. I absently licked the blood off my calws. The last thought from that memory was of the coppery taste of the blood.

There was a flash and suddenly I was on char faceing a Protoss. The memory told me it was the Executor Tassadar. We were fighting, and I felt ecstatic. Joy at the thought of spilling Protoss blood.

Another flash, this time it was the Protoss Zeratul he was suspended in the air and in pain. He gave a 'push' of sorts, lit his psionic blade, sliced at me and jumped back. He held his arm. It must have been hurt from forcing his way out from being suspended psionicly.

The final vision was off a human; Jim Raynor. I was slaughtering all of his troops.

"Mother of God... Kerrigan what have they done to you?" He asked shock and disgust clear on his face. "Sarah, is that really you?"

"Too an extent. Im far more than I once was Jim." It was strange, I was speaking, but it wasn't my voice "You shouldn't have come here" There was something akin to regret in my voice

"But the dreams...I dreamed you were still alive...that somehow...you were calling to me." Jim was still in a small bit of shock.

"I was. While I was in the Chrysalis, I instinctively reached out to you and Arcturus telepathically. Apparently Arcturus sent Duke here to reclaim me." I was angry that they thought I was some prize to be handed out. "But that was then Jim. I am one of the Zerg now, and I like what I am. You cant imagine how this feels..."

"So what? Are you gonna kill me now darlin'?" he asked preparing for some kind of attack.

"That is certainly within my power. But your not a threat to me Jim. Be smart. Leave here now and never seek to confront the Zerg again." The threat was predominant in my voice

Jim sighed weighing his options. He was clearly at a disadvantage. "Doesn't look like I have much choice..." And he turned to leave, I could sense the sadness and regret on him. And I felt nothing.

"AHHHH" I Screamed "No more, STOP!" I lashed out Psionicly.

(END VISIONS)

* * *

Kerrigan was forced away from the Chrysalis by a psionic emanation. It was completely unexpected.

"Kerrigan!" the Overmind boomed "What have you done!? I was breaking down her emotional defenses!" It was clear that he was angry.

"I apologize Father. I was unaware you were implementing a plan." Kerrigan said.

"I must now start my work over." The Overmind was angry that it would take longer to integrate the child into the swarm hive mind.

Inside the Chrysalis Lizzy was using the time that the Overmind was preoccupied to reflect on the visions that Kerrigan gave her.

'well, I know know that there are three people that don't like Kerrigan and that might be willing to help me... Oh god im doomed'

I used Kerrigan's memories to find Jim Raynor's, Tassadar's and Zeratul's psionic signatures and sent a message calling for help.

* * *

(Jim Raynor)

'Help me' someone called, it sounded like a young girl 'Im on Char, there doing the same thing that they did to Kerrigan to me. Please, help me before its too late!' she yelled

Jim woke up with his heart hammering in his chest, fully alert. God that was just like the dreams with Kerrigan.

'I must be loosing it.' He said to himself trying to justify the dreams.

Deciding that he would never get back to sleep now, he got out of bed and threw on his working clothes and headed to the bridge of the Hyperion, Mengsk's former flagship. On the bridge was Matt Horner. He was a young and ambitious, and had proved himself a few times as a grate strategist. So he was given full command of the Hyperion when Jim was away.

"Sir, I think you should see this." He sounded slightly flustered, this couldn't be good "It's the Protoss sir, they will only speak to you"

Well that was unexpected. The Protoss? They hadn't heard from them since they left Char the first time. After failing to save Kerrigan from the Zerg. Jim shook the thoughts of Char from his head and approached the terminal. It was both Tassadar and Zeratul.

"En Taro Adun" Tassadar and Zeratul greeted

"En Taro Adun." Jim replied back

"Greeting's friend Raynor. We bring bad tidings. Zeratul and I have both felt strange Psionic energies emanating from Char. We fear that the Overmind is attempting to create a creature similar to the Queen of Blades." Tassadar actually sounded worried. "We request your help in finding the source of these psionic emanations."

Jim was taken aback. Were the Protoss really asking for his help? It must be bad if they thought that they would need his and his teams help.

"Friend Raynor, have you had strange dreams of a young female requesting help?" Zeratul asked

"Uh...Yeah, I have. One just woke me up actually."

"Both Tassadar and I have both experienced these dreams aswell. That is the reason we contacted you. All three of us were on Char, all three of us battled the Queen of Blades. There must be a reason the three of us are experiencing these dreams."

Jim thought about everything they said. He didn't particularly want to go back to Char, mainly because Kerrigan was there and also the last time they were there they lost a lot of good men and women.

"Im in. I'll have to talk to my men and see of they are willing, I wont force any of them to do something that would get them killed. And I defiantly think this qualifies"

"Of course friend Raynor." Zeratul said, bowed his head, and ended the transmission.

"Sir?" Matt asked "Are you sure you want to go back to Char?"

"Yeah Matt, im sure. If there's someone on Char that needs our help, im gonna make sure that, this time, I save them." He was incredibly determined.

"Matt, I need to gather everyone in the Cantina ASAP." Jim said. He would need one hell of a speech.

"Yes Sir!" Matt saluted.

* * *

(21 minutes later)

Everyone was slightly confused at why they were called to the Cantina and away from there work. Was there a big new plan to fight the Dominion? Was that the reason the commander called everyone together? They wouldn't have to wonder much longer as Jim Raynor himself walked through the doors. He stood in front of everyone arms folded across his shoulders.

"Men, what I have to say aint' easy. Now im gonna be straight with you. I've been having these weird dreams, just like with Kerrigan, and I wanna make an expedition to Char-" There was a lot of gasps of shock and even a few of outright discust. "-Now I know what your all thinking 'why would he want to end us on a suicide mission for a couple of dreams?' Well I know that there is someone out there captured by the Zerg right now being turned into one of them.

"Now I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want another Kerrigan running around." There were a few faces that looked scared at the possibility of another Queen of Blades running around the galaxy. One soldier was not happy at the thought of returning to Char.

"Commander, why should we risk our lives on this? I haven't been having these dreams, and I don't know this person, so why should I go get killed for them?" he asked

"Yeah, didn't we loose enough men the last time we went to Char? I mean we barley made it out alive the last time and you want us to go back?" another spoke up.

Jim nodded taking in all this information and letting them have there say. "I know we lost a lot of people and I wont force anyone to go if they don't want to. But this time-" He said smiling "-we are gonna have the strength of the Protoss on our side."

This information raised a few head and a few spirits. The Protoss? That would drastically improve there odds from the last time. People started whispering among themselves.

"As I said, I will not force anyone on this mission. And if you don't want to come, there's the door." Jim looked at every face as he said this, and to his surprise, no one moved. "All right everyone, lets take the fight to the Zerg!" everyone cheered.

* * *

**A/N: I am going to switch to third person now I find first a bit hard to do. If anyone is confused as to why Lizzy can suddenly use her Psionic powers, the Overmind is using Kerrigan's memories and training and sending it to her in the Chrysalis. And while the Overmind can use the Zerg Virus to bend Lizzy to his will, its easier for her to willingly submit. Im not happy with the talk between Lizzy and the Overmind, but all of my stories are really just first drafts. Latter I may go back and 'bulk' them up with more...well everything. Either way review and tell me what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry this chapter took so long. I want to thank Yoshtar for his review and apologies for any spelling errors as I have proof read it I may still miss some because of my dyslexia (not using it as an excuse). This is also mostly a draft story and I may go back over it when it's done to bulk it out and deal with any huge plot mistakes. If there are any mistakes please tell me and I will try and correct them._

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Char was just as hot and inhospitable as Jim remembered it. Damn being here brought back horrible memories. Jim closed his eyes and breathed deep trying to calm his nerves. It wasn't three breaths before he heard the sound of the Protoss ships coming in to land, it was strange to think that a few months ago they were burning Terrain planets to glass and now they were all working together.

'Its amazing' Jim thought 'how war can make comrades of even the most unlikely of people'

The Protoss ship was sleek and beautiful, all golden swirls, loops and stylized barbs. The ship reminded Jim of a moth or butterfly, with long graceful wings hovering above a short stubby body – but he quickly corrected that thought, because this was more like a hornet than a moth, its wings more angled, its body segmented and streamlined. Everything about it screamed style, speed and grace.

The Protoss walked out of the ship single file, they were just as graceful as the ship they came in on. Tassadar and Zeratul walked out last from the ship and Jim immediately walked over to them.

"En Taro Adun James Raynor" Zeratul greeted with a bow of his head.

"En Taro Adun Zeratul, Tassadar. How are we going to get into a Zerg hive cluster and rescue this person?" Jim asked resting his gun on his shoulder. In his assault amour Jim was nearly as tall as the Protoss themselves and could run just as fast, though he didn't think he could take on a Zealot in a hand to hand fight.

Tassadar looked off into the distance, thinking. "We are not yet sure Friend Raynor. Perhaps we should split our forces." He was talking more out loud than to Jim and Zeratul. "If the Templar were to search the north, the Terrains to the east and the Dark Templar the west, we would be ably to cover a vast area in a short time." At the end of his speech he looked back to Jim and Zeratul.

"A sound plan, young one. But should we happen to encounter the Zerg hive, under no circumstances should we attempt to take them on alone. For while we may be strong individually, we still pose no threat to the Zerg. It is only through teamwork that we have a hope of achieving victory today."

'Zeratul, ever the prophet.' Jim thought. "Okay, ill leave someone with you should I need to contact you."

The two Protoss leaders only bowed there head's in response.

* * *

Back in the darkness.

But it was different now. Now I could 'feel' the Zerg outside my 'Cell' for lack of a better word. It sickened me; I didn't want to be able to feel them. To be connected to them. But there was a part of me, a newer part that was happy to be connected to them.

'No! Damn it, I won't give in so easily. I'll fight.' Lizzy thought, but in truth she was happy to not feel so alone.

'_Why fight?__ I am capable of satisfying your needs.__ I know you feel alone, but when you are part of the Zerg you will never feel alone again.' _ And for a moment the pain of the transformation stopped and Lizzy was lifted like a child into the safe arms of a father. She felt oddly comforted right then despite herself. She'd never been cradled before. It had taken a monster to do it.

'No!' Lizzy screamed. She began struggling, fighting to break free of the Overmind's influence. 'That's you! That's you isn't it? Temping me again! Poisoning me with your filthy ideas! I won't do it; I won't just surrender to you!'

All of a sudden she wasn't in the dark any more. She was on the arête again, but she sensed she wasn't alone. Lizzy looked around trying to find the other person. But there was no one but her on the cliff.

'_I am here, in your mind. If you surrender I will protect you when you are in danger. I will always be there for you. I will always love you Tell me your greatest desire. I am far stronger than your mind can comprehend.__..'_

A bird fluttered past her, she followed it with her eyes, wishing for its ability of flight...To escape her prison.

'_I am far stronger than your mind can comprehend.__..'_

* * *

_It was Zeratul's group that found the Zerg hive first. Everyone re-grouped and it was time to hammer out a plan._

_"So, what are we thinking, just charge in guns blazing?" Jim asked._

_Tassadar and Zeratul just looked at him and Zeratul shook his head._

_'Wait a second.' There was a light bulb moment in Jim's head. "Boy's I think I have something. Maybe I have something that could work. What if we had the Dark Templar go in first? We know there attacks are the most effective on Zerg. Then us Terrains, with our gauss rifle's we can easily protect the front and back. Then lastly the Templar, to make sure our rears are covered encase we get surrounded."_

_They considered the idea. It seemed well thought out. They nodded and headed out._

_The tunnels of Char were just as confusing as they were the last time. Like an underground labyrinth. They surprisingly met little resistance. Either the Zerg didn't know about there arrival (Not likely Jim thought) or they were leading them into a trap. Jim didn't like either option._

_They came to a fork in the tunnel. Jim walked up to Zeratul "Any idea where we need to go?" he asked_

_Zeratul closed his eyes in concentration, using his psionic powers to 'scout' ahead for any Zerg activity. "The way is clear"_

_The team continued on meeting more resistance than before. "Anyone else think we are heading into a trap?" Jim asked, it wasn't long before he was proved right. Ahead of them was what looked like every damned Zerg in the Koprulu sector. With Kerrigan at its head._

_Behind her was the Chrysalis, pulsing with life, being sustained by the Zerg creep. _

_"It was nice of you to come here and save me the trouble of hunting you down." Kerrigan taunted "But I must say I was looking forward to what little enjoyment there would have been little enjoyment in hunting you."_

_Jim stepped up to Zeratul with Tassadar close behind him "Sorry to disappoint you darling, but we didn't come here to die. We are gonna take that Chrysalis and free whoever's inside. I'll be damned if I let there be another Queen of Blades loose in the Galaxy" He levelled his gun at Kerrigan, a bluff as he would never shoot her, but she didn't know that._

_Tassadar and Zeratul both unleashed their Psi-Blades. Tassadar's a cool blue and Zeratul's a light green._

_"Humph. Kill them." Kerrigan commanded and well over a hundred Zerg charged at them. The Protoss formed ranks at the front and back, forming a luminescent circle. Defending the middle and everything else was the Terrains._

_The Zerg had no coordination, they used there overwhelming numbers to kill targets. The Protoss easily and gracefully sliced anything that came near them. It seemed they were untiring. Raynor's Raiders had little trouble shooting the Zerg with there sensors and long range weapons. They were killing and weakening, making it easier for the Protoss. Hydralisk's were shooting there spines everywhere and they were imbedding themselves into both Terran and Protoss armour with little difficulty, and anyone who got close was sliced by there scythe arms. Zerglings were scurrying in between and lunging onto unsuspecting prey from behind._

_One of the Protoss was hit by a Hydralisk spine in the shoulder. He faltered in his attack, then charged at the Hydralisk responsible. He took three more spines to his chest and shoulder before a Zergling tackled him to the ground and mauled him to death. Zeratul and Tassadar were practically side be side blades slicing left and right. A Zergling was pouncing at Zeratul's unprotected flank when it was shot in mid-air by a gauss rifle. Zeratul looked behind him to see Raynor holding a smoking rifle, pointed in his direction._

_Suddenly an Ultralisk began charging at them, forcing them to break there line of defence. "Bring it down!" Jim yelled pulling out a grenade. Several others followed his lead and through there grenade's at it. While the force of the explosions didn't kill it the smoke and rubble caused it to slow down and eventually stop. _

_This enabled the Protoss to quickly leap on it and drive their Psi-Blades into its head. It gave a final screech before falling dead._

* * *

Kerrigan was enjoying the carnage. She also enjoyed seeing Protoss and Terran blood covering the Creep. It wasn't long before she leaped into battle. Her wing blades lashed out impaling a Protoss warrior.

She went straight for Tassadar and Zeratul, attempting to impale them on her wings as well. Zeratul sidestepped, swung his blade around in an ark and caught hit wing, slicing off a piece. Kerrigan flinched at the pain but the piece quickly grew back.

Tassadar took his chance and lashed out with his blade. Kerrigan saw the movement in the corner of her eye and jumped back, missing the attack. She grabbed his wrist and went to claw at his face. Zeratul quickly moved in and attacked Kerrigan forcing her to abandon her attack on Tassadar. But not before scraping his face, she licked the blood off her claws and smirked.

She was about to continue her assault when she heard the voice of the Overmind. _'Kerrigan, stop this attack and retreat.'_

Kerrigan couldn't believe what she was hearing. _"No, I can finally rid us of these Protoss!"_ she sent back telepathically and went to rejoin the attack.

"_Kerrigan!"_ The Overmind was more forceful now causing Kerrigan to halt her moments _"Stop and retreat. Now!"_ he added when she didn't move.

She was compelled to listen to the Overmind and sent an order to all the Zerg. She turned to Tassadar and Zeratul. "We'll finish this another time" she sneered before running off into the caverns.

The Protoss and Terrain's were very weary. The Zerg NEVER retreat. Its either they die or there enemy's do.

"Everyone form a tight circle. We have no idea if there's anything bigger waiting to jump us." Jim said over his comm link.

They formed the circle and slowly and caustically made their way to the pulsing Chrysalis. Zeratul powered up his Psi-blade and cut a small incision down along it. Tassadar and Jim each grabbed a side and pulled. It cracked open and a viscous colourless liquid poured out. Inside the three companions saw a young girl about 16-17 years old, it was clear that she was half transformed.

Her arms and most of her chest was covered in the tough Zerg carapace, it was spreading up her neck to her face as well. To Jim it was like looking at a small, half formed Kerrigan.

It looked like the tentacles that were impaling her flesh at the base of her skull, and along her spine were providing nutrients and keeping her alive. The entire chrysalis was being held up by a large cylinder of hardened creep, like a stalk.

"Well let's try and get her out." Jim suggested. He pulled out a knife and cut one of the tentacles off.

The reaction was instantaneous; the girl was spasming in pain, she looked like she would scream if there wasn't fluid in her lungs. Jim quickly moved away and watched in horrid fascination as the tentacle slowly mended itself and the girl stopped moveing when it had finally 'healed'.

"Zeratul, can you cut this thing at the bottom? I'm thinking that if we cut the chrysalis off from the source then we have the thing die and we can lift the girl out of it." He suggested.

After a few minutes of deliberation the two Protoss agreed. Tassadar and Jim held the top and bottom of the chrysalis, while Zeratul readied his psi-blade to cut the stalk.

"Now" Zeratul said and sliced through the stalk as easy as a hot knife through butter. Tassadar and Jim quickly and gently placed the chrysalis onto the ground.

I t was a few seconds before anything happened. The girl's eyes shot open, she quickly leaned over the edge and started coughing out all the fluid that was in her lungs. It seemed like she was coughing up a few gallons.

When she finally finished Jim was sure she heard a muffled "Thank you" before she passed out again. Zeratul removed his red cloak and wrapped it around the girl before picking her up in his arms.

Tassadar moved in front of him "What are you doing!?" He asked "We have to kill it before it can attack us" he indicated to the girl in Zeratul's arms.

"We came here to save this child, not kill her for no reason" Zeratul rebuked

"No reason! There is plenty of reason's, Kerrigan is the main reason. What if this 'child'-" Tassadar cringed at calling it a child "-turns out like Kerrigan? We can not take that risk."

Zeratul bristled, as did Jim

"Now hold it Tassadar, there's no reason to kill her for something she might or night not do. She could still be human." Jim said, "Well part human" he added as he looked at the girl. "And your not gonna stop us."

Both Zeratul and Jim walked past Tassadar, he didn't like the idea of that child being anywhere near him or others that could be slaughtered but he knew better than to try and make them see reason. He followed them out of the hive.

* * *

"Why didn't you let me kill them?" Kerrigan asked as she watched her enemies walk away from her, greatly angered at the Overmind for not letting her finish them off.

'_When the child awakens I will release her powers onto the unsuspecting Terrans and Protoss.'_

"But what if you can't control her? What if her gestation period wasn't long enough and you can't sway her thoughts?" Kerrigan enquired.

'_Do not question me Kerrigan.'_ The Overmind ordered. He knew that from her dreams the child would be easy to manipulate.

* * *

_Please review and tell me how Im doing._


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StarCraft, Adventure, Sci-Fi